Timo Schulz clinches 2026 European Junior Rally Championship title with Opel
Timo Schulz sealed the 2026 Junior European Rally Championship at the Portuguese season finale, taking second place in an all-Opel title duel with team-mate Tom Heindrichs.
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What Happened
Timo Schulz is the 2026 Junior European Rally Champion. The 27-year-old German, alongside co-driver Maresa Lade, prevailed in the Junior European Rally Championship showdown in Portugal in an all-Opel duel against his team-mate Tom Heindrichs, though he also benefited from the Belgian's misfortune. Second place at the final round, the Rally Six Cities North of Portugal around Fafe, was enough to clinch the title in his Opel Corsa Rally4. The rally itself was won by the Norwegian Karl-Peder Nordstrand in yet another Opel Corsa Rally4.
Only Timo Schulz and Tom Heindrichs, team-mates at the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team, were still in contention for the JERC title ahead of the Rally Six Cities North of Portugal around Fafe.
During the third special stage, a stone thrown up by the tyres damaged the oil cooler and engine of the Corsa Rally4 driven by Heindrichs and Jonas Schmitz, effectively ending their title hopes.
Heindrichs set five fastest times across the eight special stages, but Schulz coasted through to the finish and second place was enough for the championship.
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Won in ten years of participation by the team led by Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott.
“To have consistently been among the frontrunners in this fiercely contested championship over such a long period is testament to the strong performance of everyone involved and the effectiveness of the unique development programme run by Opel and the ADAC. Once again, we had the best combination of drivers, car and team. My thanks go to Manfred Stohl and his professional, dedicated team, who always provided our crews with a perfectly prepared car. The Corsa Rally4 set the benchmark once more in its fifth year of competition in the JERC. And our drivers and co-drivers deserve the highest praise for a magnificent job throughout the season.”
“I'm a bit lost for words when it comes to describing how I feel. We've worked so hard for this success over the past years. And now, having won the European Junior Championship, it's a fantastic feeling. I'm extremely grateful for everything Opel and Opel Motorsport have done for me. None of this would have been possible without them. I'd also like to thank Maresa, as well as the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team and Waldherr Motorsport, for their brilliant work throughout the season.”
Heindrichs, the 22-year-old brother of former World Rally Champion Thierry Neuville, took a pragmatic view of the setback. He and co-driver Schmitz, winners of the 2025 ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, had won two rallies this season and said they could be satisfied with a strong campaign, while thanking Opel Motorsport and Stohl Racing for making Sunday's restart possible. The pair still showed their potential with five fastest times across Sunday's eight special stages, even though they were no longer in contention for the JERC title. Schulz said he felt really sorry for Heindrichs and Schmitz and that it would have been nicer to see the title battle through with them. He described the rally as tough and said that on Sunday the crew simply had to coast through and get the car to the finish, which was difficult enough.
- Schulz and Lade compete in the sixth round of the ADAC Opel GSE Rally Cup at the ADAC Saarland-Palatinate Rally.
- Schönborn and Wenzel also line up for the team at the same event.
- Heindrichs and Schmitz complete the three-car entry this coming weekend.
Previously from Opel Automobile GmbH
Opel's all-electric one-make rally cup, the ADAC Opel GSE Rally Cup, made its Italian debut at the 73rd Sanremo Rally, held from October 16 to 18, as its first event on Italian soil.
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Opel Automobile GmbH's official releases.
Why this matters
The crown is the seventh Junior European Championship title for the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team in ten years of participation, which Opel presents as proof that its shared development programme with the ADAC works. It also underlines the competitiveness of the Corsa Rally4, now in its fifth year of JERC competition, and keeps the team's young drivers in the shop window for the next step in their careers.
Terms in This Story
- JERC
- The Junior European Rally Championship, a rally series for junior drivers in which crews score points over a season of rounds.
- Rally4
- A rally competition category for cars built to a common set of rules; the Opel Corsa Rally4 is the model raced in it.
- Special stage
- A timed section of a rally run on closed roads, with the times added together to decide the classification.
- Co-driver
- The person who sits alongside the driver in a rally car, reading pace notes and navigating the route.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.