“Fairytale gone bad”

Nijhof and Beinke had only one aim on their mind when they contested in this year’s Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler: An overall victory in the Gold Cup! It was the first time for Nijhof, the 2010′s Dutch Rallysprint Champion, to compete in the unique Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler. It is well-known that it is a very challenging rally but Nijhof and Beinke maintained to be within the TOP3 of the results after 14 different stages at the very end of the rally.

Full of self-confident, what they obviously gained of their overall victory during Conrad Euregio ShortRally the weekend earlier, Jan Nijhof and co-driver Josefine Beinke started into the first stage of the rally on friday evening. They found themselves back on 3rd o/a after this first day of the rally. Jan was confident about it although he complained about small power-steering issues. “The first day went basically well, it was a short stage and, actually, we lost too much time already but we are pleased with the result so far though. Tomorrow is a very long and difficult day.”, said Josefine.

While many crews were forced to retire on the very first stage on Sunday morning, Jan and Josefine went steady through this stage which was clearly the best and safest solution. Therefore, the rally started for them on a high after this stage! By mischance, they still had to deal with the power-steering problems but Jan managed it well, so the loss of time could have been worse. After eight of fourteen stages, they had enough time to check the problem, and potentially to solve it. Jan said in the midday Service: “We are in 2nd o/a and 1st in Gold Cup at the moment which is a quite safe result as the gap is already quite big. So we have no real need to push anymore. We did one fastest stagetime, where we are really proud of because we know now that we could keep up with six-time-overall winner of Rally Köln-Ahrweiler, Georg Berlany/Peter Schaaf. This makes me chin up in a way, I hope though, that the problems witht the power-steering are solved now because this is a real handicap for us and makes it more difficult. Six more stages to go now, let’s see what we can make out of it!”

At that point he did not know that stage ten will end their fairytale so far. Jan and Josefine went off the road in a fast left corner and stranded in a deep ditch. No possibility at all to get back on the road and to finish the stage, nor the rally. Literally, their “fairytale has gone bad”.

Both, Jan and Josefine, are looking back with a smile on their face onto the rally, anyway. They are pleased with their going until their crash because Jan and Josefine underlined their speed and skills. “I’m very content with the rally anyway. The car worked very well and we were able to put, at least some, pressure on a six-time-winner Georg Berlandy, in my first outing in Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler. We had basically a disadvantage in stage knowledge, and to be able to do a fastest stage is really great, so that is, what makes me happy about the rally.”, so a confident Nijhof.

For Josefine, the season 2011 is at it’s end now. When there will be news about the next season, you will find them here. There are no fixed plans to be announced yet.

Victory for Jan Nijhof and Josefine Beinke

It was basically a test event for the newly builded car for Rally Köln-Ahrweiler but in some kind it was more than that, at least for Josefine. It was her first overal win in her young career!

For Jan Nijhof was the Conrad Euregio ShortRally a home-event but with a new car it is always different. It was not a secret that the M3 E30 is a strong car, one can never know about problem though, especially with a newly builded car. Six stages, three different one, decided about the result. “I was really amazed when the started into the first stage, the car is so powerful and Jan did a perfect job, I really enjoyed that stage as there were so many spectators.”, Josefine said. The team Nijhof/Beinke hadn’t any major problems to announce. They had to change a spark plu, for the rest the car worked well which was obviously seen at the stage times as well as the did six of six fastest stage times.

In the end they had an almost one and a half minute lead. “It was a great test for Köln-Ahrweiler but it was just a test anyway”, Jan said back in Service. “We are going to focus on Rally Köln-Ahrweiler next weekend and that’s what we basically did here as well.”

Josefine was very happy about her first victory ever. “It was a great rally, I really enjoyed it so much. It is a great feeling to win an event although it was a test, it was one of those special moments in my rallying career so far. I want to thank the guys from Reconsales, who did a perfect job. Without them we couldn’t win this event! And a lot of thanks to all spectators who supported us. I am really much lookinf forward to Rally Köln-Ahrweiler now.”, said a very pleased Josefine.

The next event will be Rally Köln-Ahrweiler which will be not only the last rally of the season for Josefine but also a great highlight as she will read Dutch not in a very difficult event and in a very good car. She will do the event alongside with Jan Nijhof in their BMW M3 E30.

Quite last minute, as it was at Josefine’s last rally as well, she got the offer to codrive for Marcel Wendt in his Suzuki Swift Sport during Visselhöveder Herbstrallye. She did not hesitate to do this and was really excited about what the rally will be about and about Marcel’s driving skills.

The event took place in Visselhövede with seven stages, four different ones, so three stages ran twice and one once. Josefine knew Marcel before already and as he is a young and talented driver she really looked forward to this event although it was only in a little Suzuki Swift Sport.

“I really did not know before what was waiting for me”, she said before. “Basically I will do my job as usual and I hope that I can help Marcel a bit with my experiences. He already showed good pace during this year’s season but I’m sure he would be able to improve. I have no clue yet with what but maybe we know more after the event.”

During the moring the crew recced the stages and tried to get as good notes as possible on the paper. This actually went quite well and they were both looking forward. The attitude within the team was perfect although they do not really know each other well. Also, the weather was perfect, quite cold but pure sunshine and dry conditions. Marcel and Josefine’s ambitions for the rally weren’t too high because they were in the two-litre class with their little Suzuki Swift.

Anyway, they started steady through the first couple of stages and when they realised that a good result is possible they pushed a bit harder. The tyres weren’t perfect though, Wendt/Beinke complained about tyre issues. “Sometimes we have perfect grip and in the next corner there is no grip at all, that’s really difficult and I have no real trust in the tyres.”, said Marcel.

The team Wendt/Beinke had only 2 little mistakes, when they overshot two corners and as a result they had to reverse which cost valuable time. At the end they finished in a remarkable 4th place in their class against 11 two-litre cars and 16th overall. A very good result for them.

“I am really pleased with Marcel’s pace, he is a very great driver, and a young one at that. I am very sure he an increase his speed with some improvements. I am willing to help him because I think he is a great talent. Let’s see what we can make out of it!”, Josefine after the rally.

The next rally for Josefine is the ShortRally in Hengelo, her debut on dutch terrain. With the newly-builded BMW M3 E30, she will compete alongside Jan Nijhof as a test event for Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler the weekend after.

It was a last minute decision that Josefine Beinke was codriving for Helger Groppel in his Fiat 131 Abarth. Normally, she would have sit with his uncle but that wasn’t possible because Axel was stuck in working commitments.

So, early Saturday morning she met up with Helger to get the scrutineering and the recce done. Six stages in total, 5 different, only on ran twice was waiting for the team Groppel/Beinke. Perfect weather conditions – a shiny blue sky and pure sun – all over the Saturday made the event more likely. For Groppel and Beinke was the only goal to finish the event and to have as much fun as possible. Different attitude for Josefine, as she is usualy used to be under a certain pressure to succeed.

The first loop of stages until the regroup went well for them. They were placed in a steady second place in their class with what they were pretty fine. The car worked well without major problems, so they went on into the second and final loop. Also during that loop, there was nothing to complain about. They were able to increase their speed and ended up 2nd in their class and 41st in general.

Josefine was very pleased with the result and so was Helger. They matched their goal and that was the most important thing. The next rally for Josefine is the ShortRally in Hengelo next to Jan Nijhof.

Sideways fun in an Ascona 400

As codriver of her uncle Axel Beinke the only aim of the last weekend was fun for Josefine Beinke. The Eifel Rallye Festival around Daun was their first outing together as a safety car. Besides having fun it was necessary for them to make sure the spectator safety is well, so to help the organiser to a safe event.

For quite a long while Josefine was hoping to get onto the codriver seat of her uncle’s Ascona 400. During the shakedown in Neichen on Thursday they tested the car for the first time with the almost new engine. Unfortunately it was not possible to recce the stage before, so Josefine had to prepare the pace notes during their first run on the stage. It worked out quite well, so they could go on quite maximum speed in the next two runs. Small braking issues were the result but these were normal due to the fact that the car was prepared with new brake pads just before the event.

After Fridays Recce the first stage started under twilight conditions. Just before, Josefine and Axel had the chance to have a small talk with Jochi Kleint. Josefine’s only words after stage one said a lot. “It’s a great car. Axel is doing an amazing job although we are just here for having fun what we definitely had.”

The second leg started on early Saturday morning. Four loops of two stages had to be done. The Ascona worked pretty well and they both had a lot of fun up until stage 6 where the engine began to work not properly. Right from the start line of this stage the engine didn’t work very well, so they stopped in stage. Their team Walter and Martin came to see what happened and helped them to get the car back to Service. A bit later the engine worked well again, so luckily Axel and Josefine could go on for the last loop of stages.

“The last stage is in pretty good memory. It’s an awesome stage with very nice gravel parts. We had so much fun! We were really flying over the gravel parts. As I prefer gravel as a codriver it was a perfect end of a stunning rally.”, Josefine after the rally.

The whole team was very pleased with the rally, especially that the Ascona worked very well and without fatal problems.

“At this point I want to send kudos to the organisers. A rally with so many group B cars, stunning stages and an organisation from central casting is definitely something of a rarity. It was a big pleasure for us to be part of this event and hope that it will take place next year again. Big respect what you were able to do – a show event with historic rally cars on a very high level!”

The next event will be just in November. Josefine will take part in Rally Köln-Ahrweiler again.