Hill climb: 25th title for Simone Faggioli 🎥
CHAMPION IN ITALY The record day winner at the Swiss European Championship race in the Jura has been crowned national champion in his native Italy for the 14th time. In addition, Simone Faggioli is already eleven-time European mountain champion. The first two minutes of ACI Sport TV's four-minute season summary show the insane speed of the fastest Italians from outside and from Faggioli's cockpit. The decision in [...]
The first two minutes of ACI Sport TV's four-minute season recap show the insane speed of the fastest Italians from the outside and from Faggioli's cockpit.
The decision in the Italian Mountain Championship came only this week in the form of the final results officially announced by the Automobile Association ACI, after the seventh and final race Luzzi-Sambucina had to be definitively canceled because of the Covid 19 measures.
The final race in Calabria, in the hope of an improvement in the health situation, had already been postponed for the same reasons from November 14/15 to the coming weekend of December 12/13. In the province of Cosenza, at this late time of year, temperatures can still be quite pleasant, so that in the exceptional year of 2020, a national hill climb would also have been feasible under regular conditions.
First Merli, then Faggioli
As in France, the Campionato Italiano Velocita Montagna (CIVM) had only just begun in August. With victories in Alpe del Nevegal and Gubbio, where he collected the best possible points as fastest on the day on Saturday and Sunday respectively, Christian Merli in the Osella FA30 Zytek LRM was initially ahead.
At the four following hill climbs Svolte di Popoli, Alghera-Scala Piccada, Cividale-Castelmonte and at Monte Erice in Sicily, Simone Faggioli really brought himself and his proven Norma M20 FC into shape. In all eight daily classifications the Florentine, who is factory-supported by Pirelli tires, left his arch-rival from Trento behind, although sometimes only just. Theoretically, Merli could still have ousted Faggioli from the top of the standings in Luzzi.
For Faggioli, this is already the 14th absolute national title (category winners are also chosen). Merli had only won it once in 2018. Third place overall goes to his Osella colleague Diego Degasperi.
Reunion in August 2021?
A year ago, both were joint European champions with the same number of category wins in sports cars (Faggioli) and race cars (Merli). Both also put on a sensational record show every year at the Swiss EBM run St-Ursanne-Les Rangiers. Faggioli has been unbeaten in the Jura for years, but Merli snatched the track record in 2018.
In August 2019, both set record times on the partially resurfaced road, averaging over 187 km/h, with Faggioli being fractions of a second faster.
This year, the European Hill Climb Championship was completely cancelled due to Covid-19. For 2021, the International Hill Climb St-Ursanne-Les Rangiers on August 14/15 is on the calendar.
