Reitnau hill climb: decision in just one run
BERGRENNEN REITNAU After a serious accident involving a Porsche driver, the second round of the Swiss Mountain Championship in Reitnau was stopped early. The day's winner in just one race was Eric Berguerand ahead of Marcel Steiner. In Hemberg, it was the spectacular accident of British TV star Richard Hammond during demonstration runs that made worldwide headlines. On Sunday, the [...]
In Hemberg, it was the spectacular accident of British TV star Richard Hammond during demonstration rides that made headlines around the world. On Sunday, the popular event of the ACS-Mitte in Reitnau was overshadowed by the accident of a real race participant, which caused the premature termination.
The accident happened shortly after the start of the second race run. Chris Steiner, who has achieved good results in the SuperSeries Competition for years, lost control of his Porsche 911 Turbo while accelerating out after the braking chicane in the top section of the track. The driver from Schwyz flew off the right side of the track into the forest at high speed and mowed down a tree.
The unfortunate driver suffered severe leg injuries. The driver from Schwyz was flown by Rega to the Kantonsspiltal Aarau and operated on that evening. AutoSprintCH wishes him a good and speedy recovery!
For time and safety reasons, the event was stopped shortly after 5 p.m. after a forced break of more than one hour. The classification is therefore based on the classification of the first race run.
After rain in practice, the 1.6 km sprint track dried almost completely in the afternoon by the time the field of racing cars battling for the day's victory arrived. Eric Berguerand rebuilt his Lola-Cosworth to the aerodynamic standard of 2016 after the clear defeat to Marcel Steiner in Hemberg and got on well with it again.
After setting the best time on the wet track, the defending champion was also clearly the fastest in what was thus the only race run with 49.32 seconds. With 51.15, Steiner in his Italian LobArt was the fastest sports car driver in second place ahead of local hero Simon Hugentobler in his Reynard F3000 with 52.39.
Hugentobler's son Robin Faustini played it safe in his Swiss debut with another Reynard F3000 after a practice accident and, because of the retirement, was not given another chance to redeem himself with a significant improvement in the second race round. At least Faustini finished 16th among 189 national competitors, while his colleague from the canton of Aargau, Thomas Amweg, rolled out of his Formula 3000 debut due to misfiring on the Lola-Cosworth.
In the E1 touring cars, exactly one hundredth of a second decided the victory. After the best intermediate time, Reto Meisel with his Mercedes SLK340 found himself slowed down, as in Hemberg, by annoying and, despite modifications, recurring problems with the E-gas. A successful title defense is hardly to be thought of anymore.
Fastest of the horsepower bombers for the first time was Romeo Nüssli with his Ford Escort Cosworth. Like Hemberg winner Roger Schnellmann, he started with rain tires on a drying track and finished 0.01 seconds earlier in 58.24 than the Mitsubishi with the same tires. Former champion Bruno Ianniello mounted four slicks on his Lancia Delta S4 and was only a tenth slower.
However, the fastest touring car drivers of all were Frédéric Neff and Bruno Sawatzki with their Porsche GT3s, who started in better conditions after the E1. After his second IS group win in record time, Neff is now the clear title contender in the Swiss touring car mountain championship.
