Some days it rains and sometimes you just can’t stop the sun from shining. In a sport which relies on mechanical as well as human endeavour, rallying can deliver the highest of highs before cutting a driver down to their lowest ebb ever.
Former German champion Hermann Gassner talks to us about his time on top of the world and the day he wished he’d stayed in bed. Gassner is currently battling for a podium place on the SWRC section of the Jordan Rally.
Best day: Christmas came early
I really remember the Tuesday morning I found out that I had got a drive in the Red Bull Skoda team in this year’s Super 2000 World Rally Championship. It was a cold December day and I was training as usual. I had been talking for a while about the deal, maybe I was going to be driving the Red Bull car, maybe I wasn’t, I didn’t know. But then I found out that I was and Christmas really did come early last year! It was incredible. I was so happy. And, amazingly enough, I found out by looking on the Red Bull website! I knew that it was going to be announced soon, but then when I saw it, it was fantastic.
Worst day: Not so super superally
When you retire from a rally, providing your car is still safe to drive, you can come back the next day and drive again. This regulation is called superally, maybe it’s not such a good name! My worst day has to be the final day of the Rally d’Italia in 2009. I was driving my Mitsubishi, chasing the good result, but twice I had to retire, on day one and on day two. Each time I came back with superally and drove again, but then on the final day, with just 13 kilometres of the rally left, I retired again. This was terrible, such a tough event and really not the kind of result I had gone there for.
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