Renault Cup: Krebs exceeds his goal for the season

The private Renault Classic Club not only holds its own championship sanctioned by the sporting authority ASS on circuits, slaloms and mountains. The competitive class of Clio drivers is also eligible for points in the Swiss Mountain Cup.

By including Les Paccots in their calendar for the first time, the members demonstrated foresight. In the previous year, Philipp Krebs slipped out of the medal ranks of the Mountain Cup due to his absence at the last mountain race - this year, thanks to the points awarded to the Classic pilots, he almost made it to the top in this sub-ranking of the Swiss Mountain Championship at the last moment.

Krebs and Wolf in a class of their own
At Gurnigel, the home mountain of half of all active members, the Bernese left his cantonal colleagues no chance. Krebs skillfully played off the advantages of the lighter and more maneuverable Clio II against the more modern and stronger Clio III of most opponents.

Denis Wolf, who had already been established as champion since mid-August (after his last victory in St. Ursanne), was clearly the fastest of the Clio III faction, just 2.4 seconds behind the lightweight. Meanwhile, René Schnidrig narrowly decided the battle with Stephan Zbinden for third place at Gurnigel in his favor.

Decision in the last race
However, Zbinden took over the same position in the championship at the expense of the convalescent Thomas Zürcher (shoulder surgery). The decision on this, as well as on the desired podium of Philipp Krebs lurking in fourth place in the Mountain Cup, therefore had to be made in the last mountain race of the season.

With the exception of Hans Sigrist and Patrick Gerber (who drove there in the SuperSeries), the route to Les Paccots was new territory for all Clio drivers. Because Meister Wolf missed the registration deadline by one day, Philipp Krebs once again saw himself in the clear favorite role.

It does not get better than this
With three clear best run times, all below the reference time of Ralf Henggeler, who started 2017 with his Clio III Cup in E1-2000, Krebs took his fifth win of the season on the mountain. This moved him up to an unexpected second place in the Berg Cup.

Philipp Krebs: "I almost go crazy! A podium and with it the championship celebration of ASS in Bern was my goal. That's why I concentrated on the hill climbs - and now I'm even runner-up. On the other hand, I didn't aim at the Classic Cup itself, because the effort for the circuit races was too much for me. Runner-up twice - I've now certainly got the maximum out of my racing season."

Duel for the third place in the championship
René Schnidrig can say the same about himself. Often this year he was the third force behind the indomitable Wolf and Krebs. Finally also in Les Paccots, where he kept the upper hand over Stephan Zbinden thanks to the clearly best second running time.

In the addition of the two faster times Schnidrig was six tenths ahead, in the sum of the three runs Zbinden would have been ahead by 57 thousandths.

Thus Schnidrig with only seven results pushed the severely disappointed Zbinden (eight results) at the last moment still on the third championship rank. But Zbinden had already missed his chance in June at the Romont slalom. There he made too many mistakes, which put him at the bottom of the daily rankings.

Marc Beyeler, on the other hand, was unable to return to his earlier form towards the end of the season. At Gurnigel, of all places, where he had been a member of the OC for a long time, he achieved his worst result. Also in Les Paccots Beyeler did not get beyond the fifth place. However, he can be more than satisfied with fifth place in the Cup.

Finally, Patrick Gerber also experienced a final with a happy ending in fourth place. At Gurnigel, he found himself at the bottom of the rankings after a spin in the first corner.

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