50 Years Ago: Walter Röhrl Wins European Rally Championship in Opel Ascona

• October 13, 1974: Röhrl/Berger take title with a maximum of 120 points
• Top class: Röhrl also wins 1982 World Rally Championship in the Ascona
• ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup 2024: Electrifying rally sport

Fast, exciting and electrifying – three words that perfectly describe the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”. With the world’s first fully electric one-make rally cup, Opel, ADAC and everyone involved are showing how modern, sustainable rallying works today. Luca Pröglhöf has just secured this year’s title and thrilled the fans in exciting competitions. But Pröglhöf and his colleagues have famous “forerunners”. Because Opel and rallying are closely linked.

Watching cars drift and master difficult conditions has thrilled motorsports fans for many years. Today, they can see the battery-electric Opel Corsa Rally Electric in action. In the 1970s and 1980s legendary Opel rally cars and drivers thrilled the masses. Two names are inextricably linked to the rally successes of the time: the Opel Ascona as a reliable competition vehicle and Walter Röhrl as a young, aspiring rally driver who would ultimately become the best in his profession. The exceptional driver won his first major title exactly 50 years ago: Together with his co-driver Jochen Berger, he won the European Rally Championship on October 13, 1974 – with a maximum possible tally of 120 points.

In record time: from young talent to rally ace

Born in Regensburg in 1947, Walter Röhrl focussed on sport from an early age: football, rowing, skiing – and finally motorsport. According to his own statement, the young Bavarian consciously chose “rally instead of circuit.” It proved to be the right decision.

His breakthrough, which turned him from “nobody” (as he once said himself) into a surprise frontrunner in the rally circus, came in 1972. Röhrl played a dominant role in the Poland Rally, the Baltic Rally and the Olympia Rally. From 1973 onwards, the then 26-year-old drove for Opel – with Jochen Berger at his side. He gives Röhrl the route instructions and plays a significant role in the coming successes. Even back then, the co-driver was sure of Röhrl’s driving qualities: “Driving through a special stage with Walter is safer than crossing the road in the city.”

He turns out to be right: in the same year, with just a few starts and almost the same number of overall victories, the two of them finish as runners-up in the European Championships in an Opel Ascona. For Röhrl, this proved to be the perfect springboard for the coming season with the recently founded Opel Euro Dealer Team.

Convincing display: Röhrl/Berger win 1974 European Championship in Opel Ascona

And so, in 1974, Walter Röhrl and Jochen Berger attacked the competition with great ambitions. Their car is again a factory Ascona A. This has an engine that has been bored out to two litres with an overhead camshaft and crossflow cylinder head. This means that the car produces between 141 kW (192 hp) and 156 kW (212 hp). Special springs and special shock absorbers as well as internally ventilated disc brakes at the front and ventilated drum brakes at the rear adapt the chassis of the rally car based on the production model to the tough competition conditions. In his biography “Aufschrift” Röhrl remembers: “The engine was easy to drive. Power came from around 2,000 rpm and continued to 7,600 rpm. But I refrained from revving it up so high. My moral limit was 7,000 rpm. Mostly."

However, Röhrl/Berger have to be patient until their first big success of the season. At the 8^th International Firestone Rally – the 5^th round of the European Rally Championship at the end of March 1974 – the time had finally come. As the top team in the Opel Euro Dealer Team, the two achieved a superior start/finish victory after 1,517 kilometres and 19 special stages in the northern Spanish mountains. From then on, things happened in quick succession: just four weeks later, Röhrl/Berger took the lead right from the start at the Tulip Rally in the Netherlands. After 1,250 kilometres and 38 special tests, they achieved their next impressive overall victory in their Ascona. The local authorities cause a moment of shock: They suspect Röhrl of significantly exceeding the permitted speed limit. Fortunately, this turns out to be a mistake. The law enforcement officers did not catch the German duo with starting number 1 speeding – instead the Polish team with number 7 were caught on camera.

Further victories follow in the Hessen Rally, the Moldau Rally and the Danube Rally in Romania. The Opel drivers clearly lead the overall standings – and the 13^th Rally Internazionale di Lugano is scheduled to take place from October 11 to 13. Röhrl/Berger can already secure the European title. They once again took “pole position” among the 52 competitors right from the start. The 28 tough special stages in the mountains between Lugano and Lake Maggiore take their toll: only 18 teams cross the finish line on October 13 – with the Opel Ascona with Walter Röhrl and Jochen Berger leading the way. After 1,000 kilometres they are more than ten minutes ahead of the second-placed team. With their sixth overall victory and 120 points – the highest number of points ever achieved to date – they won the European Rally Championship in 1974 with three races remaining.

1974 European Championship: the start of Röhrl and Opel’s further rally success

But after this success, Walter Röhrl has even greater ambitions. He writes: “With the European title I had achieved what I wanted. But one dream kept me going: winning the Monte Carlo Rally once in my life.”

In 1975, Röhrl achieved the first victory in a World Rally Championship race for himself and Opel, but in 1977 the exceptional driver and the brand with the Blitz went their separate ways. At this point in time, no one had any idea that their greatest sporting triumph was yet to come. In 1982, Röhrl returned to Opel. While Jochen Berger is manager of the motorsport department, his new co-driver Christian Geistdörfer also makes a decisive contribution to the success of the “Mission Monte Carlo” – along with the 191 kW (260 hp) Ascona 400. With Geistdörfer and the Ascona 400, Röhrl wins the legendary Monte Carlo Rally for the second time. A tailor-made start to the rally season, which ultimately culminated in a spectacular victory in the 1982 Drivers‘ World Championship.