European Mountain Championships: Strong field of participants in the Jura Mountains
THE STARTING LIST KNOWN All the big names will be at the start of the St-Ursanne - Les Rangiers hillclimb race on August 17/18. Almost a third of the drivers, led by eight-time winner Simone Faggioli, come from abroad. With more than 190 entries from eleven nations, the people of the Jura can boast a great field of participants for their traditional mountain race St-Ursanne - Les [...]
With more than 190 entries from eleven nations, the people of Jura can present a great field of participants for their traditional mountain race St-Ursanne - Les Rangiers. The safety efforts of the last few years are obviously paying off. In 2019, a new asphalt has been laid from the "Petit Susten" to the finish. Since 2016, 4.5 of the 5.18 kilometers have thus been provided with a new, top-level track surface, plus many new guard rails.
Faggioli against Merli
The 2019 start list is headed by Italians Christian Merli and Simone Faggioli. European Championship defending champion Merli holds the track record with his Osella FA30 and Faggioli, unlike the South Tyrolean, has already won the Swiss European Championship round eight times. Merli has always scored full points in the 2019 European Hillclimb Championship in the race cars and Faggioli in the sports cars, so they jointly lead the EBM standings.
Who will be third?
Christoph Lampert (newcomer to this race), Diego de Gasperi, Fausto Bormolini and Cyrille Frantz are other strong racing car drivers from abroad who are fighting for at least third place on the overall podium. Aiming for this from a national perspective, as he has succeeded in previous years, is Swiss champion Marcel Steiner in his LobArt-Mugen. Eric Berguerand, still unbeaten in 2019, has never raced here since his serious accident in 2007.
Joël Volluz, who crashed his Osella FA30 at the Osnabrück hill climb, leaves it open whether and with what he will compete in the Jura. After initially waving off the rest of the season on the spot for financial reasons, he is now trying to find a solution to be able to continue it.
Long-distance duel in the touring cars
The list of touring cars is headed by Ronnie Bratschi and Roger Schnellmann with their Mitsubishi Evo VIII from Group E1. A special treat at this hill climb is always the internationally strong group E2-SH. The long-distance duel for the best time among the "Hüsliautos" is likely to be as exciting as the battle for the day's victory.
The complete start list is available under the following link viewable.
