Anzère hill climb: Favorites in record mood
IDEAL CONDITIONS The two big title favorites Eric Berguerand and Reto Meisel prevailed in the third round of the 2022 Swiss Mountain Championship in Valais. Like many other competitors in their classes, they set new records.
At his home race, Eric Berguerand in the optimum Lola-Cosworth punched an unofficial record time of 1:25.668 into the 3,500-meter asphalt from Ayent to Anzère in practice on Saturday. In the first run on Sunday morning, the Valais native took advantage of the cooler conditions and immediately improved his own track record from 2018 by 2.7 seconds to 1:24.240, which corresponds to an average speed of almost 150 km/h.
Steiner without a chance despite sports car record
Berguerand also set fastest times in both the second and third runs. Adding up the two fastest runs, the defending champion had a 5.8-second lead over second-placed Marcel Steiner (left gallery) in the LobArt with Honda turbo engine from Helftec.
The Bernese was without a chance against the six-time Swiss champion despite a clear improvement in his own sports car record.
Marcel Steiner: "After Eric's best time in practice, I suspected there was more to come. I wasn't driving slowly myself either and wouldn't have known how to beat him. We're still in the learning phase with the turbo engine. At least it was enough for second place this time."
Osella pilots in the places of honor
Behind Berguerand and Steiner, Robin Faustini and Joël Volluz secured 3rd and 4th place in their Osella FA30s. In an astonishing fifth place overall, Joël Grand in the Osella sports car with single-liter engine (center gallery) once again left Michel Zemp (Norma-Honda) behind as the fastest two-liter driver in another fabulous class record time.
In the race cars up to two liters, winner Philip Egli in the Dallara F3 with naturally aspirated engine was 2.6 seconds faster than Joël Burgermeister in the Tatuus F4 with Abarth turbo engine after three consistently fast runs.
After two remarkable times in the second and third rounds, returnee Roland Bossy in the Dallara-Spiess F3 (gallery on the right) was only half a second behind the man from Thurgau in the end. The 60-year-old from Jura had not expected more than 4th or 5th place.
Category wins for Meisel and Neff
Reto Meisel's renewed touring car record victory in the Mercedes SLK 340 involved a lot of work (lower gallery, left). In the morning heat, an undersized cable caused clutch damage. With a new clutch, replaced in only one and a half hours break until the second pre-start, the SM-leader let in the second run min a likewise clear record mark in 1:34,865.
After three runs, Meisel had a two-second lead over Roger Schnellmann (Mitsubishi Evo 8) and eleven seconds over IS winner Frédéric Neff (Porsche 996 GT2 R). Neff saw the checkered flag for the first time after technical problems in Hemberg and La Roche with the around 740 hp Turbo (lower gallery center) in Anzère. Despite his new IS record in the morning, brand colleague Bruno Sawatzki in Neff's naturally aspirated GT3 car was narrowly beaten.
Opel victories in strongly contested TW classes
There was a triple Opel-Kadett victory in the Interswiss class up to 2000 cm3, which was filled with 20 drivers, by Jürg Ochsner, Marco Geering and Philip Niederberger. In the class up to 2.5 liters, too, a Kadett driver, Armin Banz, was in the lead in the end, despite retiring in the third run.
In new record times, Martin Bächler (VW Lupo) and Martin Bürki (VW Polo) won the E1 classes up to 1.4 and 1.6 liters. In the E1 two-liters, all of which were slower than Bürki, victory went to Sébastien Coquoz in the Opel Kadett ahead of Reto Steiner in the Ford Escort and Christian Darani in the Fiat X 1/9, as in La Roche.
Hermann Bollhalder (Opel Speedster) and Martin Oliver Bürki (BMW E33) had a great duel in the E1 up to 3000 cm3. After a record drive in the last run, which the slalom runner-up had to do without, "Bolle" kept the better end for himself.
In the SuperSeries, which unfortunately now only comprises five cars including Competition, Chris Steiner in the Lotus Exige shone with a new track record. This had been held by reigning champion Andy Feigenwinter since 2018 - the year before he won the title.
Krebs wins and Bürki leads
In the Renault Classic Cup, Philip Krebs triumphed this time in a Clio 2 in personal best time ahead of two-time season winner Denis Wolf and Michael Schläpfer in their Clio 3's. Krebs' victory over Wolf means that at the halfway point of the Swiss Mountain Championship, multi-champion Martin Bürki is the sole leader in the Swiss Mountain Cup.
