OPC Challenge: A master of consistency
TITLE 2018 TO RENE ZOGG The very last two races of the Opel OPC Challenge, which will no longer be held in 2019, ended in Ambri with two victories for Stephan Tschaggelar. René Zogg won the duel with Rolf Tremp for the championship title. He was already champion and did not even know it. The good second place of René Zogg in the early morning [...]
He was already champion and didn't even know it. René Zogg's good second place in the early morning slalom in Ambri meant the preliminary decision in the OPC Challenge 2018.
When Challenge leader and fellow competitor Christian Mettler did the math during the lunch break, Rolf Tremp was mathematically two points short of turning the tide in his favor with a victory in the second slalom if Zogg were to drop out.
Champion without heat victory
The 63-year-old car mechanic, who was driving an Opel Adam S from his employer Auto Germann in Hunzenschwil, was happy to be congratulated on his early title win. Unfortunately, he has a blemish, as the new champion did not manage to pull out a victory in the final second race in the afternoon after all.
René Zogg: "I'm annoyed, but I can live with it. Here I had problems with the intervening ESP, and I also always need a bit of time to get into a rhythm. I probably never got the last out of the Adam because I didn't want to risk too much with a provided car."
Comeback after almost three decades
Zogg's tally includes three second and third places each. On the other hand, only two fifth places as the worst results, one of which is cancelled.
Zogg started already from more than 40 years with an Opel Kadett GT/E in the group 1 and experienced afterwards until about 1988 the adventurous time of the formula Ford.
After a break of almost 30 years, the Aargauer initially returned as an occasional driver for Auto Germann in the OPC Challenge Team Cup. It was not until 2018 that Zogg completed a full and equally successful season.
Runner-up with a heat win
Rolf Tremp didn't really know why things didn't go better in Ambri after the 65-year-old from Toggenburg had previously won the race in Drognens.
Perhaps it was because the driving instructor from Ebnat-Kappel only had the Adam S from Auto Bollhalder all to himself there, while otherwise he always took turns at the wheel with alternating partners.
The disappointment about the narrowly missed title win is therefore outweighed by the joy due to this heat victory.
Rolf Tremp: "Actually, I had planned to simply be twice faster than René here. Unfortunately, I was only faster in the training runs. I admire René's performance. The title would have been nice, but there are more important things."
Roland Graf, with whom Tremp took over, was still a tad faster than the regular pilot, as in his first start in Chamblon, and took a fourth and second place in Ambri.
In the second slalom, Graf was only three tenths slower than Stephan Tschaggelar, who managed a double victory in Ticino. Because Tschaggelar only competed in four races and won three of them, he no longer played a role in the championship.
Off after 13 seasons
The battle for third place overall was still exciting. Despite his two worst results (11th and 13th place), Jean-Philippe Jaquier of Team Millier from Crissier saved it across the finish line. Jaquier's lead over Fabio Gubitosi shrank to two points.
Gubitosi started only six times and finished his season with two third places. If the man from Grisons had not had a "Abschiffer" in Chamblon, where it was only enough for rank 7, the third final rank would have gone to him in addition to three second places.
After 13 seasons, the OPC Challenge will no longer be held in 2019. On average, only twelve drivers took part per race this year.
