Hill climb: Two highlights in seven days
MOUNTAIN RACING This weekend, some of Europe's best specialists will compete in the Swiss European Championship race in St-Ursanne. A week later, the Oberhallau hill climb race also features a nice international field of participants. The fans of Swiss motorsports and especially of hill climbs, which exert a special fascination, will get their money's worth in the second half of August. First up is the 74th [...]
Fans of Swiss motorsports and especially of hill climbs, which exert a special fascination, will get their money's worth in the second half of August. First on the agenda is the 74th International Hill Climb St-Ursanne-Les Rangiers, followed a week later by the International Hill Climb Oberhallau.
Since 1972, the race in the Jura has been part of the European Mountain Championship. Since the private association (ASA St-Ursanne - Les Rangiers), with the help of the canton, has been investing in the safety of Europe's fastest mountain race track for years, the Swiss event is now one of the best-staffed internationally in the European Championship calendar. Of around 250 (!) registered drivers from 13 nations, more than a quarter are expected from abroad in the picturesque town on the Doubs.
The class field is led by the Italians Simone Faggioli and Christian Merli. Nine-time European champion Faggioli holds the record on the track, which has been extended by 11 meters to 5.180 km since 2016 at the start, in the time of 1:42.118, which means an incredible 182.6 km/h average!
Merli has won five of the nine European Championship rounds so far with the shuttered factory Osella race car, and Faggioli four with the French Norma sports car, both with V8 race engines. For the defending champion it would be the seventh victory in the Jura (the sixth in a row), for Merli the first.
Another driver is not eligible for the day's victory under normal conditions. Since, in contrast to Saturday (three practice runs from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.), good weather is forecast for race day, record improvements can be expected in all classes.
With the exception of Eric Berguerand (who has never raced in the Jura since his serious accident in 2007 and the fatal crash of his friend Lionel Régal in 2010), all the Swiss are there with ambitions in the various championships. Marcel Steiner, who leads the standings in the racing cars, has a great chance to extend his points lead over Berguerand by winning the Swiss classification. His goal with the LobArt sports car is third place overall behind the two Italians.
Reto Meisel also wants to set another milestone in his career. The Aargauer should, if the weather and for once also the technology of his Mercedes SLK 340 does not let him down, be the first touring car driver in the history of this race to reach the finish on the Col des Rangiers in a time of under two minutes. Since the title train has sailed for him, such record-breaking times are still his only motivation.
Folk festival in Oberhallau
The Klettgau village of Oberhallau in the canton of Schaffhausen will also be bursting at the seams the following weekend, as around 250 riders from five nations have also registered for the fifth SM race of 2017 on August 26/27. Unique for Switzerland is the participation of the German KW-Berg-Cup, which can be compared with the Swiss Interswiss Trophy.
A treat there will be not only the resumption of the title fight between Steiner and Berguerand, but the largest displacement race car class in general. As many as seven of these former Formula 3000 bolides, more than at any "normal" Swiss race, have registered.
We'll talk more specifically about this in our preview next week.
