Ioan Lloyd secured a podium finish on his debut in the Vauxhall Mokka GSE Rally, as the brand made its return to motorsport at the ELE Rally in the Netherlands.
The opening round of the 2026 ADAC GSE Rally Cup featured a strong international field, with 16 highly competitive teams from nine different nations taking part. Day one was a controlled start for Ioan Lloyd and co-driver Sion Williams, ending Friday in P7 overall. On Saturday, Ioan and Sion achieved P2 in the first stage and continued to show impressive performance with top three finishes in SS9 and SS10, and a first-place finish in SS11.
In the penultimate stage, Ioan clipped a high ledge, causing damage to the front right suspension. With no time to spare, the British pair set about making roadside repairs to their car. Thanks to their intervention, Ioan and Sion made it through the final stage to secure a P3 finish - a podium position for Vauxhall’s first event back in motorsport.
The Mokka GSE Rally performed well during its first rally on the challenging roads around Eindhoven. With up to 281hp and 345Nm of torque, the new electric racer outperformed any Rally4 car.
Ioan Lloyd, Vauxhall GSE Rally Driver, said: “It’s an honour to bring Vauxhall back to motorsport on the podium and a fantastic start to the season. After clipping a concrete step on a cut in the penultimate stage, we were lucky to be on the podium! The racing in this championship is really close and at a high level. Electric rallying was totally new to us, so there was a lot to learn. The car is fantastic to drive – it’s something else. This rally was about learning, and hopefully at Vosges we can be even faster.”
Jörg Schrott, Opel-Vauxhall Motorsport Director, said: “Vauxhall has a really strong history in racing, especially in rally, and it is great to have them racing with us at the ADAC GSE Rally Cup. It was a very professional performance from Ioan, and he is fully focused on going for the championship. We look forward to hopefully seeing him fight for the championship at the end of the season.”
The Mokka GSE Rally represents the next step in the development of all-electric one-make rallying. Based on the serial production Vauxhall Mokka GSE, the Mokka GSE Rally retains the same striking design and even employs the same 54kWh battery. However, through motorsport engineering and experience from the Corsa Rally Electric, the software tuning for the powertrain and battery management has been designed for maximum efficiency, driveability under competitive conditions, and performance.
The 2026 ADAC GSE Rally Cup season features seven rounds across six European countries, including events in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy. The next event will be Rallye Vosges Grand Est in France on 13th and 14th June.
Results ELE Rally Eindhoven/NL
| 1. Timo Schulz/Maresa Lade (D) | 1:20:12.2 h |
| 2. Tom Dufour/Alex Dubois (F) | +31.8 sec |
| 3. Ioan Lloyd/Sion Williams (GB) | +46.3 sec |
| 4. Fabian Kamermans/Stefan Müller (NL) | +1:12.4 min |
| 5. Alex Español/Enrique Velasco (E) | +1:22.1 min |
| 6. Lars Stütz/Jana Schreiber (D) | +1:25.8 min |
| 7. Johannes Wittenbeck/Maximilian Kugler (D) | +2:03.2 min |
| 8. Dante Johansson/Theo Bergsten (S) | +2:31.4 min |
| 9. Thyrsa Eertmans/Els Ons (B) | +4:12.9 min |
| 10. Luka Wlömer/Philipp Schmidt (D) | +5:25.3 min |
Standings ADAC GSE Rally Cup (after 1 of 7 rounds)
| 1. Schulz | 35 points |
| 2. Dufour | 28 |
| 3. Lloyd | 26 |
| 4. Kamermans | 21 |
| 5. Español | 16 |
| 6. Stütz | 14 |
| 7. Wittenbeck | 12 |
| 8. Johansson | 11 |
| 9. Eertmans | 8 |
| 10. Wlömer | 6 |
| 11. Luif | 5 |
| 12. Schönborn | 4 |
Gallery
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