Motorsport: Suzuki Grand Prix with lush bonuses

The Suzuki Grand Prix is unique in Swiss motor racing. It is not an official one-make cup, as it is not registered with the ASS sports authority. But for the participants it is the most lucrative. Suzuki Switzerland rewards its motorsport athletes who compete in specified LOC slaloms with their aging but still competitive Swift Sport 1600s with generous cash bonuses. This year, a total of almost 58,000 Swiss francs will be paid out to all classified drivers.

Sandro Fehr, who had won in Drognens the previous week, was not allowed to start in Ticino because he was prohibited from doing so by the regulations (starting in another one-make cup). His Suzuki was taken over by Patrick Flammer, who starts with a Swift Evo 2000 in the Slalom-SM. His comeback in the L2 car, which is only half as powerful, was impressive with second place. Fabien Eggenberger managed a best time in his first run, which Patrick Flammer missed by only 35 hundredths of a second in his second attempt.

10,000 francs reward for good performance
Third place on the Ambrì podium went to Bruno Bleiker, who in 2016 was the only rider besides Sandro Fehr (6) and Fabian Eggenberger (4) to also win two races. Each victory was worth 1200 francs, second and third place threw 1000 and 800 francs. The scale in the internal Suzuki money ranking goes up to 100 francs for 10th place. With starts in eleven races, Bruno Bleiker was the busiest alongside Gilbert Denzer. Since he was never worse than fourth, Bruno Bleiker pocketed around 10,000 Swiss francs.

With 9800 francs for nine classifications, Sandro Fehr was the most successful on average, followed by Fabian Eggenberger (8100) and Heiko Leiber (7100). The other classifiers, who can look forward to earning between a few hundred and several thousand francs, also agree: There is nothing faster and cheaper that provides so much driving pleasure.

www.suzukiautomobile.ch
Photos: Denise Steinmann, Peter Wyss