The line-up of cars and drivers coming to the ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival in Daun/Germany is growing quickly and now also features two former World Rally Champions. Stig Blomqvist, who secured the WRC title in 1984, is one of the fixtures of the demonstration event for classic rally cars. The popular Swede, who was crowned an 'Ambassador of Rallying' at last year's Festival, will be part of the event again this year.

He will be joined by his successor, 1985 World Champion Timo Salonen. The Flying Finn first came to the Eifel in 2015 and was truly delighted: "This is like a class trip. It is great to experience how many young people are interested in our cars and stories though they weren't even born back then." While Blomqvist's car is not confirmed yet, Salonen will take the wheel of the car for which he is most famous: a Peugeot 205 T16 E2. The specific car he will be driving in the 'Festival Parade' is a nicely-made replication by Erich Müller who himself will come with a newly-built Pikes Peak version of the same Group B car.

Apart from these World Champions, the audience will also get to see many other famous drivers when they come to Daun from July 19 to 21. These include Colin McRae's father Jimmy - five-times British Rally Champion in the 1980s - driving a Vauxhall Chevette HSR, Safari Rally legend Mike Kirkland in a Nissan 240RS and seven-times German Rally Champion Matthias Kahle who will take the wheel of a Škoda 130RS entered by Škoda Germany.

Two other Germans will have double (or even triple) duties. Two-times German Champion Harald Demuth will experience a busy weekend as he will drive two Pikes Peak Audis in the 'Festival Parade'. Demuth will demonstrate the 1985 Audi Sport Quattro in which Michèle Mouton took victory in the 'Race to the Clouds' as well as the ultimate super-Quattro, the Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 Pikes Peak that claimed the win in 1987 with Walter Röhrl at the wheel. But that is not all. Demuth will also take part in the 'normal' rally with a 'normal' Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2, this one being a replica owned by Klaus Herchenbach.

Former European Rally Champion Jochi Kleint will drive two different cars powered by four engines in the 'Festival Parade'. It was already confirmed that Kleint will drive the 1985/1986 twin-engined VW Golf owned by Wolf-Dieter Ihle, but now it is also clear that he will get the chance to try the 1987 VW Golf Bimotor that has just been re-activated by Volkswagen. It will be the very first time that these two rare cars will be seen in action side by side.

In the same spirit as Audi Tradition and Volkswagen, Peugeot will also open the doors of its museum for the 2018 Eifel Rallye Festival. The French manufacturer will release the 1988 and 1989 winning Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak in order to be part of the great show. Thanks to the Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak which will be on static display in the 'Rally Mile' of Daun all weekend, the Festival will welcome nearly all Pikes Peak winning cars from the 1980s. Its spectators will be able to see the 1983 winning Audi Quattro A2, the 1985 winning Audi Sport Quattro, the 1986/1987 winning Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 Pikes Peak and the 1988/1989 winning Peugeot.

The twin-engined Golfs might not have won the 'Race to the Clouds' but they are absolutely unique. When VW tackled the 'Race to the Clouds' for the first time in 1985, they equipped the car with two normally-aspirated 1.8-litre engines each delivering 200 bhp. In order to make the rear engine work in the rear of the Golf and keep it in position, they replaced the rear axle by a second front axle. "We finished third overall and I was awarded the 'Rookie of the Year'", remembers Jochi Kleint. For 1986, the engineers installed two turbocharged 1.3-litre engines taken from the VW Polo into the same chassis. This not only increased the power output to 250 bhp each, it also improved the power levels at altitudes - a key performance factor at an event which finishes at an altitude of 4,301 metres (14,110 feet). At the Eifel Rallye Festival, the car is running in this specification.

Then for 1987, car designer Kurt Bergmann built a completely new Golf around a tubular frame chassis. This hosted two Hewland F2 gearboxes and two turbocharged engines taken from the VW Golf GTI 16V which had 326 bhp each. With this car, Kleint qualified fourth (with only one engine running). During the race, he set the fastest time at half-distance just ahead of Walter Röhrl in the Audi but then, two hundred metres from the finish, a broken track rod end forced it to retire. "Still it was a unique experience to tackle this mountain three times in twin-engined Golfs. Those were some of the highlights of my career", says Jochi Kleint who will take a milder approach during the re-unification. "I will take good care of the cars on the Festival stages so that these irretrievable genuine cars will survive."

Order now: pre-sale for tickets and programmes has started
Spectators who are keen to visit the Eifel Rallye Festival can obtain their weekend tickets and programmes from the official online shop no matter in what European country they are living. While visiting the 'Rally Mile' in the heart of Daun is free of charge, there are various admission tickets needed for those who like to see the action on the special stages.

The pre-sale of weekend tickets and programmes is open until July 06, 2018 from http://www.eifel-rallye-festival.de/en/rallye-shop.html.

Eifel Rallye Festival - Time Table

Thursday, 19.07.2018
15:00 - 19:00 hrs, Shakedown at the 'Maubach Arena' near Hörscheid
from 20:30 hrs, Welcome Evening in the Rally Mile, Open Air Cinema with film-maker Helmut Deimel

Friday, 20.07.2018
From 08:00 hrs, Scrutineering in the Rally Mile
11:00 - 12:00 hrs, Autograph Session with the VIP drivers
From 14:20 hrs, Super Stage with jump, water splash and gravel action
From 19.30 hrs, proWIN Hilgerath stage in Sarmersbach at night including the 'Festival Parade'

Saturday, 22.07.2017
08:30 - 17:00 hrs, Tarmac Stages in the Vulkaneifel region, inbetween, Rally Mile in Daun with various attractions
From 19:30 hrs, Rally Party & Prize Giving

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