Oberhallau: Berguerand's fourth record victory 🎥

Beautiful late summer weather, a partially new asphalt, a perfect organization by the club Bergrennen Oberhallau and an impressive backdrop of spectators offered the best conditions that, as a week earlier at the European Championship race in the Jura, the records just tumbled. Back in action, Eric Berguerand improved the record held by Marcel Steiner since 2012 on the 3000-meter track already in the first race run by half a second to 1'08,000.

In the second and third rounds, too, the 40-year-old Valais native clearly kept the upper hand over the defending champion in his optimum Lola-Cosworth. Berguerand's fifth win of the day in the 2019 Swiss Hillclimb Championship was thus again relatively clear, with a one-and-a-half-second lead.

For the clear championship favorites, there was even more in it.

Eric Berguerand: "In the first run I tried a new super-soft Avon tire compound, which worked perfectly. In the other two runs I actually drove better, only it was then already a bit too warm. But 1'08 is already fast, also Marcel's 1'08.77."

Perplexed Marcel Steiner
This brooded, however, even though he improved his own sports car record from the previous year with the LobArt-Mugen by more than four tenths.

Marcel Steiner: "I don't know what to do against Eric. The championship is over."

Preliminary decision on Gurnigel?
Theoretically, this is not yet the case, but practically it is. The new SM score is 133 to 125 points for Berguerand, who has already deducted his strike result due to the absence in St-Ursanne. Thus, in case of two possible record victories by Steiner on Gurnigel (September 8) and in Les Paccots (September 15), he only needs 26 points. If the Valaisan wins the Bernese's home race, he will already be the champion.

Faustini aims for third SM rank
As expected, third place overall was decided between Robin Faustini and Simon Hugentobler. The 21-year-old from Aargau was always a few tenths ahead in his father's Reynard-Mugen 97D, with his dad suffering from the as yet unadjusted seating position in the newly acquired Osella-Cosworth PA30.

The junior did not quite match Hugentobler's earlier time (1'12.99) in the Formula Nippon race car, but was happy to have crossed the finish line in one piece after a stray bullet in the final run. Third SM place is now within reach for Faustini. 

Balmer and Zemp fastest two-liters
In the two-liter race cars, Christian Balmer in the Tatuus-Honda FM was clearly faster than Philip Egli in the Dallara and Marcel Maurer in the Tatuus-Renault on one of his preferred tracks, also thanks to the performance advantage. Michel Zemp was faster than this trio in his Norma-Honda with the same displacement in the sports cars.

Bratschi pulverizes his touring car record
The outstanding touring car winner only gave way to the top quartet in the three-liter V8 racing sports cars in the overall classification. Ronnie Bratschi improved his own touring car record in the Mitsubishi Evo VIII Egmo from 1'16.19 first to 1'15.08 and then to an incredible 1'14.56. With two 1'15 times, Roger Schnellmann also drove his Mitsubishi as fast as never before, but was almost 1.9 seconds behind in the overall standings.

Ronnie Bratschi: "The car is really perfect now, which is also due to the great work of Eggenberger Motorsport. They've managed to get incredibly good drivability."

Third fastest driver with a roof over his head was the German Holger Hovemann with his Opel Kadett C GT/R from the KW-Berg-Cup. According to Swiss regulations, his V8 touring car would have been classified in the E2-SH group among the racing sports cars.

For the first time, the third-fastest touring car driver from the Swiss ranks was Hermann Bollhalder in the 450-hp and 850-kilo Opel Speedster Turbo. In the class up to three liters, the garage owner from Toggenburg left René Köchli in the somewhat weaker and heavier Honda Civic no chance. He beat his own class record from the previous year by two tenths.

Wüthrich's guest appearance at the Ianniello Lancia
In the class E1 to 3.5 liters remained Bruno Ianniello in the Lancia Delta S4 the boss. With the second Lancia provided by Ianniello in return for electronics assistance, Simon Wüthrich admittedly had problems getting away from the start with sufficient revs, but came within almost a second of the experienced vehicle owner in the fastest run. Another Lancia start of the Emmentalers, whose VW Golf Turbo 4WD was severely damaged in Reitnau in an accident on an oil track, is not planned.

Feigenwinter on course for title
Bruno Sawatzki, Porsche newcomer Christoph Zwahlen and Willi Jenni put on a great three-way fight in the Interswiss Group with their Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. All three set 1'23 times, which was faster than ever before and only 1.5 seconds separated them at the end.

The successor to last year's touring car mountain champion Frédéric Neff from Group IS, who only competed in Anzère and St-Ursanne with his Porsche GT3 R, appears to be Andy Feigenwinter. The driver from Basel celebrated his fifth victory in the SuperSeries with his Lotus Exige 430 Cup and already his fourth in record time.

In the process, he obliterated Toni Bühler's six-year-old best mark in a Porsche 911 GT2. Only if Feigenwinter virtually beats himself with a retirement in the last two races will the E1 drivers Schnellmann and Bratschi still have a chance of winning the title.

Victories for Krebs, Thomann and Bürki
In the Renault Classic Cup, Philipp Krebs kept the better end for himself in the duel with Tom Zürcher in contrast to Les Rangiers. In the Berg-SM Juniors, Rico Thomann took his third win of the season and in the Berg Cup, the furious Martin Bürki was faster than 54 two-liter touring cars from the E1, IS and German KW-Berg groups with a phenomenal third record time in the 1600cc Polo.

More on these three championships will follow in separate reports this week.

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