Motorsport: An almost perfect Swiss day
Only Osella works driver Christian Merli from Italy prevented the fourth consecutive Swiss stage win at the Osnabrück International Hill Climb. Ronnie Bratschi celebrated another overall touring car victory. The Swiss had set the tone on the only two-kilometer long, but with its medium-fast and partly blind curves very selective hillclimb circuit in the northern German state of Lower Saxony since 2012. Not unexpectedly, the [...]
On the only two-kilometer long, but with its medium-fast and partly blind curves very selective hill course in the northern German Lower Saxony, the Swiss had set the tone since 2012. Not unexpectedly, Christian Merli from South Tyrol ended this winning streak at the race, which is part of the FIA Hill Climb Cup and the German Hill Climb Championship and was watched by a total of around 25,000 spectators over two days. The professional from Trento had to pull out all the stops at the first start on the Uphöfener Berg to keep Joël Volluz at bay. Both drove an Osella FA30, but Christian Merli drove the latest Evo version. He was powered by a V8 combined from two Suzuki Hayabusa engines, while Joël Volluz used the tried-and-tested Judd/Zytek V8.
No stitch for Marcel Steiner with his LobArt
While the Italian was one second faster than Joël Volluz in the first run, the man from the Valais countered with the second-best time ever (51.818) in the second. Only in 2013 was his then teammate Julien Ducommun even faster in 51.434. In the third heat, Christian Merli, under pressure from Joël Volluz, snatched the track record in 51.323. In the addition of the three run times, the South Tyrolean kept the upper hand by 1.231 seconds. Eric Berguerand did not even try to seriously intervene in the fight for the day's victory ("The aero of my Lola FA99 does not suit this track") and was satisfied with 4th place overall behind the Czech Vaclav Janik in the Norma sports car with a Mitsubishi turbo engine. Marcel Steiner had no sting with the LobArt, which was not yet developed enough in terms of chassis, and had to settle for the unusual fourth place in the sports cars (7th overall). Simon Hugentobler (Reynard-Nippon) was ninth, Philippe Guelat (Lola F3000). Twelfth among the 156 drivers from 13 nations.
Big win for Ronnie Bratschi in the Mitsubishi
With his 620 hp Mitsubishi, Ronnie Bratschi was the only driver in the touring cars, which also included three GT3 sports cars, to drive under the minute mark twice. After his superior victory in Group E1, the soon-to-be 30-year-old from Uri is practically set as the winner of the FIA Mountain Cup. If he scores points next Sunday in Slovenia, the second title after 2015 is also theoretically out of his reach. Since Reto Meisel rolled out in Race 2 with a broken transmission on his Mercedes SLK 340, Ronnie Bratschi also ended up ahead of all the cars in the Group E2 silhouette.
Martin Bürki had his first sense of achievement with the newly acquired BMW 318i STW, the German Bergcup winning car of recent years. In only his second race, the Bernese finished second in the 25-car E1 to two-liter class. In St-Ursanne and Oberhallau, where he knows the tracks very well, his Swiss colleagues and, in Schaffhausen, the Germans from the KW-Berg-Cup will also have to dress warmly.
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Photos: Peter Wyss
