Eindhoven, The Netherlands, May 27th 2022 - Held this time in the Netherlands at the ELE Rally, round two of the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup – rallying’s first all-electric promotional formula – served up another dramatic, exciting contest.
With eleven crews again competing for glory, the line-up for the Opel Corsa-e Rally promised to provide some vintage racing, especially due to the return to the Cup of local hero and former Junior WRC driver, Timo Van Der Marel. And yet it was the German Timo Schulz who was first off the mark, winning the opening stage to grab the early lead. Runner-up at the opening round of this year’s ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, Schulz held onto first place until stage six when he suffered a cooling system issue. The problem cost him several minutes and unfortunately dropped him out of contention for the win. Lying a close second up to that point, no more than 7.7s behind Schulz, Van Der Marel bagged a stage win on SS7 to move into the lead. He went on to claim his first win of the year at the end of the following stage, whilst also securing up the honorary title of best performer.
Lukas Thiele finished as runner-up, some 32.4s adrift of Van Der Marel, whilst Dutch driver Jari Van Hoof rounded off the top-three. After his perfect start to the race, Timo Schulz ultimately had to settle for fourth place. The next round of the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup will be held on 10-11 June at the Rallye Stemweder Berg, in Germany.
Championship update
Max Reiter, winner of the opening round, finished fifth in Eindhoven to remain top of the drivers’ championship, two points ahead of Timo Schulz and six clear of Lukas Thiele. Timo Van Der Marel moves into fourth place in the overall standings with victory here, having missed the opening round.
