European Mountain Championship: Bratschi fulfills his task 🎥

TWO TOUR CAR WINS The European Mountain Championship 2021 adventure began for Ronnie Bratschi with category victories in Portugal and Spain. In difficult conditions, this was not a matter of course. The video of AP90 from Portugal shows impressive scenes of the tricky second race run on partly wet track and a very fast passage in dry conditions. Enjoy the sound! The only damper: In [...]

The video from AP90 in Portugal shows impressive scenes from the tricky second race run on a partially wet track and a very fast passage in the dry. Enjoy the sound!

The only damper: At the Rampa de Boticas on May 8/9, he lost the necessary third opponent in the top group of touring cars according to performance factor 1 (Pf1) to receive full points for the victory.

The main opponent fell through the mesh
The technical commissioners took a particularly close look at the start of this new era and objected to the fuel tank in Nicolas Werver's Porsche 911 GT2. As a result, the Frenchman had to, or was allowed to, drive in the Portuguese championship classification and set the best time of all the closed cars.

However, this did not interest Ronnie Bratschi, as he concentrated on his remaining group opponent Lopez-Fombona on a Lamborghini Huracán in changeable weather conditions.

Frenchman Nicolas Werver, also known from the Swiss European Championship race, was not eligible for points with his Porsche GT2 in Portugal (Photos: K1nse, JMLA+).

Perfect premiere
With an advantage of 414 thousandths in the addition of the two fastest of three times, the lead of the Swiss driver in his newly built Mitsubishi Evo VII RS, who had traveled from Altdorf, 1800 kilometers away, was relatively narrow.

Ronnie Bratschi: "The season is still long. I'm only interested in the points. Considering that everything was new for me, not just the car, everything worked great. A very selective track with a brutal uphill section and a short downhill section before the finish. The FIA Masters would also fit in well here."

Faggioli turns the tables
The first race had already been brought forward to Saturday afternoon because rain was forecast for Sunday morning. Instead, there was a warm-up as practice for the second race in the wet. In the final run, it was then almost dry again.

This also brought the decision for the day's victory, which Simone Faggioli with the Norma-Zytek snatched by 32 thousandths with a risky tire and suspension strategy. Christian Merli in the Osella FA30 was still 1.8 seconds ahead in Saturday's race 1.

At the Rampa de Boticas, Ronnie Bratschi began the European Mountain Championship 2021 adventure in a picturesque landscape,

Withdrawal of the Italians
The revenge last weekend at the Subida al Fito in Asturias then fell victim to the Covid regulations. In the Faggioli team, a Corona rapid test came back positive, whereupon the European champion and his equally fast customer Diego Degasperi were virtually banned from starting on Sunday. Because they had contact with their Italian compatriots, race car drivers Fausto Bormolini and Renzo Napione also had to pack up.

Merli was thus on his own and secured the day's victory with a huge lead over the fast local hero Xavier Villa Garcia (once raced and won in GP2) in a BRC turbo sports car and Frenchman Sébastien Petit in a new Nova Zytek.

Christian Merli won in Spain practically concureenzlos (Photo: Merli Fan Club).

Duel on special track
In category 1, Ronnie Bratschi repeated the victory, although this time he had three fast direct PF1 opponents in his group. On the winding, bumpy and dirty track comparable to Massongex in the Valais, the man from Uri calculated the risk all the more after the nasty crash of an opponent in practice.

In the first run, the Spaniard stayed close on his heels with a VW Polo WRC that was optimal for these track characteristics, just one tenth of a second behind. In the second run, the Swiss beat everyone by 1.5 seconds and more.

Caution is better than false ambition
Although conditions improved slightly, Bratschi kept the Mitsubishi on Michelin rain tires for the final heat for safety reasons, while the competition switched to slicks or rally slicks.

So Werver set the absolute category best time, but the third best time was enough for the Central Swiss to secure the day's victory in his classification. Nothing else counted but the associated full 25 European Championship points.

Ronnie Bratschi: "The two hill climbs and the time in between was a great experience. I made the step in the right direction."

After three titles in the FIA Mountain Cup, Ronnie Bratschi is now collecting points and trophies in the European Mountain Championship.

Leap to the top of the table
Since Antonino Migliuolo on a Mitsubishi Evo IX won solo in Group 3, unlike in Portugal, the Swiss and the Italian are tied at the top of the standings after the Iberian double-header (37.5 each), followed by Slovak Jan Milon on a Skoda Fabia WRC (30), who was clearly beaten in his twice-full Group 2 in Spain.

At the next European Championship round Ecce Homo in Sternberk, Czech Republic, on May 29/30, more Eastern Europeans will get into the action.

The scenes of IMA rally video give a good impression of the difficulty of the Subida al Fito.

Boticas results Results Fito

fia.com/events/european-hill-climb-championship/season-2021/fia-european-hill-climb-championship

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