In the 1970s, the Lancia Stratos changed the face of rallying. It was the first purpose-built rally car ever built - and it is still successful. The fans of the Eifel Rallye Festival just voted it as the greatest car of the 2014 event. First place went to the 1974 Alitalia car of Fred Walter/Klaus Hucke (start number 61). Runner up was a vehicle that can hardly be more different than the Stratos. This was the Opel Commodore GS/E driven by Andreas Kramer/Thomas Kalbitzer (No. 23). After seeing the performance of the car during the event one might suggest that the driving style of the crew might have played a role in this surprising vote. The last place on the podium is occupied by the Ford Escort RS1800 of Jonas Bellinger/Holger Lohr (No. 85) which is painted in the Sachs colours used by Reinhard Hainbach in Germany in 1979.

Among the course-opening cars it was the current German Rally Champion Georg Berlandy with co-driver Ulrike Schmitt who secured the top spot at the wheel of his Opel Ascona A (No. 0).