Tom Heindrichs is the man of the moment in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSE.” With his third consecutive victory and a commanding performance at the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine, the brother of World Rally Champion Thierry Neuville reduced his deficit in the overall standings of the world's first electric rally one-make cup to four points behind Spaniard Alex “Sito” Español. With sixth place, Germany's Kilian Nierenz lost a little ground in the standings. Meanwhile, Austria's Marcel Neulinger celebrated his first podium finish in the Opel Corsa Rally Electric around Morzine. However, during the technical post-race inspection, the vehicle was found to have insufficient ground clearance, which the stewards penalized with a 30-second penalty. This meant that Frenchman Anthony Rott unexpectedly moved up to the podium position, which he thought he had missed by just four tenths of a second against Neulinger at the finish line.

Right from the start, Heindrichs and his co-driver Jonas Schmitz took the lead in the asphalt rally at the foot of the highest mountain in the Alps. With four fastest times in the first six special stages, the Belgians had already built up a comfortable lead by the end of the first day of the rally. They didn't let this slip on the final day and ultimately won with a 26.8-second lead over Español and his co-driver Borja Odriozola. The winners of the first two races of the season retained their lead in the standings, but lost another four points of their lead over Heindrichs/Schmitz.

“It was a great rally for us,” beamed Heindrichs. “Apart from a mistake in the Power Stage, we had an almost perfect rally. It was our first time here, everything was new to us – so we are completely satisfied. We were able to reduce our deficit to Alex from 23 points at a time to four points. We are on a real roll and of course we want to continue it.”

With second place and victory in the Power Stage, Español retained the lead in the standings, but was not completely satisfied: "It was a difficult rally. Yesterday we had a minor technical problem, so we couldn't quite keep up with Tom's pace. But we covered some important kilometers again, gained some great experience, won the Power Stage, and are ready for the last two rallies. It's definitely going to be a tough battle with Tom. I'm looking forward to it."

After plenty of bad luck in the first rallies of the season, Frenchmen Anthony and Adrien Rott once again enjoyed success in front of their home crowd with third place. The disappointment of the Alsatians at missing out on the podium so closely turned to joy after Neulinger was penalized. “After all the bad luck in the first rallies, this result is like balm for our souls,” admitted Anthony. "On the first day, we chose the wrong tires. On Saturday, things went very well at first. In the Power Stage, we then had the feeling that we had a puncture. But that wasn't the case. That irritated us a little, and it was all the more annoying that in the end we were four tenths of a second off the podium. But now we're very happy."

The penalty saw Marcel Neulinger and his co-driver Jakob Ruhsam slip back to fourth place. The Rallye Mont-Blanc had not started well for the young Austrian driver: "We couldn't take part in the shakedown because I had severe toothache and had to go to the dentist first. Fortunately, he was able to fix the problem. Then on the first day, we made the wrong choice of tires in the rain – but that was the case for most of us. On Saturday, we had a great duel with the Rotts, which we narrowly won. The podium was my big goal for my first year. Of course, I'm annoyed about the penalty. But we'll celebrate anyway!"

Third-placed Kilian Nierenz and his co-driver Milena Raithel had to settle for sixth place in France after three podium finishes. The driver commented on his result with a certain amount of disappointment: "It didn't go perfectly. We noticed that we lacked a bit of experience in this demanding rally. In yesterday's rain, we didn't cope well with the slicks and broke a shock absorber in the 22-kilometer stage. On top of that, we had two punctures. Our goal for the season is now to hold on to third place overall, especially against Christian Lemke. That's what we'll be focusing on in the last two rallies."

The young Belgian Thyrsa Eertmans and her co-driver Justine Demeestere achieved a real feat in the third stage on Saturday. The ladies were the only ones to predict the onset of rain, fitted the appropriate MW1 tires to their Corsa Rally Electric, and set the fastest time on the French asphalt. The setback came in SS5 in the form of a run-off that cost them almost ten minutes. In the end, Eertmans/Demeestere reached the finish line in Morzine in tenth place.

The fifth round of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSE” will take place on September 26-27 as part of the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg.

Standings ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup “powered by GSE” after 5 of 7 rounds:

1. Español 145 points. 2. Heindrichs 141. 3. Nierenz 115. 4. Lemke 102. 5. Kamermans 89. 6. Neulinger 70. 7. Wittenbeck 59. 8. Jungnickel 49. 9. Rott 44. 10. Eertmans and Steitz, 42 each.