Bruno Weibel: The third FIA trophy

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS At the FIA Historic Awards Gala in Paris, the most successful from classic racing in 2019 were presented with their trophies. Bruno Weibel won the Formula Junior for the third time. Winning the third title in the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Junior racing cars after 2015 and 2017, Bruno Weibel had to fight off tough class competition from England and [...]

Editorial - January 22, 2020

With a broad grin, Bruno Weibel accepted the coveted FIA Lurani Trophy for overall victory from five-time Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro. Among 53 honorees from all FIA Historic series, he was the only Swiss winner (Photo: Gregory Heirman).

Bruno Weibel had to fight off tough class competition from England and Italy to win his third title in the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Junior racing cars after 2015 and 2017. With two race wins at the Hockenheim Historic, the fast boss of Schaffner Racing in Urdorf right at the start of the season, the maximum of ten points awarded to the first in each class in the addition of two runs.

Nürburgring lap record
At the second round in Dijon, Weibel narrowly missed out on another double with the Lotus 22 provided by a British customer, but overall victory still went to him, as it did afterwards in Most in the Czech Republic.

At the Oldtimer Grand Prix, the Zurich native put up a great fight with evenly matched opponents in both races, with Manfredo Rossi di Montelera keeping the snout of his Lotus 22 just ahead both times. But eight points for second place and a new lap record made Weibel happy enough.

First class winner, then champion
The fourth bull's eye followed on the Dutch dune circuit at Zandvoort. As a result, the lanky Zurich native has already secured the annual championship title in the top E1 class. But he wanted more...

To preserve his chance of overall victory in the cross-class FIA Lurani Trophy, the privateer still traveled to far-away Portugal in October. Because the focus was no longer on wins but on safe points, Weibel did not invest in new tires and settled for two third-place finishes in Estoril.

A season filled with podium finishes
Bruno Weibel's season record shows five victories, five second places and two third places. The now three-time FIA European champion in five years had no accident and, above all, no technical defect to complain of, which is not a matter of course for a race car from 1962 with engines revving at 9,000 rpm (Cosworth 1100 cc).

This speaks not only to his driving skills, but also to the excellent work he does in his own garage business, which specializes in Lotus sports and historic race cars.