In 2001, the Opel Perfomance Center (OPC) developed the Opel Corsa S1600. A device to compete in the Junior Rally World Championship. A car, as we all know, very powerful, with a fantastic sound at high turns. Its power was around 215 hp. It was prepared by RML professionals.
One of its built chassis, specifically the CS005, surrounded the Spanish stages for several years, and with numerous drivers lucky to enjoy it. It was released in 2002, with Doskocz Waldemar and Sebastian Frycz at the helm. Both Polish drivers. Frycz won with this unit the S1600 Polish Trophy organized in that year.
2003 and 2004 were the last two years of this car in Poland before arriving at Spain. Michał Kościuszko used it in different quotations within the class S1600 (Polish Regional). He had very tough rivals in that championship, like the new Peugeot 206 or even the Suzuki Ignis. In 2009, he was runner-up of the JWRC with a Swit S1600. Years later it has been seen by World Championship tests with cars like the Mini WRC or the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, among others.
Arrival on national territory
Into 2006, it came into the hands of the Evolution A-Competition preparers. This structure is still in force today, with spectacular models such as the Nissan Micra N1, recently built. The first rider to compete on Spain with the S1600 was Juan Carlos Aguado, a regular today with a Ford Fiesta R5.
Abraham Aaron Cabrera, another Madrid driver and manager of Evolution A-Competition, also tested him in some race of the Madrid Rally Championship, such as Ávila and Talavera. Two years later, in 2009, it came into the hands of one of the fastest riders on the national scene in the past. The car, since 2005, mounted the latest engine evolution, offering a total of 225 hp.
Alberto Monarri -also with the support of this structure- runed numerous races, including some sporadic outings to CERA. The only two absolute victories of this car in Spain were achieved by Monarri: Villa de Madrid and Navaleno Canicosa of the year 2009. The former official driver of Abarth and Mitsubishi, among others, thoroughly squeezed the German saddle. Manuel Casbas, after Monarri, also ran two races.
Official decoration in Navarre
Seven years later, after the sale of his Renault Clio Sport, the Navarrese Rodolfo Ramírez bought the number five (of twelve), built by Opel. In this way, he became the only owner with this car in Spain. In his first races within the Basque and Navarran regions he had a really beautiful red color.
However, in the desire to make the car as original as possible (in decorative aspects), Ramirez and his team returned it to the color and decoration of yesteryear, that is, with the yellow and white of protagonists. His last two car races were the Rallysprint of Ururtzun and Lesaka (a classic of the Navarran calendar). All the mechanical elements you assemble are original and numbered.
Things of the destiny. At the end of January of this year, the beautiful Corsa S1600 left our country for Poland, where it made its first kilometers timed almost two decades ago. From now on, the JB Motorsport team will put this car back on the stretches of Eastern Europe.
