Nico Müller writes Swiss motorsport history
MOTORSPORT Nico Müller became the first Swiss driver to score points in the World Rallycross Championship in Latvia in only his second outing. Meanwhile, his Audi colleague Marcel Fässler narrowly missed out on the title in the Blancpain GT Sprint series. After his somewhat unsuccessful debut two weeks earlier at the French WRC round in Lohéac (17th), Nico Müller was given a second [...]
After his somewhat unsuccessful debut two weeks earlier at the French WRC round in Lohéac (17th), Nico Müller from Team EKS was given a second chance to show his talent at the wheel of an Audi S1 EKS quattro RX Supercar.
And the Bernese driver made the most of it! At the big rallycross festival in the Latvian capital Riga, Müller sensationally made it through to the final of the best six drivers from the qualifying heats in changeable weather conditions. Here he beat the world-famous cracks Sébastien Loeb and Ken Block in Q1. In Q3, he was the best of the four Audi drivers in sixth place, including defending champion and team boss Mattias Ekström.
Thanks to second place behind record rally world champion Loeb in his six-lap semi-final, Müller was allowed to take part in the grand final. Although he finished sixth and last after six laps of around 1300 m each, this did not detract from his performance in what was only his second start in the RX World Championship.
On the contrary, Müller was the first Swiss ever to score a total of 13 championship points in this discipline, putting him in 18th place in the standings with two races to go.
The praise from all sides is now motivating him for the last two DTM races in Spielberg (September 23/24) and Hockenheim (October 14/15). After a rather mixed season so far, he is hoping that he will finally have a successful experience here too - fourth place is the best result so far in 2017.
You can read more about Nico Müller's RX adventure in the next few days in his exclusive column for our online colleagues at Motorsport.com Switzerland (ch.motorsport.com).
Time penalty knocks Marcel Fässler out of the title race
There was no happy ending for Marcel Fässler at the finale of the Blancpain GT Sprint Series at the Nürburgring. Things looked very good after the additional point for his Belgian partner Dries Vanthoor's pole position, third place in the qualifying race and the strong opening phase in Sunday's main race.
The Audi duo were on course for the podium and the title in the R8 LMS of the Belgian team WRT when race control imposed a penalty for an incident with a mechanic during a pit stop. A pit stop threw the duo out of contention for a top position in the race and in the championship, which they finished in fifth place.
The Emil Frey Lexus Team, competing in the same race for the first time, finished 22nd and 21st in this test run with drivers Albert Costa/Stéphane Ortelli (E/MC). The race served as an initial comparison with the competition outside the International GT Open, in which the Swiss team with Philipp Frommenwiler and Costa has already achieved three victories with the Lexus RC F GT3 and still has a chance of winning the title.
In contrast to the Blancpain series, in which uniform Pirelli tires are used, Michelin tires are used in the GT Open. Due to the necessary chassis modifications, this made it difficult to work out a suitable set-up.
