This year’s ERC Junior champion Marijan Griebel recently met up with German rally legend Walter Röhrl, himself a previous winner of the FIA European Rally Championship with Opel.
The meeting took place at the ADAC 3-Städte Rally – the final round of this year’s ADAC Opel Rallye Cup – with the pair posing for photographs with the all-conquering Adam R2 and the Ascona A, which Rörhl used to win the 1974 European title. It was a first major crown for Rörhl, who went on to win two world championships: in 1980 with Fiat and 1982 with Opel.
“The Ascona was indestructible,” said Röhrl. “This reliability is perhaps why we won our European Championship title. It never failed. With this car you could go anywhere, and in my days that was decisive.”
At the 3-Städte Rallye, this year’s ADAC Opel Rallye Cup winner Jari Huttunen was selected for a place in the ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team in ERC Junior next season, following in the footsteps of Griebel, 2015 ERC Junior champion Emil Bergkvist and Julius Tannert.
After winning this year’s ERC Junior title, Griebel made his debut in an R5 car in a prize drive at the final round of the ERC in Cyprus and finished a fine second.
Praising the efforts of Opel to promote young rally talent, Röhrl said: “The ADAC Opel Rallye Cup is perhaps the reason why German rallying is on the up again. Suddenly, many young people are again able to go rallying. Without a company like Opel, it’s hard for a young driver to finance their own car and to gain recognition. If you are in the Cup and are successful there, the journalists automatically write about you.”