Leadership Change of ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup

• Second half of ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” underway
• Calle Carlberg wins ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rallye comfortably from Max Reiter
• Swede now leads world’s first electric one make rally cup

With an outstanding performance, Calle Carlberg won the fifth round of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” as part of the ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rallye. The 23-year-old Swede, as always guided by his father Torbjörn in the “hot seat” of the Opel Corsa Rally Electric, set the best time in nine of the 10 special stages and finally celebrated with a lead of 35.4 seconds over Max Reiter (23) and his co-driver Conny Nemenich his second win of the season.

The title fight between Carlberg and Reiter has now really flared up. While the Scandinavian travelled to St. Wendel five points behind the local hero, Carlberg now leads the overall standings of the world's first electric one-make rally cup by the same distance ahead of Reiter.

“I'm really happy about my second victory in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup,” beamed Carlberg. “We found a good rhythm in the cockpit right from the start. However, I was quite tense for a long time because I really wanted to win. It wasn't until midday on Saturday, when the lead had grown a bit, that I relaxed. It's good to be at the top of the table now. But nothing changes in my prognosis: the title will only be decided at the finale!”

“We tried everything, but in the end it wasn't enough,” said the three-time winner of the season, Reiter. “In stage 5 we cracked a wishbone, which cost us some time. Towards the end it became clear that we wouldn't catch Calle, so we wanted to at least score full points on the Power Stage. Unfortunately, I made a big mistake right there, so we ended up empty-handed. I congratulate Calle on the win and at the same time I promise him a tough fight for the coming rallies.”

Behind the two permanent rivals, Joe Baur, with Fabian Peter at his side, drove onto the podium for the first time in his still young rally career and was correspondingly pleased: “It finally worked out,” said the 24-year-old. “We were quite close a couple of times, but here we managed a clean rally from the first to the last stage. This makes the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup even more fun!”

Sarah Rumeau, however, was unlucky. The 28-year-old Frenchwoman and her co-driver Julie Amblard were once again aiming for their first podium finish when they were slowed down by a transmission issue in their Corsa Rally Electric on the fourth special stage. They were back in action the following day, but they could not get more than eighth place and a point for fifth in the “Power Stage”. In the overall standings, Rumeau/Amblard are now 16 points behind the Austrians Luca Pröglhöf/Dina Ettel, who had to settle for fourth place. Fifth were Christian Lemke and Stefan Schneeweiß, who also hold this position in the standings.

For their sixth showdown of the year, the Cup teams will travel to France the week after next, where another highlight of the season awaits the electric rally cars, the Rallye Mont Blanc Morzine.

Standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup 2023 (after 5 of 8 rounds):

1. Carlberg, 156 points.
2. Reiter 151.
3. Pröglhöf 105.
4. Rumeau 89.
5. Lemke 74.
6. Baur 62.
7. Van Hoof 56.
8. Gudet 46.
9. Tarta 39.
10. Callea and Wittenbeck, 27 each.

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