Rallye Vosges Grand-Est: Another Premiere for Opel Corsa Rally Electric

• Third round of ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” in France
• Standings leader Max Reiter is the target on Rallye Vosges Grand-Est
• “Home game” for quick French drivers Callea, Rumeau, Gudet and Rott

In the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” one premiere follows the next. After the successful debut of the world’s first electric one-make rally cup in Switzerland at the Rallye du Chablais, the electric competition cars will return to France next weekend. Whereby the third round of the season on June 17/18 at the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est also represents new territory for the teams with their 100 kW/136 hp Opel Corsa Rally Electric. The rally centre in the small town of Gérardmer is only around 50 kilometres west of Colmar and a good 90 km from the German border.

A demanding task awaits the Cup teams in this round of the French Rally Championship at the foot of the Vosges. Eight special stages over 96 km are on the agenda; including the connecting stages, the electrified competitors must cover 509 km on Saturday and Sunday.

In terms of sport, the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe” 2023 leaves nothing to be desired. The current overall leader in the Cup, Max Reiter, had to push hard in Switzerland in order to achieve his second win of the season, just ahead of his Swedish opponent Calle Carlberg. Reiter’s lead in the overall standings gives him little reason to relax. “It’s going to be tight. We must continue to do everything we can to stay ahead in this evenly matched field,” he admitted.

The two championship leaders are likely to face tough competition, not least from the local heroes. The lightning-fast Terence Callea wants to make people forget his accident in Switzerland on home soil, and Sarah Rumeau has impressively proven in the first two rallies of the year that she, like her teammate Cindy Gudet from the FFSA Academy, is always to be reckoned with. The Rallye Vosges Grand-Est is a real home game for Anthony Rott from Alsace, who is also contesting his first season in the world’s first one-make electric rally cup.

However, the German juniors are always good for a podium, as Christian Lemke proved at the Rallye du Chablais. “We’ve often been close, but it finally worked. We want to continue like this,” he said. And Joe Baur, whose speed has often been slowed by small setbacks, has defined a clear goal: “Finally complete a rally without any problems, and right at the front!” A sentence that could also come from the Austrian Luca Pröglhöf.

Points standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup 2023 (after 2 of 8 rounds):

1. Reiter, 65.

2. Carlberg 56.

3. Lemke 46.

4. Rumeau 35.

5. Pröglhöf 33.

6. Callea 27.

7. Tarta 23.

8. Rott and Van Hoof, 22 each.

10. Gudet 16.

11. Wittenbeck 9.

12. Baur and Oprea, 8 each.

14. Mendoza 4.