Berg-SM Junior: The expert man prevails
MOUNTAIN RACING In the new Swiss Junior Mountain Championship, Rolf Reding celebrated his second victory after Reitnau in Anzère, again ahead of Lukas Eugster and Benjamin Devaud. The 23-year-old worked for three years with the successful Fach Auto Tech team. Privately, he drives a BMW M3 and professionally, too, he had worked from 2014 to 2016 as an employee of the well-known [...]
In his private life, he drives a BMW M3, and in his professional life, too, he was involved with fast cars from 2014 to 2016 as an employee of the well-known Porsche team boss and garage owner Alex Fach from Sattel. It's no wonder that Rolf Reding from Immensee has emerged as the favorite for the first-ever title of Swiss Mountain Champion Junior.
Reding demonstrates not only driving skills, but also strong nerves and good concentration. On July 2 in Reitnau, he seemed to have a slight edge over his seven competitors, all aged between 22 and soon 28 in identical Toyota GT86 races. This continued in practice last weekend at the second Ayent-Anzère hill climb.
But oops, from Saturday to Sunday Lukas Eugster, already his first opponent in Reitnau, managed to improve a bit more than Reding. "I had wished for a duel, but now I would prefer it differently...", Reding sighed.
The last race run brought the turning point
However, in a mountain race, the final count is only made at the end, as the students of the Swiss Race Academy learned in a vivid way. Reding took his heart in both hands and drove an ounce faster in the third race run than before, while Eugster slowed down a bit.
In the addition of the two better times, the man from Schwyz was half a second ahead of the man from Herisau. His disappointment was just as visible as the surprise of the winner that he was able to turn the tide in his favor - future champions are made of this kind of wood...
As there are only half points in Reitnau due to the race cancellation, Reding's points lead over Eugster is not yet so big that he cannot be caught up. Lukas Eugster and also Benjamin Devaud, who finished third again with a respectable distance, are therefore challenged...
With Mario Koch, Aurelio Demski and Florian Klein, the same three drivers as in Reitnau also finished below the podium.
Only Raphael Feigenwinter was able to pass the red lantern to Joshua Reynolds this time, although he also improved a lot compared to the training. As with the greats, no gifts are given here either....
