Bergrennen Osnabrück: No chance against Merli 🎥
SECOND PLACE FOR BERGUERAND European champion Christian Merli made short work of his opponents in Germany's biggest hillclimb race. After an exciting duel among the challengers, Eric Berguerand took second place.
After the three practice runs on the 2030-meter short track in Borgloh just outside Osnabrück, the starting position still seemed open, although Christian Merli had already set the best times. This year's Swiss record winner Eric Berguerand, however, was still struggling with his car because he tried a smaller tire dimension and thus did not feel the Lola-Cosworth as usual.
Marcel Steiner in the LobArt with Helftec Honda turbo engine also failed to achieve the desired times. But the Bernese was still second fastest among a dozen large three-liter racing sports cars from Group E2.
Record drive and spin with happy ending
In the very first race on Sunday morning, which he was allowed to start twice because the track was dirty (warmed tires were certainly no disadvantage), the Italian was the first driver to achieve a time of under 50 seconds with 49.817 (average 145.71 km/h) at the hill climb in northern Germany, which has been held for the 54th time since 1968. In doing so, the three-time European champion in his optimum Osella FA30 with Zytek V8 LRM engine beat all opponents by two seconds and more.
After 50.154 in the second heat, his fourth stage win in Osnabrück after 2016, 2017 and 2019 - in record time in each case - was already clear before the final sprint. In the final sprint, Merli managed the feat of spinning in a corner bordered by guard rails and tire piles without hitting the ground due to gearshift problems. The following recording from the livestream shows this situation.
Berguerand catches up on training
Second place was taken by Eric Berguerand (left gallery) after the first run and Marcel Steiner (right gallery) after the second run, but only a tenth of a second separated them. Frenchman Sébastien Petit (Nova Proto, center gallery), the old and now new overall winner of the FIA Hill Climb Cup, like the Swiss champion also still sensed his chance for the place of honor behind Merli.
All three turned up the heat in the third race, but improved to varying degrees. As a result, Petit first ousted Steiner from second place and first in the sports cars, before Berguerand also took over second place overall as the second fastest of the day with 50.998.
Eric Berguerand: "I missed the whole of Saturday because I was converting the car back to the big wheels. It wasn't until the third race that I was where I should have started on Sunday. But I probably wouldn't have come closer than half a second to Merli. He is a professional. Therefore I am completely satisfied with the outcome of the race. It was fun and motivating to fight for second place with several strong opponents."
Consolation plaster for Steiner
Meanwhile, Steiner found no explanation why he was nowhere near his best time of 2019 with the weaker Mugen V8 engine (P2 with 50.615).
Marcel Steiner: "It is what it is. With new tires, I hadn't made the progress from practice to the race that I had hoped for and was actually used to. And so Petit beat me by 16 hundredths."
At least he was able to stand on the extended overall podium in fourth place like fifth-placed Alexander Hin, who is by far the fastest German of the present day with the ex-Lampert Osella. Robin Faustini and Joël Volluz in their Osella FA30s missed the podium by fractions of a second.
With his fastest Osnabrück time so far in the third run, the man from Aargau still pushed the man from Valais - who was the last Swiss day winner so far in 2015 - out of sixth place. Both were quite satisfied with their own best times and, like Steiner, they know that there is still room for improvement in the future.
Class victory for Burgermeister
Joel Burgermeister in the Tatuus-Abarth F4 evo (lower gallery, left) ensured a Swiss victory. Like Merli in the strongest racing sports cars, the Thurgau native gave his opponents, most of whom were Formula 3 cars, no chance, setting three 56 times and thus deservedly winning the two-liter class of racing cars.
The fastest of all touring cars and GT vehicles was Frenchman Nicolas Werver in a Porsche 997 GT3 R (lower gallery, center). He was the only one to beat the minute mark at the end. The E1 record of Ronnie Bratschi from 2019 (57.338) could also never be threatened by the Czech Dan Michl in a Lotus Elise and the South African King of the Hill Pieter Zeelie in a Toyota MR2 Turbo.
The only touring car driver from Switzerland to finish fifth in his class was 23-year-old newcomer Kyrill Graf in the BMW M3 GTR (lower gallery, right).
Next summit in the canton of Jura
Some of the international participants in Osnabrück will have the opportunity to take revenge the weekend after next at the Swiss European Championship race St-Ursanne-Les Rangiers. Eric Berguerand, who has never competed there since his serious accident, will then watch this event from a distance as a bystander and will not attack again until a week later in Oberhallau.
