Opel Juniors follow in the footsteps of their idols

Third round of the Junior European Rally Championship (JERC) in Sweden. Calle Carlberg is looking forward to his home round at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia. Timo Schulz wants to score in both the Corsa Rally4 and Autoball.

The Royal Rally of Scandinavia is a special highlight on the program for the best rally talents in Europe, including the two juniors of the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team. The gravel competition around Karlstad in the province of Värmland includes some of the legendary special stages of the former Sweden Rally, including the Colin’s Special Stage on Friday (SS4 + 7), a reminiscence of the unforgotten former World Rally Champion Colin McRae. The jump over “Colin’s Crest” is considered by rally fans to be one of the most spectacular passages in international rallying and provides for height and distance record attempts every year.

The two drivers of the ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team are also traveling to the northern shore of the picturesque Lake Vänern with great anticipation. Calle Carlberg in particular is especially motivated ahead of his home rally. “The Royal Rally of Scandinavia is the highlight of the year for me,” says the 23-year-old, who, as usual, listens to the instructions of his Norwegian co-driver Jørgen Eriksen. “Last year I was close to getting a start, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. So I’m all the more looking forward to my debut at this rally. Some of the special stages, especially Colin’s, have awakened my love for rallying. Even at the age of 6, I admired idols like Petter Solberg as a spectator. And now I’m going to drive these legendary stages myself – in front of all the passionate Swedish rally fans, especially at Colin’s Crest!”

Timo Schulz is taking on the Royal Rally of Scandinavia for the second time. “In Sweden, we naturally want to build on the good result from Gran Canaria,” says the 24-year-old from Siersburg in Saarland, who, together with co-driver Michael Wenzel and his Scandinavian team-mates, secured his first podium finish of the year on the Spanish Atlantic island. “We’ve been working intensively on last year’s pace notes and onboard recordings and are approaching this fast and challenging gravel rally with a good feeling.”

Schulz is expecting a very special challenge on Thursday. On the day before the opening match of the European Football Championship between Germany and Scotland, the Opel junior and Scotsman Max McRae, nephew of the aforementioned Colin McRae, will compete in a penalty shoot-out – not with their feet, but in their rally cars. “It’s going to be great fun,” laughs Schulz. “I’ll give it my all and try to show the Scots that German cars are not only fast, but also accurate. I picked up a few tricks last weekend at the European Autoball Championship.”

The main task for Carlberg and Schulz is of course to achieve a good result at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia. The fact that this will once again be a tough task is ensured by 12 other strong teams in the Junior European Championship. A total of 17 special stages over 191 kilometers are on the program. As always, a short Super Special Stage on Thursday evening opens the actual rally, before eight challenging special stages are on the program each on Friday and Saturday. The rally concludes on Saturday at 16:05 with the so-called “Power Stage” before the finish in Karlstad.

Rally fans can follow the spectacular action on the paid channel wrc+ / Rally TV and find live timing on www.adac-motorsport.de