Fabian Gaukler, Björn Seliger, Andres Bueno, Andreas Dietrich and Federico Acosta - these are the five photographers that have impressed our chief juror Reinhard Klein most with their particularly spectacular, atmospheric, artistic or simply inventive pictures and are thus the winners of this year's photo competition. They have 'beaten' 107 photographers from twelve different countries who have send in a total of more than 500 images. This was not only the most international entry in the competition ever recorded in eight years, the variety of pictures was also outstanding. "The photographers really didn't make it easy for me," explains Reinhard Klein, the renowned WRC photographer who is responsible for selecting the winners this year. "The photographic competition always brings together many beautiful pictures, but I have the impression that the quality has never been as good as this year. I am particularly pleased with the variety of images which underlines how diverse the Eifel Rallye Festival is."

These are the winners::

1st Prize: Fabian Gaukler, Nohfelden (D)
Fabian Gaukler's picture has everything that makes a great rally photo: Action, atmosphere and fans are composed into a work of art. But the image of this Opel Ascona 400 in full sideways action on the Lehwald stage also shows how good the Festival can be captured from the spectator areas.

Prize: Co-drive with a VIP driver during the shakedown of the 2019 Eifel Rallye Festival

2st Prize: Björn Seliger, Wächtersbach (D)
"Riding Balls of Fire" is the title of Helmut Deimel's film about the Group B days, and this picture taken by Björn Seliger would have been the perfect cover image for his film: the fire-spitting Peugeot 205 T16 of Timo Salonen illuminated the night skies over Sarmersbach with his own fireworks.

Prize: McKlein Calendar "Rally History 2019" & "Desktop Rally Calendar 2019"

3st Prize: Andres Bueno, Vargas (E)
Andres Bueno from Spain has captured a completely different aspect of the event: the romantic forests that are also part of the Eifel Rallye Festival. His picture shows the Porsche 911 SCRS of Wolfgang Inhester roaring through the lush green of the Lehwald forest. Even the trees bend towards the beautiful sports car - or is this effect caused by the camera lense?

Prize: McKlein Calendar "Rally History 2019" & "Desktop Rally Calendar 2019"

Special prize "most inventive image": Andreas Dietrich, Langgöns (D)
The opportunity for a good photo - like this one taken by Andreas Dietrich - sometimes just arises spontaneously. When the infamous Eifel weather hit the stages on Saturday, these fans simply converted an Opel-branded rain poncho into a two-man tent. Thus the mood of these spectators remained sunny even in the rain.

Prize: Deimelfilm „Walter Röhrl – Vollgasakrobat“ & „Desktop Rally Calendar 2019“

Special prize "photo art": Federico Acosta, Berlin (D)
This picture is somewhere between art and photography. Federico Acosta captured the night action at the start of the proWIN Hilgerath stage in a very special way - with a pan shot and an exposure time of four (!) seconds. And thanks to the flash lights of the other photographers, the Golf GTi can be seen razor-sharp three times.

Prize: Deimelfilm „Walter Röhrl – Vollgasakrobat“ & „Desktop Rally Calendar 2019“

All prize winner will also receive a fan package for the 2019 Eifel Rallye Festival and a winner's certificate signed by Reinhard Klein.

The organising team of the Eifel Rallye Festival would like to send their congratulations to the winners and thank all participants in the photographic competition. We look forward to welcoming you back next year.

In order to increase the anticipation for next year already, we have additionally made a best-of selection from all photo competition entries. We wish you a lot of fun clicking through them: BEST OF GALERIE