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.

Fun in the Eifel region

The Eifel Rallye Festival will be the next event for Josefine. Alongside with her unlce, she will sit in his Ascona 400 as a safety car.

“This event is a defo for all lovers of historic rally cars. Big kados to the organisers, what they were able to do is looking great. I am really looking forward to it, especially the stages will be nice. As a safety car we have to look after the security and safety of the spectators on the stages.”, Josefine right before the event.

The event starts on Thursday with the Shakedown. Friday evening will be the first stage and on Saturday the second leg.

More information on: www.eifel-rallye-festival.de

Early end for the father/daughter duo

This year’s Rallye Stemweder Berg didn’t bring a lot of luck for Josefine Beinke and driver and father Jürgen Beinke.

The team Beinke/Beinke started with a lot of confidence into the rally. But right in the first stage their speed was stopped due to small engine issues. These were luckily solved during the first service, so they could go on with full speed in the next loop. Unfortunately, the accelerator cable broke in the following stage – that’s what they thought at least. Some time later they realised that it wasn’t the accelerator cable but the intake for this cable broke. “This is very bad luck. We actually thought we can manage the problem easily but that wasn’t true. The only possibility to go on was to increase the idle but apparently this wasn’t enough to get through the stage. There were more stages to go before the next main service, so there was no chance for us. We were forced to retire.”, Josefine back in Service.

The next rally for Josefine will be the Eifel Rally Festival in July. More information during the next week. Josefine will codrive her uncle Axel Beinke in his Ascona 400.