Hemberg: Marcel Steiner is back again
BERGRENNEN HEMBERG After four years, Marcel Steiner once again achieved a national one-day victory. Roger Schnellmann won the touring car category, where two of the favorites dropped out. An accident that had nothing to do with the race but everything to do with the event in Toggenburg made headlines around the world on Saturday. It was by no means a good start to the Swiss Hill Climb Championship [...]
It was by no means a good start to the 2017 Swiss Hill Climb Championship. The horrendous accident involving British TV cult presenter Richard Hammond, of "Top Gear" fame, could have had catastrophic consequences on Saturday afternoon.
This had nothing to do with the race itself (a large film crew from England staged an episode of "The Grand Tour" with the organizer's permission), but could very well have meant the end of the race forever. Hemberg made headlines around the world unnecessarily as a result.
Ronnie Bratschi's accident in the first practice session had already caused a stir among the real racers, presumably due to a cardan shaft breaking with a bang. When he crashed into the tree trunks along the road, which posed more danger than protection at this point, the man from Uri was lucky that he only suffered bruises. On the other hand, the man from Uri needs a new Mitsubishi body, so he will probably be out of action for a few weeks.
Fortunately, on Sunday it was all about sport and not just the sun. Marcel Steiner showed himself in the best light. After a rather frustrating first season in 2016 with the LobArt sports car, the team from Oberdiessbach and Italy was rewarded with its first overall victory. Although the Bernese driver won the SM overall standings in St-Ursanne last year, he was not proud of it in the absence of Eric Berguerand and after Joël Volluz's accident. Steiner and LobArt can be this time.
Defending champion Eric Berguerand struggled with the handling of his home-made Lola-Cosworth, whose new underbody proved to be unusable, and clearly lagged behind in all three races. Simon Hugentobler, third overall in the Reynard 97D, lost only 1.97 seconds after adding up the two faster runs on the 1.758 km short track.
No luck for Reto Meisel on the Hemberg
After the expected record time in the first race (58.81 s), Reto Meisel's victory in the E1 group seemed a mere formality. However, in the two subsequent races, the Judd V8 racing engine in the Mercedes SLK 340 suddenly switched to the emergency program due to a problem in the eGas control system. Meisel was able to continue, but last year's champion fell far behind due to the loss of time. "Just like a year ago in Hemberg. I could k..."
Roger Schnellmann's technique and driving skills, on the other hand, harmonized perfectly. As the overall touring car winner, the man from Schwyz - like the previous record holder Bratschi in 2015 - was the only one besides Meisel to stay under the one-minute limit in his Mitsubishi, which also had well over 600 hp.
Romeo Nüssli was unable to bring the power of his Ford Escort to the ground due to worn tires, but was just 13 hundredths ahead of Simon Wüthrich in the VW Golf Turbo. The latter won the class up to 3.5 liters.
Frédéric Neff decided an unexpectedly exciting four-way battle between four Porsche drivers in the InterSwiss group in his favor. As he also beat Martin Bürki's fabulous Polo record from 2015, Neff leads the SM standings alone after the first race with the two additional points for the IS group victory.
