Interlaken: Philip Egli retains the upper hand

Better slalom sport than on Saturday in Interlaken cannot be offered. Practically five race car drivers were in contention for the day's victory at the 22nd National Slalom of the ACS Bern at the airfield in the Bernese Oberland. In the end, two of them decided it between themselves.

At the same place where Yves Hängärtner came, saw and won a year and three weeks ago, he returned to action after a break of about ten months with another Tatuus Honda Formula Masters - and how.

With 2'12,00 on the 4,24 km long course with 66 gates, the Biel native marked the best time in the training just ahead of Philip Egli in 2'12,14. Marcel Maurer was already more than 1,5 seconds behind in third place, Christian Balmer and Jean-Marc Salomon with their Tatuus-Honda FM even more.

Egli's third win of the day in Interlaken
In the first race run, this hierarchy was confirmed. Hängärtner was 44 hundredths ahead of Egli, with both staying above their training best times. For the second run, Egli mounted a cleaned set of used slicks, while Hängärtner continued the drive with the already stressed rubber.

Whether this was the deciding factor was uncertain. "Psychologically, it was certainly an advantage," believes Egli, who undercut Hängärtner's time of 2'11.90 by eleven hundredths. Thus, the Glarner, who is at home in Aargau, celebrated his second day victory within six days, the third in Interlaken after 2014 and 2016. Egli: "I knew that you have to run a 2'11 time for the victory."

Yves Hängärtner could hardly believe the narrow defeat at first - for good reason.

Yves Hängärtner: "In the first half I had so many slip-ups that I thought about giving up. The second part of the track must have been brutally fast... Well, Philip can use the championship points."

Marcel Maurer seemed to be on the limit with his Tatuus-Renault Midland with 2'13 times. "The tires are probably too soft. It pushes everywhere," complained the Bernese. At least he was pleasantly surprised at the end that he had not made a goal error after all, despite statements from observers at the side of the track.

So Maurer retained third place overall just ahead of Balmer, who had only practiced here for the hillclimbs, and clearly ahead of Salomon. Jeremy Noirat (TracKing), Lukas Eugster as the best Formula Renault driver and Daniel Mauerhofer in the Norma Honda sports car took the next places.

Furious Martin Bürki
The battle for the best times in the touring cars was no less exciting. Unlike in Frauenfeld (winner in the Porsche Slalom Cup), Patrick Drack mixed it up in Interlaken with his 997 GT3 Cup in Group E1.

Although he was not quite able to confirm the best practice time of all touring cars and GT (2'26,99) (disqualification in run 1, 2'27,93 in run 2), he won the class E1 over three liters. Albin Mächler, who had the upper hand with the heavier BMW M2 after the first run, had to settle for second place. Nevertheless, his performances are always amazing.

Frauenfeld winner Simon Wüthrich stayed in the first race run with the VW Golf Turbo 4×4 almost three seconds above his training best time, the second best ever. Therefore, he lacked faith in the accuracy of the timing afterwards. He did without the second attempt due to engine problems.

Martin Bürki stole the show in the second round. After he had practically secured victory in the 1600cc class ahead of Sylvain Chariatte (VW Golf) and the 20 points in the first round, he pulled out all the stops in the second round with new front tires on the VW Polo and set the absolute best touring car time on the asphalt with 2'27.79. Another demonstration of power by the five slalom champions. Another demonstration of power by the five-time slalom champion.

Martin Bürki: "This time is sensational. I set myself 2'29 and attacked. But I didn't expect this. With this car, I'm at the limit with it."

Dino Wintsch explores the potential of the Lotus Exige
In the E1 two-liters, Patrick Flammer in the Suzuki Swift Evo led surprisingly at first, but Danny Krieg restored the ranking with a faster second run. Ruedi Fuhrer (Honda CRX) was a good third in the class with the largest number of participants.

In the class up to 2.5 liters, René Köchli in the Honda Civic RK3 managed the third best time ever in the second heat behind Bürki and Drack. Martin Oliver Bürki retired in the first heat with a smoking BMW M3 E33, so that Christoph Zwahlen in the Opel Kadett could safely finish second.

In the IS group, Bruno Sawatzki (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) was clearly the fastest, Frauenfeld winner Manuel Santonastaso in a BMW 320 ahead of Sergio Kuhn in a Peugeot 206 in the two-liter.

Dino Wintsch achieved a feat à la Bürki in the SuperSeries, which is irrelevant for the championship due to the low class strength. A week ago, the Zurich native won the Lotus V6 Cup Suisse in his new Lotus Exige 430 Cup.

In Interlaken, he tried out his new production sports car with slick tires and achieved the seventh-fastest touring car time. With 2'30.09, Wintsch remained just above the targeted 2'29 time.

Dino Wintsch: "I wanted to know what is possible with this car. Now I'm contesting more slaloms. It's really fun."

After two of eight runs Bürki, Egli, Krieg and Santanastaso lead the slalom championship with equal points (40 each).

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