European Mountain Championship: First title for Christian Merli

For years, the heats of the European Mountain Championship have thrived on the duel between Italians Simone Faggioli and Christian Merli. The best example was last year's St-Ursanne-Les Rangiers hill climb, when Merli set the new course record just after 8 p.m., but Faggioli emerged as the day's winner once again when the two runs were added up.

Faggioli's priority on Pikes Peak
This year, Faggioli did not defend the European Championship title. The Florentine prioritized his participation in the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado (USA). There, only Romain Dumas in Volkswagen's electric high-tech sports prototype was faster than Faggioli in his conventional Norma-Nissan turbo.

The ten-time European champion therefore skipped a total of four European Championship races before and after the US trip. Meanwhile, Christian Merli in the factory Osella FA30 with Zytek LRM V8 engine in the race cars and Andrea Bormolini in the Osella-BMW in the CN sportscars strung together one victory after another.

Preliminary decision in Switzerland
It was not least the Swiss race that brought the first preliminary decision in favor of Merli on August 19. Bormolini was defeated in Group CN by, of all people, compatriot Francesco Turatello on a two-liter Osella.

With electronics and handling problems, Merli was once again beaten by Faggioli in the overall classification. But the inconspicuous South Tyrolean had his opponents in the race cars easily under control in the Jura.

Simone Faggioli in the Norma-Zytek was also fastest last weekend at the Ilirska Bistrica hill climb in Slovenia. His year-long challenger took the full 25 points as overall runner-up in the E2 single seaters. Third place went to German-Slovenian Patrik Zajelsnik on a Norma.

As Bormolini was beaten once again, Christian Merli, who is still unbeaten in 2018, will be crowned European Champion for the first time before the twelfth and final race in Croatia. The runner-up will be either Andrea Bormolini from Livigno or the Czech Vladimir Vitver with an Audi TT-R DTM from Group E2-SH.

Worthless EM title in the touring cars
A joke is the classification of the touring cars. The EBM commission stubbornly held on to the outdated groups N and A, which hardly bring together enough participants, at least never equal ones.

In St.-Ursanne, not a single Group N car was on the grid, and in Group A, the Czech Lukas Vojakec on a Subaru Impreza won practically without competition against a couple of Honda Civic cars from the two-liter class.

In contrast, the ultra-fast young Frenchman Pierre Courroye looked down the tube after his first start with the McLaren MP4 12C in Switzerland. One of his two GT competitors had crashed his Lamborghini Gallardo into the guardrails during practice and was unable to start the race.

Great performance only half rewarded
Unlike in the Swiss hillclimb championship, for example, in the European Championship only the number of competitors who have started the race is considered a criterion for awarding points in accordance with strict FIA regulations. Christian Merli already stumbled over this passage at Mont Dore (F) in 2017.

In Les Rangiers, Courroye received only half points for his outstanding performance, which was in no way inferior to that of Swiss E1 group and overall touring car winner Ronnie Bratschi, due to an opponent's driving error.

So the Frenchman had to leave the sole lead in the standings in category 1 to Lukas Vojacek, who was unrivaled. In Slovenia, the latter was slower than the winner in Group N...

cem-ehc.com