Motorsport: Unbeaten Swiss champions

After the festival in glorious weather on the Gurnigel the weekend before, the atmosphere at the conclusion of the Swiss Mountain Championships in Châtel-St-Denis was almost dreary. At least it didn't rain throughout the two days. After setting the best time in training on Saturday and the second-best time just behind Eric Berguerand in the first race, Marcel Steiner had faint hopes of winning the day.

But unlike the driver from Bern, the four-time race car champion from Martigny was able to improve significantly in the second race. With the clear best time in the last run, Berguerand secured the day's victory in the Lola-Cosworth, his sixth in the sixth race. Simon Hugentobler took his chance to finish third in the SM despite the accident at Gurnigel. He started with the older Reynard 92D-Cosworth and only had to admit defeat to Steiner by 16 thousandths of a second in the addition of the two best times!

The first SM title for the birthday
Although he didn't have to win, Reto Meisel in his Mercedes SLK 340 was involved in an exciting duel with Romeo Nüssli in the even more powerful Ford Escort with four-wheel drive. Still close together after two heats, Meisel pulled well ahead in the final heat on a drying track. Meisel's fourth place overall meant his sixth touring car victory of the season, with which the garage owner from Leuggern secured his first SM title after winning the Special Car Trophy in 1998 and the Berg Cup in 2002 on the day after his 46th birthday.

With another group win, Frédéric Neff finished runner-up ahead of Josef Koch, who was on vacation. If Meisel had driven at a slow pace and been beaten by Nüssli, the latter would have overtaken Koch in the standings. In the Hillclimb Cup for smaller cars and historic vehicles, Danny Krieg scored maximum points with his seventh class victory in the Audi A4 STW.

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Photos: Peter Wyss