Berg-Pokal: Krebs takes the lead

UNBELOHNTER MARTIN BÜRKI With his victory in the Renault Classic Cup, Philipp Krebs took the lead in the Swiss Mountain Cup in Oberhallau. Man of the day in the classes judged for it was once again the previous leader of the standings Martin Bürki. When Martin Bürki had finished the third race in Oberhallau and had lined up for the return, his [...]

Editorial - August 29, 2019

Martin Bürki and Reto Steiner were top in their E1 classes. Previously pulled the cap whether the record of the furious 1600 winner (photos: Peter Wyss).

When Martin Bürki had finished the third race run in Oberhallau and lined up for the return, all the dams broke for him. With a time of 1'24.88, the furious man from Berne had set a fantastic record time in his small VW Polo on the 3000-meter track, which is actually considered a power track. With the low-torque 1600, Bürki was thus faster than all the competitors from the various touring car classes in the E1, IS and KW-Berg-Cup groups up to two liters.

In memory of Jürg Beiner
He was spurred on not only by ambition, but also by the time of 1'25.14 set by German Erwin Buck in the KW-Berg-Cup in a VW Scirocco with a higher-torque Spiess engine. One day after the urn funeral of his best friend and fellow racer Jürgen Beiner, who Bürki attended in his thoughts with his MB Motorsport team, he was shaken by emotions.

Martin Bürki: "I wanted to set such a time already in the second run, but made small mistakes. Some passages I drove full in sixth gear for the first time or only with a lug. This is high level and one of my best performances. I would never have thought that the car and the track could do that. Jürgen drove with me and helped to achieve this..."

Martin Bürki's VW Polo is driven by his deceased racing colleagues. Jürg Beiner joined for Oberhallau.

With such ideas, Bürki gives the lie to all those who reproach him with the fact that the E1-1600 is largely made up of people from his own team. However, they decide for themselves when and where they compete. In Oberhallau, only Heinz Gfeller drove under MB entry alongside the "outsiders" Joël Werthmüller (first race in 2019 in a Peugeot 106) and René Bilger (VW Golf).

Since the German Florian Arlt is not eligible for points, Bürki received only ten instead of 20 points with only three Swiss opponents and thus virtually received his second strike result. His first was the absence in Hemberg because of Slalom Romont. Nevertheless, he is still second in the intermediate ranking. Anyone who can conjure up such records deserves the title without competition.

Christoph Mattmüller set a new IS-1600 record in his first second hill climb this year.

Burri now focuses on the IS Trophy
Since Bürki does not shy away from opponents, but is looking for some, he now starts at the Gurnigel and in Les Paccots in the Interswiss up to 1600. In this class Christoph Mattmüller was outstanding with his VW Scirocco in the new record time of 1'25,40 in Oberhallau.

Stephan Burri can get over the first defeat of the season despite a personal best time, which was also below the previous Bürki record. The second Polo Bernese remains clearly at the top of the table of the IS Trophy, which he is targeting, thanks to the eight victories previously. The Bernese three-way battle Bürki-Burri-Mattmüller on the Gurnigel promises to be exciting.

Jürg Ochsner fulfilled his own expectations and those of all the locals. The man from Oberhallau helped on the construction crew and knows every blade of grass.

Ochsner wins in front of home crowd
In the Mountain Cup, Burri will be competing with his IS colleagues Stefan Schöpfer (Audi 50) and Jürg Ochsner (Opel Kadett) for the third medal position. Both won their classes, with Schöpfer unable to match his 2007 record despite the improved track, but Ochsner managed the longed-for home victory in personal best time. Manuel Santonastaso (BMW 320) and the second strong Schaffhausen Patrick Hedinger (Peugeot 205) let themselves be left behind in the addition of the IS-2000 but only by 1.20 and 2.12 seconds respectively.

Steiner just ahead of Faiglé
In E1-2000, Reto Steiner in the Ford Escort RS with Mondeo V6 engine and René Faiglé in the VW Scirocco with STW powerplant (as in the Audi A4 of Danny Krieg, who was only present as a spectator) delivered a terrific duel. Steiner retained the upper hand with a tiny nine hundredths lead. In third place, Christian Darani in the Fiat X1/9, which was inferior in terms of performance and more suited to slalom, also fell just short with a gap of only 0.77.

Combined with his driving skills, Reto Steiner exploited the torque of his Ford Escort V6 in the E1-2000.

In the E1-1400, Beat Rohr suffered the same fate as Bürki: His renewed class victory with the Audi 50 MLP in record time was rewarded with only half points. The same was true of Alain Pfefferlé's victory in the Historic Vehicles Group K, which is also part of the Berg-Pokal. With his over 40-year-old Porsche 935, the Valais native was the sixth-fastest touring car/GT driver ever - chapeau!

Krebs or Bürki?
The new and sole leader in the 2019 Mountain Cup is now Philipp Krebs. In contrast to the previous week in Jura, this time he held off Thomas Zürcher, who has returned to the Renault Classic Cup, by one second not only in terms of individual running time but also in the addition of the two best runs. With the Clio II, Krebs will also be superior to the Clio III pack at Gurnigel in terms of power-to-weight ratio. The third place on the podium was also decided by Michael Schläpfer, a Clio II driver with a narrow five-hundredths lead over Daniel Borer at the first start in Oberhallau.

If Krebs also wins the last two hillclimb races in the highly competitive Cup class, both titles will go to him. Despite this rosy outlook, last year's runner-up in the Mountain Cup and Classic Cup champion should not expect any gifts from his colleagues. If Martin Bürki beats his IS-1600 opponents twice, the doyen among the drivers with the smaller racing touring cars will take the Berg-Pokal in 2019 anyway.