Tom Heindrichs Wins Third Round of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ 2025

• Belgian Heindrichs dominates the action at Rally Vosges Grand-Est
• Championship leader Alex Español and German Kilian Nierenz complete the podium
• Opel Mokka GSE Rally prototype inspires drivers and fans in the Vosges

Tom Heindrichs dominated the third round of the 2025 ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ 2025. At the Rally Vosges Grand-Est in northern France, the 21-year-old Belgian and his co-driver Jonas Schmitz were the fastest in seven of the eight special stages in their Opel Corsa Rally Electric and had an impressive lead of 52.8 seconds over championship leader Alex ‘Sito’ Español and his co-driver Borja Odriozola at the finish in Gérardmer. Kilian Nierenz and co-driver Milena Raithel won an exciting three-way battle with the Austrians Marcel Neulinger/Silvano Winkler and the Germans Christian Lemke/Jan-Eric Bemmann and secured their second podium place of the season. In the overall standings, Español's lead over the new runner-up Heindrichs is now 17 points.

At the finish, winner Heindrichs¸ brother of World Rally Champion Thierry Neuville, was satisfied: "After the start of the season did not go quite to plan for us, we are all the more pleased with this win. The fact that we were able to win seven out of eight stages here shows that we are on the right track. Now it is important to keep at it and make up more ground on Sito in the championship. We are looking forward to the next events in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup."

Kilian Nierenz was no less happy, after moving up into third in the overall standings thanks to another podium finish: "The rally was awesome! At the shakedown, we were really shocked at how challenging but also beautiful the route is here. Tom was outstanding, but we're super happy with third place and the second fastest time in the Power Stage. Opel Corsa Rally Electric also worked great on these hard tracks and we were able to gain a lot of valuable experience again. It was a lot of fun!"

Opel Mokka GSE Rally: Prototype causes a stir on and at edge of track

New all-electric Opel Mokka GSE Rally also caused a stir among French rally fans. Opel veteran Horst Rotter and his co-driver Conny Nemenich drove the 207 kW (280 hp) prototype as an advance vehicle over the demanding special stages and gained further important insights in the development of the powerful electric car. "The car already works really well and is a lot of fun with its high torque of 345 Newton meters," Rotter praised.

"As in the past two years, the Vosges Grand-Est Rally has proven to be a challenging but also very enjoyable event for our young participants," said Jörg Schrott, Head of Opel Motorsport. "The fact that all the cars saw the chequered flag in Gérardmer speaks for our teams and the qualities of the Opel Corsa Rally Electric. Tom Heindrichs put on an outstanding display. Above all, I am happy about the great performances of Marcel Neulinger and Thyrsa Eertmans, who have impressively shown their potential here. And our new Mokka GSE Rally has left a strong impression on the French fans."

Teams of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ will now take a short summer break. The fourth round of the world's first electric rally one-make cup will take place on August 15 and 16 as part of the ADAC Saarland-Palatinate Rally around St. Wendel.

Standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ‘powered by GSE’ after 3 of 7 rounds:

1. Español                   91 points

2. Heindrichs              74 points

3. Nierenz                   72 points

4. Lemke                     69 points

5. Kamermans            55 points

6. Neulinger               42 points

7. Wittenbeck            35 points

8. Jungnickel              28 points

9. Eertmans               27 points

10. Steitz                    23 points

11. Rott                      19 points

12. Raftery                 10 points

ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup: Opel Corsa Rally Electric Masters the Rigours of the Vosges

• Exciting battle between electric rally teams at Rallye Vosges Grand-Est
• With victory, Austrian Luca Pröglhöf extends his lead in standings
• Locals Anthony and Adrien Rott move up to second place in overall classification

With his second win of the season, Luca Pröglhöf has extended his overall lead in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”. Alongside his co-driver Christina Ettel, the 24-year-old Austrian won at the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est ahead of the two local teams Julien Casale/Pierre Delorme and Anthony and Adrien Rott. In fourth and fifth place, two women's teams, Emma Chalvin/Emy Ailloud-Perraud (France) and Lyssia Baudet/Pauline Denis (Belgium), braved the adverse conditions on the challenging roads around Gérardmer. The skies opened their floodgates again and again, which made the choice of tyres a tricky matter.

Exciting duel between Pröglhöf and guest driver Casale was decided on the penultimate special stage by a puncture on the Opel Corsa Rally Electric of the 29-year-old from Merville, who is competing in the Stellantis Rally Cup France this season. The result of the fourth special stage on Sunday morning showed just how close it was at the top: after 26.02 extremely demanding kilometres, Pröglhöf and Casale were separated by just three tenths of a second.

“It was really tough,” said Pröglhöf. “We got off to a great start and were able to maintain a fast pace on both days without having to take unnecessary risks. You could see from the whole field how quickly you can get a puncture, and of course a bit of luck is also involved. But I really enjoyed the special stages again and we are of course delighted with our second win of the season.”

“I had a lot of fun with my first experience in the Corsa Rally Electric. The car is nice to drive and the Cup is well organized. The puncture was of course annoying, but we can live with second place. I hope we can come back at some point,” summed up Casale, who did not receive any points as a guest driver. The Rott brothers secured the 25 points for second place and moved up to second in the interim classification. “That's great, of course, we're happy to take the points,” said driver Anthony Rott happily. “Unfortunately, we damaged a shock absorber and the suspension on Sunday afternoon, which meant we could no longer fight for victory. I'm not entirely happy with our performance, but of course we're very pleased with the podium finish.”

Casale/Delorme were not the only team to be slowed by a puncture. Alizée Pottier and Manon Perrin in the second Corsa Rally Electric of the FFSA Academy had to change tyres twice on stage 5, as did the Hungarians Bendegúz Hangodi/Dániel Petrovszki, who had no fewer than five flat tyres in total.

Three Opel GSe models also attracted a lot of attention from spectators. Skilfully driven by French rally teams, the sporty Astra GSe ensured safety on the special stages as course cars ahead of the field of participants (combined values for Opel Astra GSe according to WLTP 1: weighted energy consumption 17.8 kWh electricity/100 km plus 1.3 l petrol/100 km; CO2 emissions 30 g/km; CO2 class B. With discharged battery: fuel consumption 6.2 l/100 km; CO2 class E).

[1] A vehicle's values not only depend on the vehicle's efficient use of fuel, but are also influenced by driving behaviour and other non-technical factors.

At the halfway point of the season, the teams of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup will travel to Styria in Austria in just under four weeks. The Rallye Weiz on July 12 and 13 will be the venue for a qualifying round of the world's first electric rally one-make cup for the third time.

Standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” after 3 of 8 rounds:

1. Pröglhöf                               95 points.

2. Rott                                       72.

3. Hangodi                               64.

4. Chalvin                                 49.

5. Español                                48.

6. Lemke                                   42.

7. Pottier and Baudet             28 each.

9. Melse                                    25.

10. Wittenbeck                         23.

11. Kurstjens                            16.

12. Kamermans and Bayer    14 each.