Timo Scheider im ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup / DRM

Prominent guest driver at the start of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSe”: Timo Scheider competes in the ADAC Actronics Rallye Sulingen on 3/4. May for the second time with the youth teams from the first cup of the electricity rally. In the first year of the 2021 Cup, the two-time DTM champion and former Opel driver did a great job in the Corsa Rally Electric at the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg and finished his first rally in an incredible fifth place.

Since then, the 45-year-old, who now lives alternately in Lochau, Austria and Miami/Florida, has gained more off-road experience, not least through his participation in Extreme E and the World Rallycross Championship. In Extreme E this season, Scheider is working for the SUN Minimeal Team in a dual role as team boss and driver. Readers of the trade magazine Motorsport aktuell recently appreciated the achievements of the former circuit ace by voting him “Rally Driver of the Year 2023”.

At the ADAC Actronics Rallye Sulingen, Timo Scheider will race the VIP Corsa Rally Electric, which will be maintained by his former DTM team Holzer Motorsport. Jara Hain (24, Göttingen), a young but experienced co-pilot, is in the right seat of the electric speeder. The Hessian is familiar with the ADAC Opel Electric Cup from the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Since last year, he has been racing with Albert Fürst von Thurn und Taxi in a Rally2 car with about 300 hp. The duo recently won the Mitropa Cup classification as part of the Lavanttal Championship in Austria. On the first weekend in May 2024, Timo Scheider will guide you through the special steps required around Sulingen and a story time hunt through the old army warehouse on the Eickhofer Heide, formerly the IVG site.

“I really enjoyed my first outing in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup 2021,” says Timo Scheider. “In fact it was already clear to me that I would still have a lot to learn in the rally. That turned out to be true. But I think we made a good first performance in the Corsa Rally Electric and my intention was always to be able to build on this first experience of the rally I’m very happy that it’s working at ADAC Rallye Sulingen with my co-driver, I’m sure we’ll arrive in Sulingen well organized, because I definitely don’t want to continue it would be presumptuous to talk about finishing the stage, but I think it would be very nice to be able to put an exclamation point on one or two special stages.

Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott is also looking forward to the start of his former supporter’s visit: “We have been through so much together that Timo has been and will always be part of the Opel family. The fact that he is once again competing with the wild youngsters in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup is a big deal. It will be an extra motivation for our teams to be able to compete against someone with such experience and success. And Timo will have to stretch himself again to survive against the fierceness of the rally. Because anyone who knows him knows that chasing him is not his thing.” (ADAC/Opel)