The 10th jubilee Rally Kumrovec is over! Curvy, narrow roads may be empty, but the dust has not settled yet!

A few days ago, we wrote an announcement for the spectacular 10th Rally Kumrovec, which, to remind you, was held from the 2nd to 4th September, and now we are writing a summary of the events, experiences that some will remember by the rapid time achievements, and some by failed attempts to get their racing car to finish the prestigious competition.

Although the Rally Kumrovec ride did not open the domestic season, Kumrovec was indeed ready for 68 crews from seven European countries this year as well. Of the 68 crews that applied, only 65 of them eventually passed the verification on the basis of which they acquired the right to compete. A total of 12 crews did not finish the competition, and therefore did not even collect the important points.

In the past, Kumrovec also fit perfectly into the dimensions that go along with the "queen" of motor sports. Even during the former state, the Auto Moto Rally Kumrovec, which at that time was one of the biggest sporting events, was held right here. It is these narrow, winding roads that do not lack speeds and jumps that prompted the main organizers to revive the old tradition in 2011 and organize an event that takes place in its current form every year except 2014, which is the only year when the tradition was not honored.

Walking past all 68 pit stops on the day of the first run, the atmosphere was extremely positive, the teams were diligently doing checks on their cars like busy bees, I believe they didn't even have time to think about anything other than Shakedown and  that the already familiar track would look based on it. The weather forecast was also in favor of the drivers, the road was dry, but with a slightly different surface than in previous years, so that the co-drivers carefully recorded the track; they recorded the smallest stone and bump to provide the driver to give his maximum during scoring and to reach the finish line safely and as fast as possible.

Although diligent work was done, many visited other teams to get to know the competition or just to greet their fellow drivers, as there were a lot of veterans, drivers and co-drivers here who have known each other from the many past races they went through together. Their main topics were, of course, the cars they had been working on diligently for months, but also speculation about who could win, whether the Austrians would continue their series of victories or equally good Hungarians, or, since this is  a jubilee, whether there would be some surprises and dream achievements meaning  that this year a Croatian team would perform its record victory.

The competition is over, the official results were announced on Saturday night at the finish line with the award ceremony in the center of the old village of Kumrovec, so go with us through this most exciting part that we have been looking forward to.

The Austrians  won this year as well, again the crew of Hermann Neubauer and co-driver Bernhard Ettel with  Ford Fiesta Rally 2, who gained their advantage of 10 seconds at the start at two equal "prologue" speeds in Tuheljske Toplice.

The second-placed are Hungarians, Antal Kovacs and Gergely Istovics, in their Ford Fiesta R5, and  Austrians Peter Eisberger and Claudia Maier in the Ford Fiesta Rally2 only gathered half a second more in the first kilometers of speeds.

The second day of the rally, among other routes, was driven in Zagorje villages, where the Hungarian took the points on the first speeds, while on all other sections, the victory was won by the winning Austrian.

The order of the first three crews that eventually won the throne was the same as in the first evening.

Let's get reminded, a two-day itinerary was driven, which amounts to a total of 161.48 km, of which 76.09 km go to 8 special speed tests.

If you are wondering what happened to the Croats, the most successful of the 48 applicants were Juraj Šebalj from Zagreb and the co-driver Ivan Pogačić from the Car Club St. Sunday;  they performed with a new car, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10. This team won the 5th place overall with two time thirds recorded on the speeds.

His club colleague, a veteran and champion Nenad Lončarić, with his co-driver Tajana Vojvodić-Pinky, in  Subaru Impreza STI was slightly weaker in this competition, and reached the 11th place.

Viliam Prodan and Zoran Raštegorac from Auto Club Opatija Motorsport, who kept the leading position with the third victory of the season in the Croatian Championship in the overall rankings, achieved a total of the 6th place in this competition in class 2 with  Ford Fiesta Rally4.

Our most famous Dubrovnik resident Niko Pulić from the Auto Club Dubrovnik Racing had a great return to the tracks. Niko drove his Ford Fiesta Rally4 for the first time with the female co-pilot Aleksandra Kovačić from the Delta Sport Auto Club. That team achieved the 7th place.

The driver to whom we held figs, Dario Šamec, and  the co-driver Florian Šalec, from Auto Club Zagorje, the only one from class 1, also registered a victory in the 9th place. It was their first appearance in  Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

Our boys Šamec / Šalec performed with their team RaceTrip, with which they also accompanied the team Kristijan Kroflin with the co-driver Stjepan Franjić who performed in the Citroen Saxo VTS.

They gave this incredible team, which was performing at the Rally Kumrovec for the first time, a "roof over their head", accompanied them with tire repair and mechanical services, and as more experienced colleagues and with many kilometers in the rally, advised and encouraged them to achieve the best possible results although they were participating for the first time in the Kumrovec Rally.

Let this be an invitation for all rally fans who do not have their own team and do not have an adequate car, and love the race and know how to deal with  Evanson's windings, not to feel desperate and be encouraged to explore RaceTrip team that can offer them absolutely everything to participate in every race.

At the end of each Rally, no matter how exhausted all the rally drivers are, they are looking forward to the next competition, which we believe will take place in Kumrovec next year as well. Diligent sports enthusiasts from Auto Club Delta hold a very high position in the organization of the same, they had great pressure and task and passed it with great success, and with these sentences we thank and congratulate them on such a well done job. If it wasn't for our long-term associates and sponsors of the municipalities of Kumrovec, Zagorska Sela and Tuhelj, and Terme Tuhelj, Krapina-Zagorje County, and the general sponsor of INA Industrija nafte d.d. this competition would also not be possible.

Conclusion? See you next year!