The 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.
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 was happy to finish in fourth position.
“I’m really happy about winning this really challenging rally,” beamed Pröglhöf. “On the first day, I was 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.” Pröglhöf also took the lead in the cup standings with the victory.
After the third stage, Pröglhöf and Español shared the lead at the same time. But then the Spaniard lost 17 seconds on the following stage and could not 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 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. In these adverse conditions with wet, mud and darkness, the ultimate goal 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 Solingen 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 20-minute penalty 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 was no longer possible.
The 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.
