CER: The Swiss conquer Hungary 🎥

HUNGARORING CLASSIC Pretty grid girls and beautiful cars. The Classic Endurance Racing Series is a feast for the senses. In Hungary, the Swiss celebrated it with four multiple victories. After a one-year break, the Classic Endurance Racing Series (CER) organized by Peter Auto in Paris returned to the Hungaroring. On the winding GP circuit in front of the [...]

Editorial - July 20, 2019

Last time in Dijon Maxime Guenat had to give up the start. In Hungary, he gave the Scemama brothers no chance (Photos: Photorissima).

After a one-year break, the Classic Endurance Racing Series (CER) organized by Peter Auto in Paris returned to the Hungaroring. The Swiss participants obviously felt particularly at home on the winding GP circuit just outside the capital Budapest. In no less than four races, they fully occupied the podium.

Class wins for Guenat and Eggimann
In the CER2 field of sports cars and GTs from 1972 to 1981, which for once consisted of only 15 cars, they immediately occupied the first two rows of the grid. At first, it was not the superior pole setter who led Maxime Guenat in the Lola T286-DFV, but Yves Scemama with the former Warsteiner-Toj SC304 with the same engine. From the fifth lap to the end of the one-hour race, Guenat pulled away unstoppably. 40.5 seconds behind, Yves Scemama ran in second, his brother Philippe Scemama in the Lola T600 with Chevy V8 engine was another 19 seconds back in third.

Defending champion and Hungary class winner in a Swiss sports car: Beat Eggimann with his Cheetah G601.

The Sissach Beat Eggimann completed the fourfold Swiss triumph with his Cheetah G601 in fourth place and, as recently in Dijon, as winner of the two-liter class. Christian Trotter broke away as they often do with Peter Muelder (NL) at the wheel of his BMW M1, which they finished second in GT2 behind Franco Meiners (I) in a former Group 5 Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo.

Seiler with lightning start to podium
In the CER1 field of older sports cars from 1967, two small Chevron B19s were on the front row. As third and fastest driver from the class over two liters catapulted himself Toni Seiler immediately took the lead with his Lola T70 MkIII, which he maintained for eight laps. However, the man from Zurich was unable to hold off the Monegasque Claudio Roddaro in the Porsche 917, who was storming forward from the midfield.

Toni Seiler's 1968 Lola T70 was on grid position 3 and also ran in third.

German Alexander Furiani also passed Seiler in his Chevron B19 after the mandatory pit stop. However, third place overall and second place behind Roddaro in class ahead of three other Lola T70s was no longer out of reach for the bodywork specialist from Islisberg.

Bad luck had Peter Vögelewhose beautiful Porsche 908/3 suffered major damage in a rear-end collision on the starting lap - a competitor spun in front of him.

Bernese BMW double victory
In the Heritage Touring Cup race, where Group 2 touring cars from the 1970s set the pace, the best starting spot remained empty. After Maxime Guenat had over-revved the four-valve engine in his Ford Capri 3100RS in qualifying, the team did not let him start for safety reasons.

Michael Erlich gave real fire with his new historic BMW CSL. The victory was also a reward to the team for their work with the transmission swap.

Almost the opposite happened to Michael Erlich, in whose BMW 3.5 CSL the gearbox broke after four practice laps. Nevertheless, it was enough for 2nd place on the grid. MK Motorsport installed the replacement gearbox, after which the fast lawyer from Belp was able to win the race over 18 laps.

After the leading Ford Capri 3100RS of Frenchmen Yvan and Guillaume Mahé retired - Erlich let him go in the duel at times to save the tires - second place went to Christian Trotter with his BMW 3.5 CSL. A complete Swiss podium was provided by Yves birdse, who drove his Capri 2600RS, which was three years older, across the finish line in third place just ahead of Frenchman Damian Kohler in the fastest Ford Escort RS.

Difficult conditions in race 1 of the Greatest's Trophy: Start with four Swiss cars in the lead.

Next round in Monza
There were also two triple Swiss victories in the Greatest's Trophy for special GT cars up to the mid-1960s. In the first race in the rain, the pole-starting Yves Vögele in the Porsche 904/6 before Muelder/Traber in the Bizzarrini 5300 GT and Carlo Vögele in the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ. On the other day in the dry, Carlo retained the upper hand ahead of Yves Vögele and the duo Muelder/Traber.

The 15-minute video magazine reviews the Hungaroring Classic and is intended to whet the appetite for the next Classic Racing event in Monza from September 20 to 22. There's no question that the Swiss want to make another big splash so close to home.