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09 Oct 2017

Opel Thrills with Perfect ERC Hat Trick

Opel Thrills with Perfect ERC Hat Trick

  • Opel celebrates third consecutive title victory in FIA ERC Junior
  • Christopher Ingram is champion with victory at finale in Latvia
  • Opel ADAM R2 has been benchmark in FIA ERC Junior since 2015

 

Rüsselsheim.  Opel accomplished its hat trick objective in grand fashion by winning its third consecutive FIA ERC Junior U27 title at the Rallye Liepāja-Ventspils in Latvia. Following Swede Emil Bergkvist (2015) and German Marijan Griebel (2016), this season it was 23 year-old Briton Christopher Ingram who triumphed by winning the season finale around the Baltic seaport of Liepāja. In his works Opel ADAM R2, Ingram also managed to repeat his title victory of last year in the ERC3 Championship.

Under adverse external conditions, Ingram and his co-driver Ross Whittock finished 13 extremely demanding gravel special stages around 18 seconds ahead of Latvian Martins Sesks (Peugeot). “I cannot express in words how happy I am,” said an overjoyed Ingram. “I’d like to thank my Opel Rallye Junior Team for their perfect support during the entire season. The ADAM R2 once again ran like clockwork and we managed to get through this rally that took place under difficult conditions without any serious mistakes. This FIA ERC Junior title is like a dream that has finally come true for me.”

Unfortunately their Opel works teammates Jari Huttunen and Antti Linnaketo had a streak of bad luck. After winning the first leg on Saturday, the Finns were stopped in the first special stage on Sunday by no less than two punctures. As they only had one spare tyre in their ADAM R2, the misfortune-plagued duo had to complete two more special stages with a flat tyre and so lost around two minutes. But even so, they still took fourth place in the rally, giving them the European championship runner-up title. “It’s a shame, because the victory and with it the title win would have been possible,” said the disappointed 23 year-old Huttunen. “But this is also a part of rallying. And I’ve gotten so much out of this season. To be part of a true works team elevated me to a new driving level.”

Italian Tamara Molinaro (19), who had already captured the FIA ERC Ladies’ Trophy, finished the ERC season finale in the third works ADAM R2 in eighth place in class rankings with her Belgian co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe at her side and took seventh place in the FIA ERC Junior overall standings.

Current ADAC Opel Rallye Cup leaders Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog delivered a superb performance. The Swedes, not registered in the FIA ERC Junior U27, captured the RC4 category class victory in their customer ADAM R2 from Audex Motorport.

The Opel ADAM R2 once again underlined its supremacy in its class. Since Opel began entering works cars in 2015, the 190 hp rally powerhouse has won no less than 12 of 18 events in the FIA ERC Junior.

Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott was full of praise for his team: “Every athlete knows how difficult it is to win a title – and how much more difficult it is to defend it. So I am all the prouder of my entire team. In the last three years, Opel has won 12 of 18 ERC events. And at least as important is that we haven’t always just talked about young talent promotion, we have actively and successfully done it together with our partner ADAC. Three consecutive FIA ERC Junior titles are the best evidence of that.”

 

Further information about official fuel consumption, official specific CO2 emissions and consumption of electric energy can be found in the “guideline about fuel consumption, CO2 Emissions and electric energy consumption of new passenger cars” ('Leitfaden über den Kraftstoffverbrauch, die CO2-Emissionen und den Stromverbrauch neuer Personenkraftwagen') in German language, which is available free of charge at any point of sales and at DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Helmuth-Hirth-Straße 1, D-73760 Ostfildern.

 

Contact

Axel Seegers
Manager Marken- und Motorsport-Kommunikation
Tel.: +49 6142/7-75 496
Mobile: +49 151/16 41 95 70
axel.seegers@opel.com

Marcus Lacroix
Tel.: +49 (0) 7531 9228106
Mobile: 0172-7404562
ml@opel-motorsport.com

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