Reitnau: Marcel Steiner wins in record time
REITNAU MOUNTAIN RACING In the summer heat, several track records were set in Reitnau. Marcel Steiner won the day with a new fabulous time, Reto Meisel in the E1 and Fréderic Neff in the IS touring cars won in record time. The best in advance: In contrast to last year, when the race had to be stopped at the beginning of the second race run, the 53rd ACS hill climb [...]
The best in advance: In contrast to last year, when the race had to be stopped at the beginning of the second race, the 53rd ACS hill climb in Reitnau took place in the best possible weather conditions without any accidents worth mentioning. In addition, the well over 10,000 spectators saw some of the Swiss mountain specialists in top form - above all Marcel Steiner.
In the first race run, last year's race car champion improved the record held since 2013 by Eric Berguerand on the 1600 m short sprint track from 48.20 to 47.86 seconds with his LobArt-Mugen. In the second run, the Bernese stayed about eight tenths above this and thus secured the day's victory in superior fashion.
Marcel Steiner: "Because of the high temperatures, I wasn't expecting a new record. But I already got away very well from the start and had a good feeling in all corners afterwards. Apart from fine chassis settings, we haven't changed anything since the win in Hemberg."
Eric Berguerand is back
With his second win of the season in record time, Steiner extended his lead in the standings to such an extent that, under normal circumstances, no one can prevent him from winning his fifth title since 2010 - the first of three with the Osella FA30.
Eric Berguerand does not see himself in a position to do so. Contrary to expectations, his engine problem could be solved quasi at the last minute, so that he appeared in Reitnau after all - despite the verbal cancellation - on Saturday around 11 pm.
Without a meter of testing, Berguerand took up practice on Sunday morning. The Lola-Cosworth worked so well that he already clocked 49.83 seconds in the first race run in the afternoon. 51.01 in the second race was enough to finish second overall, 4.35 seconds behind Steiner.
Last year's winner was correspondingly satisfied.
Eric Berguerand: "I'm already happy that the car ran so well. I'm tired, I haven't slept much in the last few days and I'm missing the practice. Even though Massongex is one of my favorite tracks next Sunday, I don't think I can leave Marcel behind. I will need a few more races."
Thomas Amweg: Good result, but without top times
As two years ago, Thomas Amweg finished third on the overall winners' podium at his home race. This is his best result to date with the Lola-Mader F3000 - but he was faster with the Dallara-Mercedes F3 in 2016.
In the upper part of the track, switching problems continued to occur, which prevented times under 51 seconds. 49 should be possible in his opinion, so he was satisfied with the result, but not with the gap to Steiner (8.00) and Berguerand (6.09).
The difference between Christian Balmer in the Tatuus-Honda FM and Marcel Maurer in the Tatuus-Renault Midland was smaller. At the top of the two-liter class, they were separated by less than a second.
Robin Faustini has not yet been able to join the fight for the top places. The 20-year-old from Suhr still needs more practice with the newly acquired Reynard K01, and it is certainly wise that he does not want to force anything.
Like Amweg, Faustini will be absent from Massongex. Instead, he will race at the German hill climb Homburg, which he knows from last year and will now be welcomed there with the red carpet.
Successful return of Reto Meisel
Actually, Reto Meisel was not in the best mental shape due to his professional and private tensions, but the man from Aargau only drove for the sake of his sponsors and fans. He contested his last Swiss race in Oberhallau in 2017, where the rear of his Mercedes SKL340 burst into flames during practice.
In the race, the 2016 champion thawed out and set a new touring car record of 52.71 in the second run. This also seemed to be necessary to leave Roger Schnellmann, who was in great form, behind him as the leader after the first race.
Reto Meisel: "I am relieved and happy that it worked out today. Now I can build up confidence again. But I don't know yet where I'll be racing next."
With a gap of only half a second, Schnellmann finished second in Group E1.
Roger Schnellmann: "I would have liked to win, but I don't mind Reto. I'm not racing for the championship anyway. I'm retraining to become a driving instructor and can't compete in all the races. It would be nice to qualify for the FIA Hill Climb Masters in October."
Zemp fourth fastest in TCR touring car
With his Mitsubishi Evo VIII still not running perfectly, Ronnie Bratschi was fighting with his back to the wall. As a result, the man from Uri, who finished third overall in the touring cars, for once clearly lagged behind his brand colleague Schnellmann.
Outstanding in the rest of the field was Michel Zemp. With the front-wheel-drive Cupra Leon TCR, he was visibly aggressive on the road and in the end was the fourth-fastest touring car driver overall amid the far more powerful cars.
The man from Langnau was thus also faster than Frédéric Neff, who won the Interswiss group in his Porsche 996 GT3-R in a new record time. Like Steiner as defending champion in the racing cars, Neff leads the mountain championship of the touring cars with the maximum number of points.
