The 21st edition of the ADAC-Grabfeldrallye, held on Saturday, 05 July 2014 in Rhön-Grabfeld region, Bayern, Germany, was overshadowed by an accident that resulted in the death of one of the competitors.
The fatal accident occurred around 13h00, midway through the 8.5-kilometer second special stage of the rally "Herbscher Hütte". German driver Ingo Koschmieder lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII #207, at the exit of a left turn, at the end of the uphill passage of the driveway to the landfill of the Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld, between the villages of Herbstadt and Breitensee. The car went off the road on the right side, landing at full speed into an about three feet deep ditch.
The force of the impact was so strong that Ingo Koschmieder suffered injuries from which he died almost instantly. His co-driver Tom Waloch, 25, survived only slightly injured. The man was treated on-site by an ambulance and then flown by helicopter to the Klinikum Meiningen.
An experienced amateur driver Ingo Koschmieder started his career in the late 1990s. He drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII for team KMC Kassel with a measure of success. In 2014 he earned an outright win in the ADAC Werra-Meissner Rallye, sharing the car with co-driver Christian Friemel.
Owing to the accident the event was immediately stopped and the remainder of the rally's special stages were canceled. The ADAC-Grabfeldrallye was a round of the 2014 Norbayerische ADAC Rallye Meisterschaft. Considered as the best attended rally event in Germany, with more than 200 participants each year, it was an yearly event organized by the AMC Bad Königshofen, since 1994.
This was reported to be the second fatality since the first edition of the rally. In an accident which happened on 05 July 1997, Gerhard Süß lost his life. Ironically, both the accidents occurred along the same driveway to the landfill of the Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld.
R.I.P
