With his second win of the season, Schulz took the lead in the JERC interim standings with his second win of the season. He is now 14 points ahead of Heindrichs ahead of the season finale in Portugal from October 23 to 25. The 22-year-old Belgian and his co-driver Jonas Schmitz were locked in a fierce battle with their German team-mates right up until the 14^th of 16 special stages, when their Opel Corsa Rally4 skidded off the track, making it impossible to continue. Nevertheless, Heindrichs still has a good chance of winning the title, especially as only five of the six individual results count towards the year-end standings. Claire Schönborn and her co-driver Michael Wenzel finished the turbulent Rali Ceredigion in sixth place in the third works Corsa Rally4.

Until the Belgians dropped out, Schulz and Heindrichs had delivered an exciting battle for the lead on the fast, slippery and sometimes wet tarmac tracks around the Welsh seaside resort of Aberystwyth. After 12 special stages and 132 kilometres of special stages, the two Opel juniors were separated by just eight tenths of a second on Saturday evening. In the end, Schulz won with a lead of 13.9 seconds over last year’s European Junior Vice-Champion Ioan Lloyd and co-driver Sion Williams in another Corsa Rally4 fielded by Stohl Racing. It was the fourth victory of the season for the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team in the fifth round of the year.

“Of course, it would have been lovely to have three Opel crews on the podium. Nevertheless, we are absolutely delighted with our seventh Junior European Championship title in the eleven years we have been competing,” said Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott. “My thanks go to the whole team. Stohl Racing and Waldherr Motorsport each provided our drivers with cars that were perfectly prepared and set up. The Corsa Rally4 has proven its competitiveness in all conditions. And what pleases me particularly is that the joint talent development programme run by Opel and the ADAC has once again borne fruit. All four Opel drivers competing in Wales have come through the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup or are competing in the ADAC Opel GSE Rally Cup this season. We are proud that Opel is the only manufacturer to support young talent so effectively.”

Timo Schulz was beaming from ear to ear after his victory. “It could hardly have gone better for us,” said the 27-year-old German, who had won the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup in 2022. “We had a great battle with Tom. It’s a shame that he couldn’t go on. But now we’ve secured a good position for Portugal and are really looking forward to battling it out with Tom for the title. Thanks to the whole team at Opel and Waldherr Motorsport! On these extremely challenging special stages, a perfectly functioning and well-tuned car was absolutely crucial – and that’s exactly what we had here.”

Disappointed but composed, the 2025 Electric-Cup champion, Tom Heindrichs, commented on his mishap in special stage 14: “It was just a small mistake that happened quickly on these incredibly demanding stages. That made the impact all the greater. It’s a shame, because everything had been going well up to that point; we’d been enjoying the battle with Timo and were back on the pace. We want to take that momentum into the final. After all, everything is still to play for in the title race – we’re looking forward to it!”

The final in October, on the challenging gravel tracks around Fafe in northern Portugal, will therefore see a major title showdown between Timo Schulz and Tom Heindrichs – excitement guaranteed!