RallySport Magazine March 2017

FEATURE: JOCHI KLEINT
Jochi Kleint on his way to a class win in a
European Championship rally in 1977.
with Ernie we set up a rally team. In
1970 Ford invited us to run carburettor
version 2.6 litre Capris, one for Ernie
and one for me.
“They were hardly a competitive
match for the cars like the new Escorts,
but for the contemporary long distance
rallies they were very reliable and good
to drive, even though the bonnet was
very long!
“A very special person then joined
our team. This was Walter Rohrl. We
signed him up for an annual fee of 250
Deutchmarks...!”
The Kleint team was Walter’s
springboard to a professional career
which started with Opel in 1973. Jochi’s
life in Capris went on till the end of
1974.
Meanwhile, Jochi’s exploits with
the Capri name also became
internationally established
when he finished 10th overall on the
1970 RAC Rally in Britain, but this time
his talent was noted not only in Europe,
but also in Japan.
This was bizarre. It seemed that
Rauno Aaltonen, who had bravely been
rallying the similarly long bonnet 240Zs,
was talking with Datsun’s competition
chief Takashi Wakabayshi about Jochi.
‘Waka’ then arranged for Oda
Dencker-Andersson, the drivermanager
of the Datsun team in South
Africa, to approach Jochi about rallying
Datsuns in her country.
Kleint’s evident expertise in secret
route rallying helped start up the
second chapter in his rally life, teaming
up with the legendary Sarel van der
Merwe as Datsun South Africa’s
teammate for 1975 and 1976.
Then the Volkswagen chapter came
along. This was the first time that the
Volkswagen factory, whose 10 previous
years in motorsport had centred on
Jochi Kleint - the almost forgotten German
rally driver.
Formula Vee racing round the world,
officially went rallying.
The 1977 Sachswinter Maktredwitz
Rally was a major debut for VW. Only
months earlier the company launched
the Golf GTI, the world’s original “Hot
Hatch” production car, and rallying
was chosen as a way to develop the
image. Jochi’s car won its class and the
legendary story had begun.
After two seasons with VW, Jochi
moved on to the most successful part
of his career at Opel, starting off in
1979 driving both Ascona B and Kadett
GT/E, before embarking on a mixed
programme of WRC, ERC and German
championship events with the Ascona
400.
It began well, Jochi winning the 1979
European championship.
“It was quite a different life for
me. There were so many rallies that
we were living from one suitcase to
another. We had a lot of good results.
In 1982 Walter joined Jochi in the
team and they drove Rothmans
Opel Ascona 400s. A German-driver
dream team of old friends. Walter
concentrated on WRC events and Jochi
on German rallies.
Traditional style cars were under
pressure from the new generation
of four-wheel-drive, turbocharged
rally cars. Jochi’s best WRC
result was on the 1981 Monte Carlo
Rally, on his second year with Opel Euro
Handler team. He and Gunter Wanger
finished in third place after a quiet
event, on the occasion when the focus
of the sporting world was now on the
revolutionary times of Hannu Mikkola’s
Audi Quattro.
The two-wheel drive mid-engine
Renault 5 Turbo eventually won the
event.
“Then in the 1982 Monte Carlo Rally
I was locked in a battle with Walter. I
was in front, then he would be in front,”
Jochi recalls.
After the first leg the Asconas were
lying 1-2, but then on the long second
loop Jochi punctured and dropped
down to fourth.
On the last night he went off the road
and eventually finished seventh, while
Walter won.
“For me the highlight memory was
our good tyre decision at Burzet. I
caught Walter and drove behind him
for a long time, but he still continued
driving fast. I knew I couldn’t overtake
him!”
After two seasons commuting to
events in South Africa it was back to VW
for Jochi from 1985 to 1987, competing
initially in selected WRC events with
eight valve Golf GTIs, then later in 1987
and 1988 with 16 valve cars, upholding
the interests of two-wheel-drive VWs
56 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017