Berg-SM Junior: The unexpected winner
OVERRUN Rico Thomann didn't necessarily go for victory in the second race of Reitnau. To his own surprise, the Winterthur native then won the first hill climb of the seven juniors by a very narrow margin. It is only at the end that the results are tallied up and counted. This was the experience of the seven participants of the Swiss Race Academy 2019, who competed on identical Toyota GT86s for the Swiss mountain championship [...]
It's only at the end that the numbers are added up and tallied. The seven participants of the Swiss Race Academy 2019, who are competing for the Swiss Hill Climb Championship Junior on identical Toyota GT86s, learned this at their very first hill climb.
As in practice, Pascal Siegrist was ahead after the first race run on the 1605-meter short Reitnau track. Unsettled by an oil track laid shortly before in Group E1 and cleaned with binder, no one drove as fast in the first race run in the afternoon as in his better second practice run.
Although Siegrist clearly missed his 1'11.81 from the second trial run with 1'12.03, his lead over Rico Thomann was already 88 hundredths.
No longer thinking about the victory
Inwardly, the 25-year-old Zimmermann from Winterthur had therefore already resigned himself to second place. And he was amazed when he achieved by far the best junior time with 1'11.27 and was ahead by three hundredths.
Rico Thomann: "The first run was not optimal, so I just wanted to finish cleanly in the second run and not actually attack Pascal. I was very happy about the time, but I never thought it would be enough to win. I would also have been satisfied with second place."
It has never been this close
Naturally, Siegrist was slightly disappointed. In retrospect, the 26-year-old local hero from Strengelbach knew what the problem was.
Pascal Siegrist: "I was a bit too cautious in the second run because I wanted to bring it up as cleanly as the first. I didn't expect Rico to go almost two seconds faster than before. He is the deserved winner."
Three hundredths of a second difference between first and second - that didn't come close in the first two years of the Swiss Race Academy. And it gives hope that the battle for the top will remain more open than before in the next races.
First kart champion, then third
Michael Müller placed third on the first junior podium, already 2.34 seconds behind. What would have been a success for the other four did not satisfy the 19-year-old from Glarus.
No wonder, as Müller was already the Italian ROK karting champion in the top class KZ2 before Reitnau, with two races still to come.
Michael Müller: "Third place is certainly not bad, but after my best time in the first practice session I was hoping for more. I had a good feeling, but couldn't put it into practice. Now I'm looking forward to the faster tracks."
Learning processes
For Gianluca Forella from St. Moritz, the youngest at 19½ years of age, fourth place was a small success, but for Marco Grilli fifth place was more of a disappointment. He had often braked too early, and because it was all about the sausage, the 25-year-old garage owner from Zwillikon made a few drifts in the second run with the rear-wheel drive car, because he likes that. Anzère on July 27/28 will also be the first real test for the Grilli.
In Valais, Noah Suter and Sandro Müller also want to improve. The 20-year-old from Suhr and the 22-year-old from Arth were at the back of the pack in all four runs. They know that they can improve. Suter wanted too much and Müller skied too safely.
The academy director of Driving Event Seelisberg preferred the latter to risky attacks anyway.
Yves Meyer: "I'm pleased that no one did any damage and everyone improved. The track was brutally hot because of the heat. The standard tires were so greasy that we had to adjust the air pressure. Rico made the fewest mistakes and won to my surprise. We're looking forward to seeing what the next race brings."
So do we.
