Bergrennen Gurnigel: Gala of the champions 🎥

Wherever Eric Berguerand competes, the track records tumble. In 2022, the 43-year-old Valais native has won the day's race in a new best time in every round of the Swiss Mountain Championship in which he has let his black Lola FA99 off the leash.

The new seven-time Swiss mountain champion was also unstoppable on race day at Gurnigel in front of around 10,000 spectators in beautiful autumn weather.

The first shot sat
Bergus" beat the course record he set four years ago by 32 hundredths of a second. His new best mark on the 3734-meter track from Dürrbach to Gurnigelbad now stands at 1:39.49 min, which corresponds to an average speed of 135.1 km/h.

But things didn't really go according to plan for him on Sunday.

Eric Berguerand: "I had transmission problems. The third gear wouldn't go in. That's why the time in the second heat wasn't particularly good. I then did without the third heat because I didn't want to risk anything more."

Faustini beats host Steiner
In the addition of the two runs Berguerand recorded a time of 3:22,60. Thus the now eight-time Gurnigel winner was a little more than a second faster than Robin Faustini. With a strong second run (1:41.33), the man from Aargau secured second place in the Osella FA30 (center gallery) ahead of Marcel Steiner.

The local hero had already hit the guard rail after a few hundred meters in the first forest section in the first run. This broke the rear suspension, the pistons and a few aero parts. Thanks to some interruptions due to accidents and technical failures, Steiner and his team were able to repair the damage by the second race run.

In the end, he finished third, 31 hundredths of a second behind Faustini. Steiner's problems had no effect on the championship. Steiner was assured of second place in the SM, as was Faustini of third.

Class records by Zemp and Burgermeister
The top 5 were completed by Thomas Amweg, whose restored Lola T94/50 with normal H-shift (gallery on the left) was once driven by Papa Fredy 10998 to the 17th and last day's victory at the Gurnigel, and Michel Zemp in the Norma-Honda (gallery on the right). Zemp secured the fourth final place in the Swiss mountain championship, realizing a new record for two-liter racing cars at the Gurnigel.

Joël Grand (6th), who had taken a seat in Simon Hugentobler's Reynard 97D after selling his Osella, was also quite satisfied. On the one hand, everything was new for him, and on the other, he was hardly able to practice on the initially rainy Saturday due to clutch problems.

In the two-liter formula race cars, Joël Burgermeister in the Tatuus F4 Evo prevailed, as in Les Rangiers and Oberhallau. The Thurgau native improved the class record by one second to 1:48.97 min and was thus 1.4 seconds faster in the addition of the two fastest runs than returnee Thomas Zürcher, who was back on the grid for the first time after his knee operation in an almost identical F4 LRM-Abarth.

Meisel pulverizes own record
In the touring cars, Reto Meisel was already established as champion. In Berguerand style, the Aaragau native also claimed his fifth overall victory in the closed race cars this season at Gurnigel in a Mercedes SLK 340 he built himself (gallery on the right) , improving his own best time from 2018 with the same car by almost four seconds to a fantastic 1:48.84. Meisel thus impressively confirmed his superior title win in the Swiss mountain championship for touring cars.

Schnellmann runner-up despite series of defects
Second fastest was Roger Schnellmann. However, the man from Schwyz didn't know whether he should be happy about second place in the championship after the second race or angry about another defect on the monstrous Mitsubishi Evo 8.

Roger Schnellmann: "In Les Rangiers, the drive shaft broke. During the repair, we discovered that the differential was also damaged. We patched up both. Now the differential is broken again. I'm glad that I finished the second race at all."

Victories for the two Martin Bürkis
Bruno Sawatzki secured third place in the final touring car standings ahead of Frédéric Neff. The two Interswiss Porsche drivers gave each other no quarter at the Gurnigel and engaged in an open exchange of blows - with the better end for Sawatzki (gallery left).

Martin Bürki in the BMW E33 almost matched the times of the two IS Porsches. The driver from the E1 up to 3000 cc drove times of 2:02 twice and captured a class win at Gurnigel for the first time. Trying to fend off a possible counterattack by Hermann Bollhalder in the Opel Speedster, MB2 still touched the guardrails in the third run.

The other Martin Bürki, the slalom king from Uetendorf, could also be satisfied with his performance. Not only did he successfully beat Stephan Burri in the E1 up to 1600 cc, he also confidently won the Mountain Cup for the fourth time.

The last race
Second place in the championship for smaller-displacement vehicles went to Philipp Krebs, who also triumphed in the Renault Classic Cup at the same time and retired his Clio II (center gallery) after 18 years and 87 podium finishes. In 2023, he will compete with a Clio III.

Denis Wolf, who was still leading ex-aequo with Bürki at the beginning of the season, had to watch out at Gurnigel after an engine failure on his Renault Clio.

Three other touring car drivers also put in outstanding performances. The handicapped Christoph Rohr (only one eye left) ended his career with a near-record victory in the Audi 50 in the E1-1400. Jürg Ochnser prevailed in the IS-2000 and Sébastien Coquoz (both Opel Kadett) in the E1-2000, which also had a large number of participants.

Photos: Kaufmann, Eichenberger, Cornevaux

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