Renault Cup: Flying blind to the podium
KREBS ALSO AT THE TOP IN THE WALLIS The Renault Classic Cup was one of the first classes to have to race in the early morning in nasty weather at the Ayent-Anzère hill climb. For winner Philipp Krebs and others, this was like flying blind. On Sunday morning, the Clio drivers from the Renault Classic Cup were among the first to drive in light rain and in places [...]
On Sunday morning, the Clio drivers from the Renault Classic Cup were among the first to drive from Ayent up to Anzère in light rain and fog in places. As in the second dry training run, Philipp Krebs and Michael Schläpfer and their Clio II Cup were separated by a few tenths of a second at the top of the intermediate classification. The Clio RS III led by René Schnidrig and Stephan Zbinden followed some five and a half seconds behind.
Philipp Krebs: "It was pure flying blind in places and pretty tricky. Without track experience, a time of 2'04 would not have been possible in these conditions."
Schläpfer misses the chance
However, Michael Schläpfer proved that he can go almost as fast without experience. He saw the chance to even beat Krebs in the second run in slightly better conditions. His plan could have worked out if he hadn't slowed down in the left-hand bend between Les Flans and Anzère. Due to the slight impact and until he had collected himself, he probably lost more than the 6.2 seconds on Krebs' best run time.
Michael Schläpfer: "I probably wanted a bit too much and approached this corner too quickly. A stupid mistake. That would have resulted in a great time."
In memory of Uwe Trumpfheller
At least the fastest newcomer to the Renault Classic Cup managed to finish second. Schläpfer thus remains at the top of the standings ahead of Philipp Krebs, who moved up from P4 to P2. The latter dedicated his fourth win of the season to Uwe Trumpfheller, who recently died of cancer and who raced in the Renault Cup for many years.
Schnidrig again best Clio III
René Schnidrig, who came third overall, also found the first run, in which visibility could change from one driver to the next due to the wafts of fog, to be like flying blind.
René Schnidrig: "Suddenly I thought about what could happen if someone was standing there. That unsettled me. In the second run, I managed a pretty good time, so I was the fastest Clio III again."
As in Hemberg and most recently in Hockenheim, 4th place went to Stephan Zbinden with a slight disappointment. He had a good feeling in the rain, but in his opinion should have waited to start the first run.
Good premiere from Marcel Wälchli
Considering the conditions and his inexperience, Marcel Wälchli performed superbly. After test drives on the circuit, last year's junior runner-up was on the grid for the first time in Denis Wolf's championship-winning car and finished a brilliant fifth in this dozen Clio cars.
Despite his slightly better second time, Patrick Gerber in the Clio II was beaten by 93 thousandths. Wälchli also left his Bernese team-mate Sven Indermühle behind in the second Wolf-Clio, as he did last year in the juniors.
Marc Beyeler finished a brilliant third in the last hill climb in Reitnau, but had to settle for ninth place in the wet conditions of Anzère.
renault-classic.ch/pdf's/Rankings/2019/Rankings_RCC_Anzère_2019.pdf
renault-classic.ch/pdf's/intermediate-rankings/2019/06_intermediate_rankings_2019.pdf
