La Roche hill climb: Berguerand's answer to Hemberg

The opening race of the Swiss Mountain Championship in Hemberg was a clear affair for Marcel Steiner. In the second run from La Roche to La Berra, last year's champion Eric Berguerand re-established the pecking order. And how! The 44-year-old from Valais was fastest in all three runs and, adding up the two best runs, secured the day's victory with a lead of 2.8 seconds. He also set a new track record of 1:39.128 minutes. As in Hemberg, the fastest touring car driver was Roger Schnellmann.

Driving at a high level

Eric Berguerand: "I didn't have a clear head in Hemberg, which is why the mistake happened to me. But I stayed calm and things went much better again in La Roche. I put on fresh tires in the first run and knew from Saturday's training results that I was well prepared. I had expected before the season that the track record would fall at Hemberg. The fact that an improvement in times was also possible in La Roche shows what a high level we're racing at."

Marcel Steiner in front of Robin Faustini 

In the battle for second place, Steiner beat Robin Faustini by a razor-thin margin of four hundredths of a second. The latter had the advantage on his side after the second run, but narrowly missed out on a good starting position. Synfuel driver Steiner in his LobArt-Honda/Helftec came under pressure after the second run. The Oberdiessbach native had to abort because the charge air hose on his E2 sports car had slipped "and I had no more power." The Hemberg winner cut his teeth on Berguerand.

Joël Volluz was three seconds short

Behind the top three, returnee Joël Volluz secured fourth place overall in his Osella FA30. In the addition of the two fastest runs, the man from the Valais was just under three seconds off the podium. Thomas Amweg, in fifth place overall, also failed to come close to the top 3 in La Roche. The man from Aargau still lacks performance as well as driving experience in the Reynard 95D.

Joël Burgermeister strong again

Three times under 1:50 minutes was only one more: Joël Burgermeister. The Thurgau native managed another strong weekend in the single-seater race cars up to 2000 cm3. With another victory, the driver of the Tatuus F4 also set a new class record. This time he clearly distanced his direct competitors Philip Egli in the Dallara F3 (second) and Marcel Maurer in the Renault 2.0 (third). Fourth place in this discipline went to Joël Grand, who had taken his seat for the first time in the Wolf GB08 F1 Mistral, and with an overall time of 3:45.136 min, held his own in tenth place ahead of the fastest touring car driver Roger Schnellmann.

Bruno Sawatzki had nose in front

In the battle for the IS stage win, there was a rematch between Bruno Sawatzki and Frédéric Neff. The two Porsche drivers gave each other no quarter and drove all their runs between 1:58.0 and 1:58.4 min. As in Hemberg, Sawatzki was ahead in the end. As Neff's Porsche requires further technical clarification after the event (keyword: air duct for engine cooling), his placing is not yet definitive.
Third place in the Interswiss over 3000 cm3 went to Martin Oliver Bürki on BMW E33. The Bernese will race for the Swiss slalom title in Chamblon this weekend.

Patrick Flammer is winner again

Other class winners at La Roche included: Bruno Ianniello (Lancia Delta S4, E1 to 3500 cm3), Benoît Farine (Honda CRX, E1 to 3000 cm3), Sébastien Coquoz (Opel Kadett GTE, E1 to 2000 cm3), Martin Bürki (VW Polo, E1 to 1600 cm3), Ferdi Waldvogel (BMW M3 E30, IS to 2500 cm3), Stephan Burri (VW Scirocco, IS to 2000 cm3), Christophe Oulevay (VW Scirocco, IS to 1600 cm3) and Stefan Schöpfer (Audi 50, IS to1400 cm3).

Victory in the TCR went to Patrick Flammer, as in Hemberg. There was also a repeat offender in the Renault Classic Cup: Thomas Zürcher prevailed over Michael Schläpfer and Maverick Gerber. Simon Wüthrich (E1 up to 3500 cm3) suffered a retirement. The driver from Langnau, who like Steiner runs on synfuel, retired with damage to the drive shaft.

Source: Auto Sport Switzerland
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