Dutch home victory in ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup

• Cup homecomer Timo van der Marel wins the second cup round at the ELE Rallye
• German junior Lukas Thiele celebrates his first podium finish at the Netherlands race
• In the overall standings, Timo Schulz moves to within two points of leader Max Reiter

Rüsselsheim/Munich. Timo van der Marel celebrated his comeback in the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup with a victory at the ELE Rally near Eindhoven. Together with his wife Rebecca as co-driver, the 32-year-old won his home race after a dramatic final phase ahead of the German duo Lukas Thiele and Jara Hain, who were thus able to celebrate their first podium finish in the world's first electric rally one-make cup in Altonative Motorsport's Corsa-e Rally. Third place went to Jari van Hoof/Colin Wils, also two Dutchmen.

Initially, the van der Marel duo had fought a tough battle with the championship leaders Max Reiter/Lina Meter and Timo Schulz/Benedikt Preißmann as well as the Swedes Calle and Torbjörn Carlberg, from which the Scandinavians had to pull out in the seventh special stage with a problem at the transmission. Schulz entered the final two special stages with a lead of just 1.1 seconds over Reiter and 5.5 seconds over van der Marel.

After the first run through SS Sint Oedenrode (SS8) had not yet caused any problems for the teams, this changed dramatically in the second run (SS10). Schulz and Reiter were among the drivers who damaged their radiators in a deep depression. Both teams still dragged themselves to the finish, but could no longer intervene in the fight for victory, while the Dutch crews and Thiele/Hain brought their nippy electric cars to the finish in one piece.

With fourth place Schulz closed the gap in the overall standings to within two points of Reiter, who still finished fifth. The Austrians Luca Pröglhöf/Peter Medinger came home in 6th place.

The third showdown in the 2022 ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup will take place on June 10/11 as part of the third round of the German Rally Championship at the ADAC Rally Stemweder Berg.

Points standings ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup 2022 (after 2 of 7 rounds): 1. Reiter, 52 points. 2. Schulz 50. 3. Thiele 46. 4. Van der Marel 35. 5. Van Hoof 34. 6. Pröglhöf 26. 7. Carlberg 22. 8. Kattenbach 20.

Press contact

Opel Motorsport

Marcus Lacroix, T +49 7531 92 28 106, e-mail ml@opel-motorsport.com

ADAC e.V.

Oliver Runschke, T +49 89 76 69 65, e-mail oliver.runschke@adac.de

Kay-Oliver Langendorff, T +49 89 76 69 36, e-mail kay.langendorff@adac.de

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