Not only from the world of karting: the great champions of four wheels were often born in promotional formulas, in those single-brand championships where it is really possible to enter the competitions with very little. A world now almost forgotten by the large generalist manufacturers who instead once strongly presided over this sector of motorsport.
With some exceptions, though. One of these – and perhaps the most important – is that of Opel, which has invented a single-brand rally for electric cars, all aimed at promoting young talents. And obviously also electric mobility (which is as far from the world of motorsport as can be).
In short, a double somersault that has given birth to a one-make championship that is unique in the world but that – unexpectedly – is working great: since 2015, the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team has won five titles in the European Junior Rally Championship. But not only that: to date, almost 140 participants from 22 nations have taken part in a round of the ADAC Opel Rally Cup or the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”.
An army of youngsters attracted by the fact that the best drivers in the Championship have the opportunity to move up to the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team the following year and take the next steps in their driving development as Opel works drivers in the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC). And it works because so far a total of 11 drivers have made the leap onto the international rally stage with Opel.
And if we want to give names and surnames, here they are: Emil Bergkvist (Sweden, 2015 season), Marijan Griebel (Germany, 2016), Chris Ingram (Great Britain, 2017) and Mārtiņš Sesks (Latvia, 2018). They are the ones who gave the ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team four European titles in a row. Italian Tamara Molinaro also won the women’s category in the 2017 JERC season.
But it’s not just in the European Junior Championship that former Cup drivers are reaping laurels. Emil Bergkvist and Tom Kristensson celebrated Junior World Champion titles in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Englishman Chris Ingram became European Rally Champion in 2019. Marijan Griebel added the 2017 European U28 Championship to his JERC title from the previous year, has already been crowned German Rally Champion three times and is heading for the title again this season. Former Opel Junior Fabian Kreim has also secured the German Rally Championship title three times. Successes – it must be said – that few would have bet on when this strange one-make championship for electric races was born. And yet… The motorsport world is grateful.
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