01 Debut of the year
Sarah Rumeau. We already knew beforehand that the two-time French rally champion knows where the accelerator, sorry, the accelerator pedal is. But this debut in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup as part of the ADAC Rallye Sulingen was impressive: first rally in the Corsa Rally Electric, first special stage – first best time! Just so the boys know straight away… As the season progressed, the 28-year-old and her co-driver Julie Amblard were always at the forefront and celebrated their long-overdue first podium finish at the Mont-Blanc Morzine Rally.
Sarah Rumeau (from left) and co-driver Julie Amblard celebrated their first podium finish in the Corsa Rally Electric at Mont Blanc. The second French women’s team with Cindy Gudet and Jeanne Rey also provided a lot of lady power in the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup.
02 Trick of the Year
Christina Ettel. The 36-year-old Austrian is a perfect fit as a rally co-driver. Luca Pröglhöf has also been relying on her announcements since last year. And in order to take the pressure off her driver on the one hand and to sharpen her focus on the other, “Dina” resorted to a trick: no more test times and classifications for the 24-year-old – neither from her nor from anyone else. Pröglhöf was happy to go along with the information blackout. Result: First podium finish at the Vosges Grand-Est Rally, two more in the next four rallies, victory at the season finale as part of the Central European Rally.
Luca Pröglhöf and co-driver Christina “Dina” Ettel finished the season in third place overall.
03 duel of the year
Calle Carlberg and Max Reiter. What the two performed throughout the season deserved the title “extra class”. In the already high-class field of participants in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, the two 23-year-olds were in a league of their own. After the German had achieved three victories in the first four rallies, the Swede turned the tables, climbed to the top step of the podium four times and ultimately brought home the title confidently. Carlberg and Reiter were the only drivers in the field to finish in the top three in all eight races of the 2023 season.
At the big season finale, Calle Carlberg (right) left nothing to be desired.
Max Reiter from Saarland was ultimately 18 points short of a great triumph.
04 Unlucky person of the year
Max Reiter. The conditions before the final were not rosy anyway. 17 points behind league leader Carlberg left Dillinger with only one choice: full attack, win or dig. Unfortunately, there was a third option: the tire damage in the first Saturday special stage cost around a minute and a half. But because the word “give up” doesn’t appear in Reiter’s vocabulary, the Saarlander and his co-driver Conny Nemenich continued to give it their all and moved up to third place. The title was gone, but still: Masterful!
After the flat tire in the finale, Max Reiter and co-driver Conny Nemenich fought their way back up to third place with a total of three special stage best times.
05 Charmer of the Year
Armiche Mendoza Silva. The names of the driver and co-driver alone – Armiche Mendoza Silva and Alejandro Falcón Caballero – sound like fiesta and flamenco. And when you add a natural charm and a great sense of humor, you have all the ingredients for audience and competitor favorites. When the tenth place finisher in the cup receives the loudest applause from his fellow competitors at the annual awards ceremony, all questions are answered. With two sixth places in Weiz and Morzine, the 21-year-old from Gran Canaria also showed great potential.
Wherever Armiche Mendoza Silva (second from left) and Alejandro Falcón Caballero (right) appeared, the best atmosphere was guaranteed.
06 Family Affair of the Year
Torbjörn and Calle Carlberg. It is not unusual for a rally driver to rely on the announcements of his son or daughter as co-driver. After all, rally driving is a matter of trust. The young generation at the wheel and the old generation in the “hot seat”, however, are rather the exception. Calle and Torbjörn Carlberg perfected the intra-family cooperation to such an extent that in the end they won the championship title in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup. Dad Torbjörn says: “I’ve had so many drivers in my career! Calle is just one of them – really fast!”
Calle Carlberg and his father Torbjörn proved to be an unbeatable team in the third season of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”.
07 Switcher of the Year
Cindy Gudet. Anyone who has ever seen the six-time French mountain champion behind the wheel of her 500 hp prototype (hot tip: YouTube) will quickly avoid asking questions about the 27-year-old’s driving skills. The Frenchwoman quickly realized that rallying in general and the Corsa Rally Electric with its relatively civilian 136 series horsepower in particular are a different beast. Two changes in the passenger made getting used to it even more difficult. After all: In the City Stage of the Vosges Grand-Est Rally there was second place. So speed is not an issue. The rest can be learned.
“I wanted to experience something other than mountain racing,” said Cindy Gudet before the season and took part in the world’s first electric rally one-make cup.
08 rally highlights of the year
Mont Blanc and CE. Picking the best from eight great rallies is tricky. But the Mont Blanc Rally is simply a blast. Around 300 rally cars transform the winter sports resort of Morzine into a gigantic rally service park. The routes at the foot of the highest mountain in the Alps are breathtaking. And so was the Central European Rally. The show starts in front of a dream backdrop in Prague, 125,000 spectators at the tests in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. Could there be a better setting for a title decision than a World Rally Championship race?
The Corsa Rally Electric put on a great show in front of the panorama of the French Alps.
Sarah Rumeau (right) and Julie Amblard enjoyed the start of the show in Prague.
09 Stars of the Year
Mouton, Petit and Klopp. Michèle Mouton, now 72 years old, is a rally legend: Vice world champion in 1982 behind the great Walter Röhrl, four-time winner of a World Rally Championship race, today a manager at the FIA, visited the FFSA ladies at the Central European Rally. Likeable and attractive: Miss France 2021, Amandine Petit, dared to get into the cockpit of a Corsa Rally Electric as co-pilot at the Mont Blanc Rally. And the video shoot of some Cup pilots with star soccer coach Jürgen Klopp in Liverpool was an experience that none of them will ever forget.
Rally legend Michèle Mouton (center) in conversation with Cindy Gudet (left) and Sarah Rumeau.
Amandine Petit, Miss France 2021, dared to take the cockpit as co-pilot at the Mont Blanc Rally.
The Cup pilots met star soccer coach Jürgen Klopp during a video shoot in Liverpool.
10 promotions of the year
Track test, Art Car, DTM Challenge. The communication measures surrounding the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup were all a success. Be it the track test by 35 European journalists on a spectacular gravel track in Pachfurth/Austria. The Corsa Rally Electric Art Car designed by Berlin artist Elisa Klinkenberg, which represents so many of Opel’s values. Or the DTM Gravel Challenge with four DTM stars in the Corsa Rally Electric as part of the DTM race at the Lausitzring, live on ProSieben. What all the activities have in common: the extra-wide grins on the faces of the participants.
The artist Elisa Klinkenberg (right) together with the Romanian Cristiana Oprea during a shoot.
Journalists in Austria were able to test how much fun the electrification of rallying is.
November 2023
Text: Marcus Lacroix, photos: Opel Motorsport