The 2025 ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup ended the way every championship organiser dreams of - decided on the very last stage, in a crash, with everyone walking away unhurt.
Spanish driver Alex “Sito” Español had led all season and entered the Central European Rally with a narrow points advantage over Belgium’s Tom Heindrichs.
But on Sunday’s Power Stage, his Corsa Rally Electric snapped sideways in a fast section and rolled - gifting Heindrichs the title and offering an unplanned demonstration of just how tough Opel’s electric rally car has become. Both Español and co-driver Borja Odriozola climbed out unscathed.
That’s now three seasons of door-to-door EV rallying without major incident - a stat that says more about the maturity of the technology than any corporate slogan ever could.
Heindrichs, 21, becomes the youngest Cup champion yet and earns a factory-backed seat in the 2026 FIA Junior European Rally Championship, where he’ll graduate to the Corsa Rally4. “It’ll take a while before everything sinks in,” he said. “It was a tough season... we brought home the title and are extremely happy about it.”
Austrian Marcel Neulinger claimed his first win of the season at the CER, finishing just 2.1 seconds ahead of Heindrichs after 127 competitive kilometres - proof that electric rallying now delivers the same photo-finish margins fans expect from petrol stages.
There was also an unlikely name further down the order: Fabian Vettel, younger brother of four-time F1 champion Sebastian, who made his rally debut and finished tenth. “It was a real sensory overload,” he admitted. “I think I need to come back.”
The series once again based its service park in Hauzenberg, where crowds watched the Corsa Rally Electric alongside the 281 hp Opel Mokka GSE Rally, driven as a lead car by reigning Junior European Champion Calle Carlberg. The GSE name, short for Grand Sport Electric, ties the motorsport project directly to Opel’s growing electric road-car line-up - a clear sign that what’s learned on gravel will end up in showrooms.
For all the marketing spin about “thrills” and “emissions-free excitement”, this year’s finale earned its drama the old-fashioned way: hard racing, tiny margins, and a crash that decided a championship. Electric or not, that’s rallying.
