Strong Results: Opel Supports the Rally Stars of Tomorrow

• Innovative electric rally concept: Opel Motorsport attaches special importance to promoting young talent
• ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”: Unique promotion opportunities for top talents in world’s first all-electric one-make rally cup
• The ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team has celebrated five titles in the Junior European Rally Championship since 2015

Since 2013, Opel and the ADAC have been writing a unique success story in rallying. To date, almost 140 participants from 22 nations have taken part in a round of the ADAC Opel Rally Cup or the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”. The one-make cup, designed and organised in close cooperation between the two partners, sets standards: it is the world’s first electric rally one-make cup!

One focus of the joint project is talent development. Since 2013, the best drivers from the Cup have been given the chance to move up to the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team the following year and take the next steps in their driving development as Opel works drivers in the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC). A total of 11 drivers have so far made the leap to the international rally stage with Opel. And it was never just the Olympic spirit that accompanied the talent development of Opel and ADAC – the top results in the JERC impressively demonstrate this.

With Emil Bergkvist (Sweden, 2015 season), Marijan Griebel (Germany, 2016), Chris Ingram (Great Britain, 2017) and Mārtiņš Sesks (Latvia, 2018), the ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team celebrated four European championship titles in a row. The Italian Opel driver Tamara Molinaro also won the women’s category in the 2017 JERC season.

When the partners Opel and ADAC broke new ground in rallying for the 2021 season by introducing the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, the strong record continued seamlessly. Laurent Pellier was crowned the first champion of an electric rally one-make cup in the battery-electric, 100 kW (136 hp) Opel Corsa Rally Electric. Directly after, the Frenchman won the fifth title in the Junior European Championship for the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team in 2022 with the Corsa Rally4.

2022 and 2023 ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup champions celebrate JERC successes

The champions of the 2022 and 2023 ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup are competing in the current JERC season. And they have also been very successful. In the first four rallies of this year’s season, Calle Carlberg (Sweden) and Timo Schulz (Germany) have already achieved four podium places among the best rally juniors in Europe. Carlberg is currently in second place in the overall European Championship standings and goes into the last two JERC competitions with a chance of winning the title.

It is not only in the Junior European Championship that the former Cup drivers are collecting laurels. Emil Bergkvist and Tom Kristensson celebrated the Junior World Championship title in 2018 and 2020 respectively. The Englishman Chris Ingram became European Rally Champion in 2019. Marijan Griebel added the 2017 U28 European Championship to his JERC title in the previous year, has also already been crowned German Rally Champion three times and is heading for the title again in the current season. Ex-Opel junior Fabian Kreim also secured the title in the German Rally Championship three times.

The German rally scene is dominated by drivers who earned their first spurs in a one-make cup from Opel and ADAC. With Marijan Griebel (1st), Julius Tannert (2nd), Nico Knacker (4th), Tom Kässer (10th), who has already been confirmed as DRM2 champion, Björn Satorius (12th) and Max Schumann (15th), six drivers from the current top 15 in the DRM (German Rally Championship) overall ranking have moved up from an Opel one-make cup.

Opel Motorsport boss Jörg Schrott: “Promoting talent is extremely important at Opel. The ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team’s record with a total of five titles in the Junior European Championship is outstanding. As part of the Stellantis family, our top talents also have further opportunities in higher categories of rallying. We at Opel Motorsport are proud of our young talents and the successes we have celebrated together with the ADAC since 2013 and since 2021 with the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup. Opel is doing something for young talent in German rallying. We will continue to do everything we can to follow up our impressive record with further triumphs.”