Title bonanza for Keller in Lusatia

Table leader Dark Liebehenschel faces a tough task, because all the top domestic and foreign drivers swarm his class RC2. Already on the first stage a driveshaft on his Skoda Fabia Rally2 breaks; more than three minutes of time loss throw him hopelessly back. The same defect also affects Finnish driver Rasmus Tuominen in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9; but he only loses 30 seconds and by Friday evening is already back in class place 2 — and thus back on course for the title.

On Saturday he storms to the top of class NC1 and has the Gravel Cup win in sight, when on the 24 km WP 5 Reichwalde the differential suffers damage; Tuominen has to retire in service. Now Rudi and Simone Weileder in the Evo 8 lie third in class NC1 on course for the runner‑up spot, but 10 km before the finish of the final second Reichwalde stage the rear axle breaks.

The Weileders just make it to the finish but lose class position 3 to Sven Senglaub. In the end Tuominen, Liebehenschel and Weileder are separated by only minimal points, occupying positions 2 to 4 in the Gravel Cup. Hermann Gaßner (Evo 10) celebrates the class victory ahead of Michael Gerber and the only 22-year-old Josephine Finger, who, in the 30-year-old Subaru Impreza, wins the Gravel Cup category 3.

Small cars – big performance

Around 120 of 146 WP kilometres run over loose surface, and naturally all-wheel-drive cars occupy the first 23 places. As the best 2WD driver, Kilian Nierenz finishes in the Opel Corsa Rally4, only six seconds behind him — after gearbox problems on Friday and an overnight change — Fabian Schulze and Clara Bettge in the Peugeot 208 Rally4. In the Gravel Cup they win the front-wheel-drive category and improve — with the highest points of the 29 Cup teams — from position 13 to position 6.

In the 2-litre class the two 24-year-old juniors Yannik Keller in the Ford Fiesta ST and Arwed Jungnickel in the Ford Fiesta R2T engage in an exciting duel. When the Opel Junior Cup winner drops out with engine problems in the penultimate stage, Keller wins decisively. With class position 3, Torsten Brunke in the VW Golf defends his top-ten place in the Gravel Cup.

Three weeks after his 18th birthday, Ian Hayn shines with a commanding victory in the NC4 class up to 1600 cm³, more than two minutes ahead of Thomas Grimm in the Mitsubishi Colt. In the only 135 PS Suzuki Swift, Hayn and co-driver Frederike Sandberg particularly impress on Friday evening, when in the dark they show the taillights to all the 2-litre teams. With Andre Raupach in the four-wheel-drive Yaris and Norbert Meyer in the Volvo 940 — from the weakest LG class 4 — two Group G cars also finish in the top ten of the Gravel Cup. The junior classification is won — of course — by Yannik Keller, 24, ahead of Ian Hayn, 18, and Moritz Wagner, 22. Dark Liebehenschel secures the trophy in the BRT special classification with four overall wins in the 2026 season.

Gravel Cup final standings

Keller triumphs in the German Gravel Rally Cup as well

The DSRC classification, for which only the pure class results are used, also goes to Yannik Keller and Lilly Kunz. Herbert Lösch and Lara Quast finish 2nd ahead of Rudi and Simone Weileder. Further placings: 4. Tuominen, 5. Liebehenschel, 6. Raupach, 7. Hayn, 8. Brunke, 9. Meyer, 10. Ramonat. In the U25 juniors Keller wins ahead of Hayn and Wagner.

Upset in the ADMV Championship

Raphael Ramonat and Karina Derda set off for the final round of the ADMV Championship with a comfortable lead. The opening test in the "Arena" goes to plan: 2nd place behind Vorobjovs and ahead of Gaßner. But on the second loop the Evo 10 finishes with over two minutes lost time; a drivetrain failure proves irreparable. After Ramonat's retirement only the previous second-placed Torsten Brunke in the VW Golf and Yannik Keller in the Fiesta, both from class NC3, remain in contention for the title. Brunke would have to finish directly behind Keller, but from the start Lennart Surner in the Ford Fiesta R2 lies between them.

Brunke and co-driver Normen Standke can temporarily reduce the deficit on Saturday, but in the end the Golf team only achieves class position 3 behind Keller and Surner and thus finishes as runners-up. Yannik Keller and Lilly Kunz take the most valuable title of the ADMV rally series and also lead the U25 classification, followed by the two Suzuki youngsters Ian Hayn and Moritz Wagner.

Fourth-best junior is Paul Knüpfer, 21, with 18-year-old co-driver Stine Schmidt, the youngest team in Lusatia, who despite bad luck on Friday win the DRM-Nationals daily classification and finish third in the DMN annual standings. The U25 co-drivers classification is led by Clara Wildgrube, ahead of Lilly Kunz, Leonard Nitzsche and Josephine Finger.

Final standings ADMV Rally Championship

Yannik Keller and Lilly Kunz secure the seventh title in the Saxony Rally Championship. Defending champions Pierre Günther and Dominic Gräbner start in the Renault Clio Rally5 alone in the class; although they finish as class winners, they receive fewer points than Keller for the victory against 7 class rivals. René Kunze and Niklas Haase move up to third place in the finale thanks to their win in the 3-liter class with their BMW Touring against a quartet of Volvos.

Of 83 starting teams, 56 reach the finish—a good rate. The stages in the Lausitz are unique in Central Europe. And what the small ADMV club RRWC Lausitz organizes is astonishing every year. Rudi Weileder, back at the Lausitz start after a 14‑year break, sums it up: "This is simply a mega-event."