- Belgian Heindrichs dominates the action at the 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. The 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 the edge of the track
The 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.”
The 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
