Emotional, Electric, Exciting: Opel Motorsport Looks Back on Successful 2024 Rally Season

• Electrifying fourth season of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”
• Luca Pröglhöf becomes first Austrian to lift title in electric rally cup
• Diverse field: Teams from eight countries, eight female drivers

ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” has once again turned heads on the international rally scene in its fourth season. Up to 16 of the near-production, 100 kW (136 hp) Opel Corsa Rally Electric once again provided exciting rally sport and battles for position for tenths of a second in the world's first and to date only electric rally one-make cup. The diversity in the field of participants was greater than ever: teams from eight nations (Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands), including a total of eight female drivers, set standards. With the two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider and the Austrian motorcycle legend Matthias Walkner, two seasoned motorsport pilots made guest appearances and tested their skills against the up-and-coming talents. Especially Scheider impressed by finishing a remarkable fifth place at the start of the season as part of the ADAC Rally Sulingen.

In his second season, Luca Pröglhöf proved to be the driver to beat. Alongside his co-driver Christina Ettel, the 25-year-old Austrian from Sittendorf near Vienna celebrated a total of four victories this season and thus clinched the title before the grand finale at the Central European Rally. For the second time, the Opel Corsa Rally Electric took part in this round of the FIA World Rally Championship and demonstrated its strong performance in front of 125,000 spectators and international media. The other victories in one of the eight cup races in five countries were celebrated by Christian Lemke (Germany), Alex Español (Spain), Jérôme Chavanne (France) and Tom Heindrichs (Belgium), half-brother of the newly crowned rally world champion Thierry Neuville.

Eight female drivers in the field also attracted a lot of attention: Emma Chalvin and Alizée Pottier (both France), Esmée Den Hartigh (Netherlands), Pia Steffe (Austria), Lyssia Baudet (Belgium), Hannah Jakobsson (Sweden) along with the Germans Claire Schönborn and Ann Felke pushed their male rivals throughout the season. With Chalvin, Baudet, Schönborn and Felke, four Opel drivers were invited to the international “Beyond Rally” women's screening in Poland which is hosted by the promoter of the World Rally Championship. Both Baudet and Schönborn not only qualified for a place at the Junior World Championship stage at the Central European Rally, but will even fight for a cockpit for the entire Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) 2025 next February as part of a shootout at the Rally Sweden.

ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team: Big challenge for Luca Pröglhöf

With his brilliant performances, this year's ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup champion Luca Pröglhöf qualified for promotion to the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team. There he will try to follow in the footsteps of his successful predecessors in the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC) next season. A total of five Junior European Championship titles by Emil Bergkvist, Marijan Griebel, Chris Ingram, Mārtiņš Sesks and Laurent Pellier testify to the high ambitions of ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team. In the 2024 JERC season, the 2023 and 2022 Cup champions Calle Carlberg and Timo Schulz also caused a stir with second and fourth places overall.

Opel Motorsport boss Jörg Schrott's expectations for the upcoming rally season are therefore high: “The international perception and interest on the part of organisers and teams in ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup have grown steadily over the past four years. We are already working hard on the 2025 season. With seven attractive events in five countries and a once again very international field, the fifth season of our innovative Cup also promises a lot of excitement. With Luca Pröglhöf, a promising talent is once again promoted from the Cup to ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team. I'm excited to see how Luca and Dina will do in the fight against the best youngsters in Europe. We are looking forward to the coming rally season, which will once again bring many challenges for Opel, but hopefully also successes.”