Daniel Dobitsch experienced another highlight in his career at the end of the ADAC GT Masters season. Together with his father Kurt, Dobitsch took part in this October´s legendary Carrera Panamericana rally in Mexico which is now run as a classic road event. Father and son tackled their first rally together in a Chevrolet Camaro.

Drivers covered more than 3,000 kilometres on the rally through Mexico. "The organisation and the quality of the pace notes were very good," said Dobitsch about his experiences in Central America. "The routes were very well secured, and we often had a police escort. The police closed roads on special stages in every small village and at every junction. Of course, the roads there don´t always pose a danger and are no more dangerous than the mountain passes back home."

Nevertheless, there were plenty of ‘oops´ moments and adventures in Mexico. "We wanted to try out the Camaro before the start but discovered that the car had no number plates. Still, they weren´t necessary as it turned out, so we drove clean across Mexico without number plates."

"The windscreen wipers on the Camaro packed up in pouring rain in Mexico City. We had the choice of either parking up at the side of the road on the edge of town or of driving through the city without wipers, which seemed to us to be less dangerous than hanging about on the outskirts of town. Driving through Mexico City was no fun at all, as I could only see the taillights of the car in front of me."

There were plenty of unforgettable scenes in Mexico: "We gained many positive impressions of the country, even if seeing policemen armed to the teeth everywhere took some getting used to. The people were very friendly and welcoming. The whole country took the rally to its heart, and there were at times from 50,000 to 200,000 spectators waiting to see us pass through the stages. The country is really beautiful on the whole, and we saw a lot of it during the rally."

The rally went really well. Despite his experience of lining up in 64 ADAC GT Masters races, Dobitsch is still a novice as far as the sport goes. "We came out on top in practically every one of the daily classifications. Unfortunately, we messed up one day at the service park and made a mistake with times for arriving and leaving, which earned us a big penalty." In the end, Dobitsch and his father took second place in the class with the most competitors and twelfth place overall. Victory went to ex-Formula 1 driver Erik Comas.

Dobitsch, who races with kfzteile24 APR Motorsport in the ADAC GT Masters thought that the format of the rally was great and can see himself going on more rally adventures in the future. "It was a lot of fun. You race only against the clock and it´s much more of a team sport than is competing on a racetrack."