Formula 3: Swiss Day in Salzburg

The motorsport festival at the Salzburgring marked the belated season opener of the Drexler-Automotive Formula Cup for private drivers in various formula racing cars. In addition, the races counted towards the Central European FIA Zone Championship and the Austrian Circuit Championship. After both races, however, only Schwyzerdütsch was spoken on the podium...

Surprising Thomas Aregger
The first qualifying session took place on a wet track on Saturday, the second in the rain. Kurt Böhlen loves such conditions more than anything. But unfortunately, the man from Bern suffered engine damage on the sunny Friday.

Surprisingly, Thomas Aregger in a Dallara F309-VW from series organizer Franz Wöss Racing secured the first pole position ahead of compatriot Sandro Zeller in a Dallara F312-Mercedes and Serbian Paolo Brajnik in a modern Dallara F317-VW. After a first Formula 3 intermezzo in Most (CZ) in 2019, the long-time Formula Renault driver can certainly be described as a newcomer to the top category.

On the hunt for the best times for the second race, Brajnik hit the guard rails in the paddock bend and, like Böhlen, therefore had to miss the start of Sunday's races. The Swiss were thus rid of their strongest opponent.

Two start-finish victories for Sandro Zeller
At the start of the first race in the morning, Sandro Zeller immediately took the lead and then held it until the finish. Meanwhile, pole setter Thomas Aregger dropped back to 13th place after a spin, so that Thomas Amweg, who had advanced from fifth on the grid, took over second place in his ex-Vettel-Dallara F305-Mercedes.

In the course of the 19 laps, Aregger plowed through the field with impressive overtaking maneuvers and caught Amweg two laps before the chequered flag fell.

The second race on Sunday afternoon was also a clear prey for defending champion Sandro Zeller. In the first third of the race, Aregger still held his own, but halfway through the race, the thread to the leader clearly broke and Zeller won at the finish line with a lead of 6.5 seconds.

Amweg must first get used to Formula 3 again
Thomas Amweg was only within reach of the two leading compatriots at the beginning. By the time he reached the finish, the former champion had dropped back by almost half a minute. The man from Aargau, who now specializes in hill climbs with a Formula 3000 and a historic Formula 2, also had an explanation for this.

Thomas Amweg: "I haven't sat in a Formula 3 car for five years. And because both fuel pumps failed on Friday, I hardly got to drive in the dry. I was actually satisfied with my times in the rain. But maybe I had a bit too much respect. After all, I was primarily interested in driving fun and not in testing the limits."

Now first historic hill climb, then return
Amweg leads the Trophy standings for older Formula 3 race cars with two class victories ahead of Urs Rüttimann, the fourth Swiss. However, he will forego the next circuit races in this series and will not return until Hungary at the earliest or probably not until the finale in Monza.

Instead, he is aiming for his fifth consecutive one-day victory at the Arosa ClassicCar hill climb in early September with the Martini-BMW F2 provided by Phimmoracing. Two weeks later, he also wants to start with it for the first time at the Bernina Gran Tourismo.

Off to the Italians
Most of the teams traveled directly from Salzburg to Mugello. The circuit in Tuscany, where a Formula 1 GP will be held for the first time on September 13 at the Ferrari test track (the occasion is the Scuderia's 1000th start), also marks the start of the Italian Topjet2000 series.

Therefore, the field will include well over 30 race cars. And the Italians, as happened in 2019 with the help of a launch from Zeller, will leave no stone unturned to break through the Swiss phalanx.

The other dates for the Drexler Automotive Cup:

• August 18/19: Mugello (I)
• August 29/30: Imola (I)
• September 5/6: Brno (CZ)
• October 24/25: Hungaroring (H)
• November 7/8: Monza (I)

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