Motorsport: Martina Garovi is top with Abarth
The Abarth Trofeo Slalom is one of the few official Swiss one-make cups. In the first two races, Martina Garovi and her new car picked up where she left off in 2015 - at the top of the field. Martina Garovi is truly an amazing woman. At the finale in Ambrì in October 2015, the woman from Obwalden in [...]
Martina Garovi is truly an amazing woman. At the finals in Ambrì in October 2015, the woman from Obwalden took all the men by surprise in the last race of the season to secure the championship. Bruno Riesen had the same number of points at the end, but thanks to the greater number of victories (3:2), the title went to her. For 2016, the architect from Sachseln got herself an affordable 695 Assetto Corse from the Italian Trofeo Abarth at a dealer in Graz (A) and was initially startled during the slalom test drives in Ticino at the beginning of April: "I'd never driven with slicks before and almost flew off a few times."
Favorite opponent Bruno Riesen in second place
But she thought it was cool and approached the first races in Frauenfeld and Interlaken without any great ambitions. "I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really excited, even though I can only embarrass myself as a champion." Wrong. In Frauenfeld, she relegated her favorite opponent Bruno Riesen in the Abarth R3T to second place in the Corsa class with a fast and clean second run, because the latter was given ten seconds for a gate error. Sascha Maurer in the Punto Abarth SS and Beat Wyssen, who missed a gate with his R3T, also remained beaten.
The confirmation in Interlaken has succeeded
While she attributed her unexpected victory in her first race with the still unfamiliar car more to the mistakes of her strongest competitors, she proved herself wrong in the Interlaken slalom. After the first run, Beat Wyssen was still 2.17 seconds ahead of Garovi and almost three ahead of Riesen on his home course. Again Martina turned the tables in the second run and gave her six male opponents the slip. "My car has 25 more horsepower than the R3T, but my opponents also have more experience. With a race touring car without ABS and with slicks, brake boost, a sequential manual six-speed transmission and much higher speeds, I have to learn driving from zero," she illustrates. Is she now setting her sights on the title again? "That would be a bit of a tall order," she reflects, "but I'm going to try."
www.abarthtrofeoslalom.ch
Photos: Jürg Kaufmann
