# Schulz Dominates Stemweder Berg as Lloyd Takes Opel GSE Rally Lead in 10-Point Title Squeeze

**By Luca Bertolini**  \nPublished September 28, 2026  \nUpdated September 28, 2026

> Timo Schulz claimed a dominant victory at the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg with ten stage wins, while Ioan Lloyd overcame dramatic rear-axle damage to seize the electric cup lead.

A dominant performance in the northern reaches of North Rhine-Westphalia has thrown the world’s first electric one-make rally series into a fever pitch. At the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg, German driver Timo Schulz and co-driver Maresa Lade delivered a tactical masterclass, sweeping ten stage wins across 14 Wertungsprüfungen to claim their third victory of the season by a massive 1 minute and 18 seconds. Yet while Schulz produced a crushing display of sheer pace over 141.8 competitive kilometers, the championship storyline took an equally dramatic turn behind him. Welsh contender Ioan Lloyd survived a broken rear axle and a high-speed spin to finish third, snatching the top spot in the driver standings from Frenchman Tom Dufour, whose weekend disintegrated on Friday afternoon.

With four of seven rounds completed in the 2026 ADAC Opel GSE Rally Cup, the title race is now separated by a knife-edge ten points among the top three drivers. As the electric battery-powered Mokka GSE Rally machinery proved its endurance through rapid Remote Charging stops, the strategic trade-off between outright aggression and mechanical conservation took center stage on Stemweder Berg's slippery asphalt.

## Ten Stage Wins and Remote-Charging Endurance: Schulz’s Masterclass

Schulz arrived at Stemweder Berg carrying both immense speed and high pressure. A costly retirement at the previous round—the Rallye Vosges Grand-Est in France—had left the 27-year-old Siersburg native playing catch-up in the standings. Paired with Lade, Schulz wasted no time re-establishing his authority, storming out of the gate on Friday to build an early gap that allowed him to manage both battery output and tire wear over Saturday's grueling itinerary.

Setting ten benchmark times out of 14 stages, Schulz never allowed his pursuers within striking distance. The victory served as a crucial double-statement: alongside his electric cup campaign, Schulz leads the Junior Rally European Championship (JERC) heading into its late-October finale in Portugal. It really ran like clockwork, Schulz said after crossing the finish line. We were able to pull away early and then manage the lead. Unlike in the JERC, where I have a seven-point lead, here in the Cup I have a seven-point deficit in the table—but with three rounds remaining, everything is wide open.

## Axle Salvage vs. Wheel Shear: The Title Shift Between Lloyd and Dufour

While Schulz dictated the front of the field, the fight for the overall championship lead became a battle of attrition and damage limitation. Entering the rally as points leader, Tom Dufour suffered a catastrophic setback in SS4 while running second overall. The Frenchman slid off course, tearing the left-front wheel clean off his Mokka GSE Rally and forcing stage officials to neutralize the section. Though Dufour and co-driver Alex Dubois rejoined under Rally2 rules on Saturday, a mandatory ten-minute time penalty erased any chance of scoring major points, dropping Dufour to third in the championship with 101 points.

Dufour’s misfortune opened the door for Ioan Lloyd and Sion Williams, though the Welsh crew faced their own harrowing ordeal. A spin in WP9 lost crucial seconds, but worse followed in WP10 when a severe hit damaged the rear axle of their vehicle. Lloyd bled time through stages 10, 11, and 12, dropping to fifth overall as the mechanical limp dragged on. Only a swift, precise repair by their service crew saved the weekend. Rejoining the final stages with a fully functional car, Lloyd mounted a ferocious late charge to salvage third place overall and pick up key bonus points as second-fastest on the Powerstage.

Today was a real rollercoaster ride, Lloyd admitted. We started well in second behind Timo and Maresa, but then came the spin and the rear axle damage. To still reach the podium and take second-place points in the Powerstage makes me very happy. The battle against Timo and Tom is incredibly close. Lloyd’s resilience lifted him to 111 points, holding a narrow seven-point cushion over Schulz in the driver standings.

## Setup Breakthroughs and Misfortune: Español, Ledda, and Schönborn

Behind the main title protagonists, several drivers posted career-defining performances. Spain’s Alex Español and co-driver Enrique Velasco turned their season around after two disappointing outings. Implementing major setup changes prior to the event, the 2025 Cup runner-up produced a spotless drive to finish second overall, climbing to sixth in the championship with 55 points. After two bad rallies, we changed a few things and it worked well, Español stated. We could finally show our speed again.

Italian talent Valentino Ledda appeared set for his first podium of the campaign alongside new co-driver Lorenzo Fratta. However, operational missteps proved costly: a late check-in before SS13 incurred a ten-second penalty, followed by an error on the final stage. The lost time allowed Sweden’s Dante Johansson and Tom Törngren to take fourth place, pushing Ledda down to fifth. Despite the heartbreak, Ledda logged his first 16 points of the year.

In the women's field, 27-year-old German driver Claire Schönborn delivered an impressive sixth-place finish on the roads where her rally career began two seasons ago. After a braking error on Friday cost her roughly 20 seconds, Schönborn bounced back on Saturday, setting the second-fastest time overall in SS12 to finish comfortably ahead of Belgium's Thyrsa Eertmans in seventh.

## Official Event Telemetry Clears Up Metric Discrepancies

Secondary reporting and pre-event documentation ahead of Stemweder Berg cited conflicting figures regarding total distance and entry configurations—including references to shorter 12-stage routes or legacy badge designations. Official ADAC Motorsport event records and timing data confirm that Round 4 ran as a 14-stage, 141.8-kilometer event featuring the battery-electric Opel Mokka GSE Rally field, supported by remote-charging technology across all service intervals.

## ADAC Opel GSE Rally Cup Standings (After Round 4 of 7)

PosDriverPoints1Ioan Lloyd (WAL)1112Timo Schulz (GER)1043Tom Dufour (FRA)1014Dante Johansson (SWE)705Claire Schönborn (GER)626Alex Español (ESP)557Thyrsa Eertmans (BEL)448Fabian Kamermans (NED)359Wlömer (GER)2010Valentino Ledda (ITA)1611Wilhelm (GER)1612Stütz (AUT)1413Luif (AUT)13

## Evidence-Led Forecast: Rallye Sanremo Tactical Blueprint

The championship now shifts to iconic asphalt at the Rallye Sanremo in Italy (October 16–18) for Round 5 of 7. The narrow, twisty mountain roads of Liguria will test thermal battery management and brake wear far more severely than the flowing German countryside.

**Likely Tactical Pattern:** Expect Timo Schulz to leverage his momentum and attack early in Sanremo, seeking to force Lloyd and Dufour into low-margin driving. Lloyd will likely adopt a calculated risk profile, targeting steady podium finishes to guard his seven-point advantage, while Dufour must adopt maximum aggression after dropping to third in the standings.

**Decisive Matchup:** Mechanical reliability under thermal load. Sanremo’s high elevation changes and continuous heavy braking generate significant heat, testing how effectively teams manage regenerative braking and remote-charging cool-down cycles.

**Strongest Counter-Case:** Alex Español’s setup breakthrough at Stemweder Berg positions him as a major spoiler. If Español steals top-three stage points from the championship leaders, he could deprive Schulz or Dufour of the maximum point hauls needed to close down Lloyd.

**What Would Change the Read:** Weather instability in the Ligurian hills. Sudden rain on narrow tarmac stages would elevate tire choice and torque management into the single deciding factor, favoring drivers like Lloyd who have demonstrated high adaptability during mid-stage crises.

## Sources

- [adac-motorsport.de](https://www.adac-motorsport.de/adac-opel-gse-rally-cup/news/2026/der-kampf-um-die-tabellenfuehrung-spitzt-sich-zu/) — original
- [newscode.de](https://www.newscode.de/hochspannung-im-titelrennen-timo-schulz-dominiert-die-adac-rallye-stemweder-berg/) — original
- [pitlane-news.de](https://pitlane-news.de/richtungsweisender-showdown-im-adac-opel-electric-rally-cup-bei-der-rallye-stemweder-berg/) — original
- [lifepr.de](https://www.lifepr.de/pressemitteilung/opel-automobile-gmbh/opel-mokka-gse-rally-ein-neuer-star-im-elektrischen-rallyesport/boxid/1024858) — original