News
ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival 2015 - Great news for rally fans.
It was announced this week that the legendary Sandro Munari, four times winner of the Monte Carlo Rally for Lancia in the 1970s, will be one of the featured stars appearing at the Eifel Rallye Festival this July. Even better news is that the Lancia Stratos with which he won the Monte Carlo Rally of 1977 and his co-driver from that era, Piero Sodano, will accompany him. The Stratos is owned by one of Munari's friends, Guido Avendano, and it will come to Daun with two former Lancia mechanics and some of the equipment that they used to service the Stratos forty years ago. This will add considerably to the atmosphere of an event that already features in excess of a 150 classic rally cars driving on typical special stages of the Eifel region.
Munari is one of several famous drivers that will be appearing at the Eifel Rallye Festival this year. In addition to two-times World Rally Champion Walter Röhrl, who is also the Patron of the Festival, Hannu Mikkola, also a ex-World Rally Champion and the first European driver to win the East African Safari Rally, will be there with his co-driver, Arne Hertz. Sharing an ex-works Mercedes 450 SLC with Mikkola during the weekend will be Andrew Cowan. He is also something of a legend after winning both the 1968 and 1977 editions of the London to Sydney Marathon and the 1978 South American Marathon before going on to run the Mitsubishi team that captured a total of five World Championship titles between 1996 and 1999.
All the drivers and owners of the cars participating in the Festival will gather together as guests of Autostadt for the now traditional Welcome Evening that takes place on Thursday evening. This takes place in a tiered open area in the centre of Daun right next to the main service area and the start ramp. Rally films and interviews from the stage are shown on an enormous digital screen. Autostadt is a major visitor attraction adjacent to the VW factory in Wolfsburg with a museum, displays of cars, and a customer centre where one can do everything from taking a tour of the factory to collecting one's new car. Autostadt's motto is "People, cars and what moves them" and so is a highly appropriate partner for the Eifel Rallye Festival.
Sandro Munari. Born March 1940. Works driver for Lancia 1965 to 1978 & subsequently two years with Fiat. Won Tour of Corsica 1967, Nürburgring 84 Hours 1968 and Monte Carlo 1972 in Fulvias, Targa Florio 1972 (Ferrari 312P) Tour de France 1973, Monte Carlo Rally 1975, 1976 & 1977 all in Stratos. Italian Rally Champion 1967, 1969; European Rally Champion 1973; winner FIA Cup for Rally Drivers 1977 (fore-runner of the World Championship for Rally Drivers).