Monza Classic: Old cars in new splendor 🎥

A LOT OF SWISS RACING SUCCESS There were Swiss successes galore at the Monza Classic. In the touring car category, a team from Berne has been unbeaten since the start of the season. In the video magazine about the Monza Classic, film sequences from the legendary 1000-kilometer race at the Autodromo alternate with current scenes from the Classic Endurance Racing Series (CER). Organized by Peter Auto from Paris, the [...]

Editorial - September 29, 2019

In the video magazine about the Monza Classic, film sequences from the legendary 1000-kilometer race at the Autodromo alternate with current scenes from the Classic Endurance Racing Series (CER). The event series, organized by Peter Auto from Paris, made a guest appearance from September 20 to 22 on the high-speed circuit, where the fastest sports cars from the former Group C reached speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour.

Seiler lets the Lola fly
The fact that high speeds do not automatically bring success was demonstrated in the CER1 field of sports cars from 1967 to 1971. At around 255 km/h, a McLaren M8C with a Ford DFV V8 engine was the fastest on the straights, but four Lola T70s finished ahead of it after an hour. In second place, Toni Seiler once again put in an excellent performance with his 1968 MkIII, averaging 171.2 km/h.

Toni Seiler escapes from Roddaro's Porsche 917 while lapping two Chevrolet Corvettes. The Monegasque was in the lead until four laps before the end before problems arose.

Only the 1969 MkIII B driven by ex-pro Eric Hélary and Gérard Lopez was 18 seconds ahead of the Zurich driver after 30 laps. Since Monegasque Claudio Roddaro, who led the championship and the race for a long time, only finished tenth in his Porsche 917 after problems, Seiler made up points with his third podium in a row. This means that last year's champion has realistic chances of winning the title up to the final round in Le Castellet.

Scemama and Eggimann on course for title
In the field of 20 sports cars and GTs from 1972 to 1981, Yves Scemama in the TOJ SC304 celebrated a start-finish victory. For ten laps, Maxime Guenat in a Lola T286 was in second place behind Scemama until his retirement. The driver from Neuchâtel has the title in his category within reach, as does Beat Eggimann in the two-liter category.

Swiss double lead: Yves Scemama (Toj) ahead of Maxime Guenat (Lola) in their sports car with 3.0 V8 engines.

The man from Sissach had to concede the class win to Henry Fletcher from Great Britain in a Chevron B26, but finished well ahead of the chasers in his Cheetah G605.

Eggimann can practically only be knocked off first place in the standings if he doesn't compete in the final race at Le Castellet and one of his direct title rivals wins. He wants to avoid both at all costs.

Beat Eggimann (Cheetah) in front of the BMW M1 of Muelder/Simon. Both cars have Swiss history.

Either Erlich or Trotter
In the Group 2 to 1975 and Group A to 1985 touring cars, Christian Traber and Michael Erlich initially took turns in the lead with their two BMW 3.5 CSLs. When Traber retired after 13 laps with gearbox problems and Maxime Guenat as the first chaser also had to park his Ford Capri 3100 RS, the Frenchman Benjamin Poron moved up with a Ford Mustang GT Pinepac.

Erlich saved the third victory of the season by 342 thousandths of a second over the finish line. The fast lawyer from Belp had previously won Race 1 at the Spa Classic and at the Hungaroring.

In Barcelona, in Race 2 of Spa and in Dijon, Traber was ahead after one hour of driving time in each case. The Group 2 cars built and fielded by MK Motorsports in Worb - the only CSLs with four-valve engines - have thus never been beaten in the 2019 Heritage Touring Cup!

MIchael Erlich took his third win of the season in the Group 2 touring car field.

Oettli tames the Cobra pack
Philipp Oettli also celebrated an impressive success in the two-hour Sixties' Endurance race. With his 1963 Shelby Cobra 289, he led the field of more than 50 GT cars from start to finish.

Henri Moser and Charles Firmenich ensured a Swiss double victory with their BMW CSL in legendary Jägermeister colors. Peter Vögele, in fourth place with another Cobra, just managed to avoid being lapped by the brilliantly disposed Oettli.

Philipp Oettli had his Cobra opponents under control in the endurance race.

Double podium for Vögele, Widmer and Lips
In the Greatest's Trophy for particularly precious GT and sports cars, Carlo Vögele in his Ferrari 330 GTO had to admit defeat only to a Maserati T61 Birdcage in both sprint races.

In the Coppa Geki Russo, Christoph Widmer made it onto the podium once as second and once as third in his 1966 Brabham BT18A. Widmer is thus the winner of the Historic F3 1000cc European Trophy 2019.

In the Endurance Racing Legends, which has been raced for the first time since 2019, Remo Lips drove one of the two Corvette Z06 R cars from Toni Seiler Racing to third place twice.

As in the previous year, Christoph Widmer won the championship of the historic Formula 3 race cars.

Victory for Sauber-Mercedes
In the Group C field, former Le Mans winner Eric Hélary turned the fastest laps of the weekend with a Jaguar XJR14, averaging over 200 km/h. However, the wins went to Kriton Lendoudis in a Hinwil-built Sauber-Mercedes C11 and Michael Lyons in a Gebhardt C91.

With the most modern of the 15 sports cars, a 1993 Peugeot 905 that won at Le Mans, Dominique Guenat finished second and third.