With Tina on Sidewalk # 19: Ilka Minor, the only co-driver at the WRC World Championship.

At first, the rally driver was a mess.

Ilka MinorBorn in 1975, personal trainer and extreme sportsman from Klagenfurt, he started coaching right after school, at a time when I was still thinking about how to slow down my student life as much as possible. Ilka then fell in love with a racing rally, attended his first rally as his girlfriend and witnessed an accident in which she Achim Mortl crashed into a tree. His co-driver got scared, hung the rally on a wedge, and a teenager sat in the place of co-driver Mörtl.

Ilka becomes the most demanded navigator in the world

When the couple broke up (personally and professionally), Ilka was already a sought-after navigator. He invited her to his racing car Manfred Stöl. S Citroen Xsaro WRC they won their first podium in Cyprus in 2005, reaching the finish line immediately after loebomwho drove the same factory racing car. In the same year, Ilka and Manfred climbed to the podium again, finishing third in the rally in Australia. Next year s Peugeot 307 WRC Stehl finished fourth in the championship and climbed to the podium three times.

125 WRC and SMS races of the century

Ilka has eight seasons of the World Rally Championship behind her shoulders, she drove 125 races, broke several times, but never gave up. Rally is her only drug, she has never tried any other,” she says.... In 2009, on Christmas Day, she received an SMS in which Henning Solberg asked her if she would be his co-driver for the 2010 season. “It was the most beautiful SMS I have ever received,– admitted Ilka. "As I answered, clearly."

In 2012 and 2013, Ilka showed incredible courage by accepting an offer from a Russian driver. Evgeny Novikovwho was known as the "emergency pilot". They achieved success, finishing in a few fourth places, but did not climb to the podium. Ilka Minor also took part in the drawing in the cockpit several times. Mikke Hirvonenawhile he is a Czech racer Martin Prokop last year was not invited to Dakar Rally. "This proposal was a dream, I didn't think for a long time" Ilka says. “Despite the fact that we did not reach the top, this whole experience was one of the most amazing things that happened to me in my entire career. I love bivouac life, I love that kind of effort, I love grinding my teeth, Dakar is a crazy adventure.”

And after reading such a reading of the drivers with whom Ilka has worked and still works, I cannot but ask her what makes Andreas Aigner, her current “client,” special or special. 

Each rally driver has a different driving style. Henning, for example, was Mr. Holywood, if he didn't fly through the air, he wasn't happy. With Novikov, whom everyone was afraid of, I felt completely safe, he had an extraordinary instinct. Andreas has two faces, but not in a negative sense: off the track he is the calmest person, and on the track he is the second person, he brakes heavily and is merciless in turns. 

Which rally is the most difficult for a passenger or for you?

I will say that every rally on asphalt is very hard, physically very tense. After three days, while the event lasts, you are completely devastated. Namely, on the asphalt, stronger overloads act on you, the tires cling to you. (Laughter). Therefore, I love macadam, it is softer, more feminine. 

Why do you really like the navigator?

For me, rallying is about working with people, but there is another technique that fascinates me - I have a technical education. After 23 years of service, I am still amazed at how fantastic man and technology work together in a rally ... And where it all goes. For me, the rally is a complex love story.

Post Scriptum 

Former PWRC world champion Andreas Aigner has driven four of the seven rallies in Austria with Ilka Mina this year and finished fourth in the Austrian championship. But the rider who was once considered the discovery of Loeb's forge hasn't lost his drive for speed, gliding and border riding, on the contrary, he has big ambitions for next season. Negotiations with new sponsors, including the successful Slovenian telematics company CVS mobile, are already underway, so it does not hide its big ambitions for the next year - with the help of one of the most sought-after navigators in the world, Ilka Minor. , it is aimed at the World Rally Championship.

Rally Show Santa Dominica however, despite a somewhat busy season and much bigger ambitions, Aigner didn't miss out on anything in the world - he was here last year with his own BMW 650i and this year he's back in Sveta Nedelya with a much more powerful car. The Škoda Fabia R5 was unbeaten in the WRC2 championship for three years, but the performance in Santa Domenica was, despite a proven top car, a test for Aigner as well, as it was the first R5 in his class. racing career.

Score by Andreas Aigner and Ilka Minor on the theme Shakedown, taking second place after the Hungarian Peter Rango, survived to the end. An Austrian crew with a Slovenian racing team and Hungarian technical support (Eurosol) took second place at the Santa Domenica Rally Show. In a rally with 135 race cars, including three WRC cars and eleven special R5s, this is a result that could be achieved next season.

Tina Torelli

photo: Miha Fabijan, World Rally Media, personal archive of Ilka Minor