Oberhallau: Marcel Steiner in front of the title
WINS FOR SM FAVORITES After his fifth win of the season at the Oberhallau hill climb, Marcel Steiner is on the verge of his fifth SM title. Due to the retirement of Eric Berguerand, returnee Joël Volluz was his toughest opponent. Ronnie Bratschi won the touring cars in record time. The best was not one of the many class records, but the top organized by the club Bergrennen Oberhallau [...]
The best thing was not one of the many class records, but the event itself, which was superbly organized by the Bergrennen Oberhallau club. One year after the fatal accident of Martin Wittwer, the popular race ran smoothly and efficiently in sunshine and in front of a total of around 14,500 spectators, apart from a few accidents with more or less major material damage. Peace and joy in the sport have returned to the Swiss Mountain Championship after the terrible year 2017.
It was especially big for Marcel Steiner. At the sixth SM round, the defending champion was not only tested by Eric Berguerand, who had been absent in St-Ursanne recently, but also by returnee Joël Volluz and Christoph Lampert from Vorarlberg, both on Osella FA30s.
Steiner won his first three titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012 with such a tricky race car - now, after 2017, he will probably soon add the second with the LobArt Mugen V8 sports car.
Everything went for Marcel Steiner and against Eric Berguerand
On Saturday, in changeable weather, Eric Berguerand in the Lola FA99 set the fastest time of the day in the first practice run. Steiner came within 18 hundredths of this in the third practice, Lampert by 1.16 and Volluz by 1.80 seconds.
On race day, however, the Valais native only got the potent AC Cosworth V8 engine running for the second of the three race runs. Although it didn't work properly, Berguerand was only around 1.5 seconds slower than Steiner, who set the fastest time of the day with 1:09.19.
The champion thus pushed the initially leading Volluz into second place. Five weeks ago in Anzère still day winner in record time, Berguerand charged, so that the third run had to bring the decision between Steiner, Volluz and Lampert.
Successful comeback of Joël Volluz
However, the trio did not reach their previously set best times, so that the order remained the same.
Marcel Steiner: "My poker with the new tires for the second run worked out. But I would have liked to set a time under 1'09."
This was not necessary, in the addition of the two better times Steiner won with 99 hundredths of a second ahead of Volluz and 1.13 seconds ahead of Lampert. The 27-year-old from Valais could see the satisfaction and relief after the first race since the serious accident two years ago.
Joël Volluz: "I wasn't primarily concerned with times here, but with getting a feel for the car and the speed. That already worked well during the demo runs in Les Rangiers, and this is now the confirmation. I'm having an enormous amount of fun again."
Unfortunately, Volluz will not be at the start on Gurnigel, and will not be back until a week later in Châtel-St-Denis-Les Paccots, where he still holds the course record. A tenth place is enough for Steiner to secure the title, but he will certainly not be satisfied with that at the home race on September 9 at Gurnigel.
Who will be runner-up in the racing sports cars?
Completely open, however, is the runner-up title, for which Robin Faustini is now predestined after Berguerand's retirement. The 20-year-old from Aargau did grumble about old tires that offered no grip because he didn't receive the new sets of tires he had ordered.
He still managed to leave the two two-liter drivers Christian Balmer and Marcel Maurer behind him in the Reynard-Mugen K01 - but not his dad Simon Hugentobler, who drove the Osella PA30 to fourth place overall and second place in the sports cars behind Steiner.
Bratschi undercuts fourth Meisel record this season
In the touring cars, Ronnie Bratschi was once again in a class of his own with his Mitsubishi. Already in the first run, the man from Altdorf improved the touring car and E1 record held by Reto Meisel in the Mercedes SLK340 since 2016 by 13 hundredths to 1'16.19 - his fourth record in the current season!
In the afternoon, the driver from central Switzerland was only three tenths over his target. In the third run he rolled out shortly after the start, but it was easily enough for touring car victory and seventh overall.
Ronnie Bratschi: "I had to set a top time first thing in the morning with new tires while it was cooler. But I wouldn't have thought that I'd come down so far."
Bratschi not only feared an attack from Roger Schnellmann, who, however, remained seven tenths above his last year's class record. Schnellmann was feeling the effects of the five-week break from racing since Anzère (Bratschi has already driven in three other hill climbs since then) and the workload (training as a driving instructor). His only goal for the season is to qualify for the FIA Hill Climb Masters in Italy in October.
A track record by Andy Feigenwinter with the Lotus Exige in the SuperSeries Competition was also in the air. However, the driver from Basel missed this by five hundredths in the second run and thus also the two additional points.
Because Feigenwinter was able to clearly distance Robert Wicki in the Mitsubishi Evo RS2, who was leading at first, he remains on Bratschi's heels in the title race with now six group victories.
The same applies to Frédéric Neff, who with the Porsche 996 GT3 R is unattainable for the brand colleagues Sawatzki, Thöny and Jenni with their tamer GT3 Cup cars and seemingly can only be stopped by the defect witch.
So the excitement in the touring car championship is likely to remain until the finale at Les Paccots on September 16.
