• ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team returns to Junior European Rally Championship
• Frenchman Laurent Pellier pilots the Opel Corsa Rally4 on six JERC rallies
• Eagerly awaited opening round on May 13-14 in Gran Canaria

The ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team is returning to the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC) in 2022 with the very best of memories. While the philosophy and ambition remain unchanged, everything else is new. Instead of the ADAM R2, the Opel Corsa Rally4 takes to the rally stages. With Emil Bergkvist (Sweden), Marijan Griebel (Germany), Chris Ingram (England) and Mārtiņš Sesks (Latvia), four top talents from the joint Opel/ADAC talent pool were crowned Junior European Rally Champion between 2015 and 2018. A repeat of this achievement is the team’s ambition for its comeback in Europe’s toughest rally championship for rookies.

Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott: “The will to win that brought us four ERC titles in succession remains our driving force. But we know that the level in the JERC is sky-high. To fight for the title, you need to deliver 100 per cent every time and make the minimum of mistakes. That must be our goal.”

Homologated in 2021 for customer sport, the Corsa Rally4 personifies efficiency and dynamics, as it has already proved in various national championships. The 1.2-litre, three-cylinder, turbocharged engine produces an impressive 156 kW (212 hp) and maximum torque of 290 Newton metres. The car will be run by the team from Austrian rally-legend Manfred Stohl.

The Corsa Rally4 crew is also one of the most talented in the sport. Frenchman Laurent Pellier was the dominant driver in last season’s new ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup and comfortably crowned himself the first champion of the world’s first electric rally one-make cup. The promotion of the 27-year-old from Bonneville near Geneva to the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team represents the direct continuation of the successful talent-pool concept from Opel and the ADAC. The “hot seat” of the Corsa Rally4 will be occupied by co-driver Marine Pelamourques (24), who last year guided Pellier to the championship title in the Corsa-e Rally.

Once again, the JERC 2022 comprises six rounds – three on asphalt, three on gravel. The season begins on May 13-14 in Gran Canaria. After four more events in Poland, Latvia, Italy and the Czech Republic, the final round is currently scheduled for the tough gravel-rally in Cyprus.

Laurent Pellier can hardly wait: “I’m really looking forward to my JERC season. The six rallies are among the most challenging in Europe and the first round in Gran Canaria is one of my top favourites. The competition in the JERC is incredibly strong, but in the Opel ADAC Rally Junior Team, with my co-driver Marine and the Corsa Rally4, I feel very well prepared. Marine and I will do everything we can to make this season a success!”