Opel Mokka GSE Rally: A New Star in Electric Rallying

• World premiere: Opel Mokka GSE Rally prototype impresses spectators at the ELE Rally in the Netherlands
• Leader of the pack: Alex Español wins second round of the 2025 ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’
• Pursuers: Dutchman Fabian Kamermans and German Christian Lemke finish on the podium

With his second victory of the season, Spaniard Alex "Sito" Español extended his overall lead in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ at the ELE Rally in the Netherlands. After an exciting competition, the Iberian and his co-driver Borja Odriozola pipped the Dutch crew Fabian Kamermans/Stefan Müller by 13.6 seconds in adverse conditions with rain and slippery tracks. Germany's Christian Lemke and his co-driver Pascal Raabe, who replaced the injured Jan-Eric Bemmann, finished third. "It was hard work," said Español. "I was under enormous pressure the whole time. I'm really happy with my second win of the season and would like to see it continue like this. But I know the other fast guys will try to prevent that."

However, the secret star at the ELE Rally was something else: The new Opel Mokka GSE Rally celebrated its premiere in front of a large audience, including more than 50 guests from Opel Belgium and Opel Netherlands, during the asphalt race around Eindhoven. Opel motorsport legend Volker Strycek was behind the wheel of the 207 kW (280 hp) electric rally car from Rüsselsheim, which boasts a torque of 345 Newton meters. Rebecca Reinermann, Vice President Marketing at Opel and Vauxhall was also thrilled as she climbed into the passenger seat of the all-electric prototype at the ELE Rally

Despite Opel Mokka GSE Rally grabbing some of the attention the other drivers were fully focussed on ensuring an exciting competition in their Opel Corsa Rally Electric rally cars. With two special stage best times, Español took the lead in the standings on Friday and did not relinquish it until the finish late on Saturday evening, although Christian Lemke was always breathing down his neck. After the eleventh special stage, only two tenths of a second separated the leaders. Only one stage later, Lemke lost about half a minute but attacked again in the last two stages and thus pushed guest driver Timo van der Marel off the podium. "It was a lot of fun," said the German happily. "Despite the difficult conditions, it was a nice rally, although not an easy one. The car was great, we were able to keep up with the speed of the front runners over the two days and are very satisfied overall."

Van der Marel had fought a tough duel with Fabian Kamermans for the title of best local throughout the rally. Kamermans, who like Español, van der Marel, Lemke and Belgian Tom Heindrichs, who finished fifth, achieved at least one best time in a special stage, was delighted with the best Cup result of his career: "It's a great feeling to be on the podium at my home rally. Of course, I would have liked to win, but Sito was incredibly fast. The fight in the top 6 was crazy. With the best time and the five bonus points in the Power Stage, we almost got the maximum out of it, are now in 3rd place in the overall standings and are happy. It could hardly have gone better." Kilian Nierenz and Milena Raithel, who had finished on the podium at the opening round in Sulingen, finished sixth.

“This was a very special event for Opel,” said Jörg Schrott, Head of Opel Motorsport. “Our new Opel Mokka GSE Rallye generated a lot of attention at the ELE Rally. The car left a strong impression visually, acoustically and in terms of performance. The fight for the top in the Cup standings was again extremely exciting. Five drivers have set at least one stage best time, which speaks for the high level of balance in the field. Opel has made a strong statement for electric rallying here in the Netherlands.”

The third round of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ will take place on June 14/15 at the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est. The pacey electric cars will set up their service park in St.-Dié-des-Vosges.

Points standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ after 2 of 7 rounds:

1. Español                             64 points

2. Lemke                                53

3. Kamermans                       48

4. Nierenz                               46

5. Heindrichs                          41

6. Wittenbeck                         25

7. Jungnickel                          20

8. M. Neulinger and Steitz     both 18

10. Eertmans                           13

ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup: Exciting Water Sport in Netherlands

• Second round of ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” 2024
• Austrian Luca Pröglhöf wins at ELE Rally around Eindhoven
• Exciting fight for leadership of world’s first electric one-make rally cup

Exciting guest appearance of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” on the ELE Rally in the Netherlands ended with victory for the Austrian Luca Pröglhöf. After 12 special stages made even more challenging by the adverse weather conditions, the 24-year-old and his co-driver Christina Ettel were just 8.8 seconds ahead of the Spanish duo Alex Español Jove/Patricia Sáiz Ruiloba. The third-placed French brothers Anthony and Adrien Rott continued their upward trend and celebrated their first podium in the world's first electric one-make rally cup. The French women's crew of Emma Chalvin/Emy Ailloud-Perraud were happy to finish in fourth position.

“I’m really happy about winning this really challenging rally,” beamed Pröglhöf. “On the first day I was a bit too cautious because of the heavy rain. On Saturday the feeling in the car was good right from the start. The night stages on both days were particularly challenging, it was fun and showed that the teamwork between Christina and I works well.” With the victory, Pröglhöf also took the overall lead in the cup standings.

After the third from last stage, Pröglhöf and Español shared the lead with the same time. But then the Spaniard lost 17 seconds on the following stage and was unable to make up the deficit before the finish. “We made a bit of a mistake there,” Español admitted, “but I am still satisfied with our performance. We have improved since the opening round and now we get more out of ourselves and the car. The Corsa Rally Electric and the cup are great fun.”

With the best times on stages 5 and 8 and a sparkling performance throughout the entire rally the Rott brothers proved that they have finally reached the top of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup. “I hope the trend continues,” laughed driver Anthony. “It’s super tight up there. But we feel that we can keep up. Things went very well, especially in the rain.”

Emma Chalvin was also all smiles after her fourth place: “I’m really happy with our rally. The ultimate goal in these adverse conditions with wet, mud and darkness was to keep the car on the road and not make any serious mistakes. Of course, we also benefited from some of our competitors' mistakes, but as the saying goes: to finish first, first you have to finish. So Emy and I tried not to take unnecessary risks.”

Two teams that were on the podium at the start of the season in Sulingen were unlucky. Hungarians Bendegúz Hangodi and Dániel Petrovszki were in the lead when they slid off the road into the same muddy ditch that had previously claimed the French women Alizée Pottier/Joanna Verdier. By the time the cars got back on the road, a penalty of 20 minutes had been imposed on both teams.

After their best time on stage 1 the opening-round winners Christian Lemke/Jan-Eric Bemmann continued to fight for the top positions when their car rolled out on stage 5 with a problem caused by water ingress. Although the error was found in service and easily remedied, more than 10th place overall and third in the final Power Stage were no longer possible.

Third round of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” takes place on June 15/16 at the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est around Gérardmer, not far from the French-German border.

Standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” after 2 of 8 rounds:

1. Pröglhöf      60 points.

2. Español        48.

3. Rott               45.

4. Hangodi       44.

5. Lemke          42.

6. Chalvin         27.

7. Pottier and Kurstjens, 16 each.

9. Kamermans and Bayer, 14 each.

11. Melse          12.

12. Wittenbeck  9.

13. Baudet         8.

ELE Rally: Exciting Night Shifts in ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup

• Round two of ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”
• Opel Corsa Rally Electric returns to Netherlands after one-year absence
• ELE Rally around Eindhoven is especially challenging

After an exciting start to the season in early May at the ADAC Rallye Sulingen, the teams contesting the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” will travel to the Netherlands for the second round next weekend. The ELE Rally already hosted the world's first electric one-make rally cup in the 2022 season. The asphalt event around Eindhoven impresses with its demanding special stages and an unusual schedule that requires the young teams to work two night shifts in their 100 kW (136 hp) Opel Corsa Rally Electric.

Start of the first leg is on Friday (May 24) at 6:50 p.m., before the cars roll into parc fermé after four special stages and a final service at 11:02 p.m. The action continues on Saturday (May 25) from 12.45 p.m. with the restart of the second leg of eight special stages. The finish in Eindhoven will not be reached until 11:10 p.m. “Driving in the dark is always a special challenge. The co-driver’s instructions must be delivered spot-on to be really fast. The pace notes will therefore be of particular importance, especially for our young teams,” said Opel Motorsport boss Jörg Schrott.

After his first victory in Sulingen, Christian Lemke (23) finds himself in the role of the hunted for the first time: “An unusual role, but one that I’m very happy to take on,” he said. In the points standings, Lemke is only two points ahead of Austrian Luca Pröglhöf, who is aiming for his second cup win in the Netherlands. And Hungarian Bendegúz Hangodi, who is only a further two points behind, is also aiming high: “The podium finish in Sulingen was nice – but I’m going for the maximum!”

Lyssia Baudet

Three women starting in the Netherlands also have a lot of ambition. Lyssia Baudet (21), supported by the Belgian automobile sports association RACB, and her French competitors Alizée Pottier and Emma Chalvin from the FFSA Academy team, want to use what they learned on the opening round to really challenge their male colleagues. New to the cup are 19-year-old Fabian Kamermans and his co-driver Ashley de Boer. Kamermans is one of three drivers who are being evaluated by the Dutch organization KNAF for a regular cockpit in the Corsa Rally Electric for the 2025 cup season.

Two Dutch crews will also be making a guest appearance: Leo Kurstjens and Jan Gerssen will be in the Schmack Motorsport team, while journalist Dries van den Elzen and co-driver Marcel van Elven will be producing an extensive article for the Dutch car magazine “AutoVisie”. Timo van der Marel, who completed a full season in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup in 2021, is also piloting another Corsa Rally Electric as a “taxi driver” for media and VIP guests.