Osnabrück: Successful performance in the north
POKALS FOR THE SWISS Marcel Steiner finished third overall at the Osnabrück International Hill Climb, but had no chance against the day's winner Sébastien Petit (F). Robin Faustini was second fastest race car driver, Ronnie Bratschi dominated in the touring cars. Sébastien Petit's victory on the day at the 51st Osnabrück ADAC Hill Climb, which was part of the FIA International Hill Climb Cup and various national championships, was [...]
There was nothing to shake about Sébastien Petit's victory on the day at the 51st Osnabrück ADAC Hill Climb, which was part of the FIA International Hill Climb Cup and various national championships.
In the absence of last year's winner Christian Merli, who is concentrating on the European Mountain Championship (he leads before the Swiss round in St-Ursanne) and Italian races in 2018, the role of favorite fell to the French mountain champion with his Norma-Mugen V8.
Day winner Petit pulverizes the course record of Merli
Only in the first training run on Saturday morning did Petit give way to Marcel Steiner. After that, he showed for the first time what he is capable of. No wonder - he has already contested as many hill climbs in 2018 as his direct rivals combined.
In the fourth, free practice session in the early evening, the 43-year-old Frenchman from Chambéry beat the record time of 51.024 set by the South Tyrolean in 2017 by 16 thousandths on the 2030m short and flat track (only 4.5% uphill).
On the race day with somewhat cooler temperatures and in front of well over 20,000 spectators, "Super Seb" improved the record already in the first race run to 50.35. In the second run, the letut year's national champion set the new best mark at 50.145, which he missed by only 15 thousandths in the fourth and last run shortly before 5 p.m..
Sébastien Petit would have loved to break the 50 barrier, but he now wants to postpone this until 2019 - if he returns to the northernmost hill climb in the German-speaking world.
Tough three-way fight for second place overall
The battle for second place overall was exciting. This was won by Patrik Zajelsnik in another Norma V8 from the E2-SportsCars group. With a time of 50.369, the German-Slovenian, who lives in Freiburg i. Br., also remained well below Merli's previous record.
As the fastest German-speaking driver, Zajelsnik lost only 1.007 seconds to Petit in the addition of the two fastest times, after his deficit had been 2.008 after two runs.
With four 51 times, Marcel Steiner in the LobArt took third place on the overall podium and in the sports cars with the freshly repaired Mugen V8 engine. However, the Bernese wanted more...
Marcel Steiner: "If you read the start list of the opponents, you would have to be satisfied with that. I've never been this fast here before, but I would have liked to have gone under 51 seconds. Somehow I wasn't able to improve as I would have liked. I don't know what the reason was. Maybe I wanted too much..."
Anticipation for the fight for the day's victory in Oberhallau
Of the drivers from the largest displacement race car class, the Czechs Milos Benes (Osella FA30) and Jiri Svoboda (Lola B02/50) already said goodbye in practice with accidents. Christoph Lampert was therefore superior to the other opponents from the three-liter class, but made legitimate hopes for the top 3 in the overall standings.
The Vorarlberger missed this by just under half a second behind Steiner.
Christoph Lampert: "It's a shame, my tire compound wasn't optimal for this short track and these temperatures. The first two were in a different league, but it will probably be close between Marcel and me in the future. I hope I can get my revenge soon..."
The Austrian wants to take this in three weeks in Oberhallau, where Lampert will start for the first time with the Osella-Zytek FA30 moved since 2018 on Swiss soil. The only thing is that Anzère winner Eric Berguerand will again have a serious say in the matter...
Respectable success for Robin Faustini
Robin Faustini took second place on the podium in the seven-car E2 SS-3000. The 20-year-old from Aargau was also the best of the drivers with former Formula 3000 or Formula Nippon monoposti.
A top result that was not to be expected. After the first practice run, the youngster spent the rest of the day with dad Simon Hugentobler and two helpers doing extensive repair work on the clutch.
Without much practice at the wheel of the Reynard K01, he marked three 55 times on race day, with which he moved past Frenchman Cyrille Frantz (Osella PA30) into sixth place overall in the third race round. Apart from the already mentioned top 4, only FIA Hill Climb Champion Vaclav Janik from the Czech Republic was faster with the Norma-Mitsubishi turbo.
This performance must be rated at least as highly as the two third places overall at the Swiss hill climbs in Hemberg and Anzère.
Robin Faustini: "Thanks go to my team and our competitor friend Laszlo Szasz, who helped us out with missing spare parts. I'm glad it happened to us here and not in Les Rangiers, the next SM round. The car was running like a pig, I was also in a good mood. More will come in 2019. Now my goal is to at least finish third in the Swiss championship. That's why I'm also preparing extremely well."
Touring car victory for Ronnie Bratschi
And then there is Ronnie Bratschi, who is apparently almost unbeatable without a technical defect...
With his over 700 hp Mitsubishi, the man from Uri won everything there was to win in the touring cars, just like at my last start two years ago in Osnabrück - in addition to several trophies, above all the maximum 25 points for the FIA Hill Climb Cup, which he still clearly leads.
But that's a success story that we'll get into in a separate report.
