Rally: "Bally" and Schmid on championship course
RALLYE TICINO With 3rd place behind two WRC teams, Ivan Ballinari in the Skoda Fabia R5 took over the top spot in the Rallye-SM from Mr. and Mrs. Schneeberger, who had an accident in Ticino. In the Juniors, Thomas Schmid returned to the top of the standings. With 52.48 timed kilometers on the three special stages Isone, Valcolla and Penz (Chiasso) is and was for the 21st [...]
With 52.48 timed kilometers on the three special stages Isone, Valcolla and Penz (Chiasso), the Rally Ticino, held for the 21st time as a Ronde, is and was the shortest SM round in the 2018 calendar. Although this meant that only half points were awarded, Steeves Schneeberger, who leads the Swiss Rally Championship, as well as Cédric Althaus and Michaël Burri traveled to the lion's den, i.e. Ivan Ballinari's home match.
The overall victory was decided between two Italians in superior WRC cars. As in the two previous years, Kevin Gilardoni, a native of Misox, retained the upper hand in a Hyundai i20.
Until the last SS, former European champion Giandomenico Basso was leading in a Ford Fiesta WRC, but due to a somewhat too restrained driving style GIlardoni caught him by two tenths of a second.
Luck in misfortune for Mr. and Mrs. Schneeberger
The host Ivan Ballinari nestled behind the wheel of the Skoda Fabia R5 in third place overall right from the start. He thus won the SM classification without making any major mistakes.
Thanks to the third victory of the season, the Ticino native, who is now fully recovered (a herniated disc kept him from starting in Chablais and hampered him most recently at the Rally Moscato), regained the lead in the championship.
The previous SM leader Steeves Schneeberger and his wife Isabelle in the passenger seat of the Ford Fiesta R5 flew vehemently off the track on the rainy first stage. Fortunately, both remained uninjured. As a result, they too have drawn their scratch result before the finale in the Valais.
Quartet with title chances
At the first start since his home victory at the Critérium Jurassien in April, Michaël Burri was unable to do anything against "Bally", but had the closest pursuers Cédric Althaus (Ford) and Tiziano Riva (Skoda) safely under control.
Due to a lack of opponents in Group R3, Jonathan Scheidegger in the Citroën DS3 R3T scored only a few points at the Rallye Ticino, but remains SM third just ahead of Althaus. One of this quartet will be the Swiss Rally Champion for the first time after the Rallye du Valais on October 19/20.
Thomas Schmid again at the top of the Junior-SM table
The rally juniors and their R2 cars went haywire. Due to incorrectly adjusted shock absorbers, Thomas Schmid lost a massive amount of time in the first two rainy stages as a result of several braking errors. Although his team was able to fix the problem during the first service, Jonathan Michellod had long been out of reach.
Schmid's rival for the title, however, fought an even more unfortunate battle: with second place in sight, the Valais native stopped on the way to the final stage without any fuel in the tank of the Peugeot 208! Guillaume Girolamo thus unexpectedly took his first direct hit with a ten-second lead over Thomas Schmid.
The St. Gallen native thus moves back to the top of the standings, which he also holds in the Junior Mountain Championship. Schmid's unique chance to become Swiss champion in two different disciplines in the same year is therefore fully intact.
Information and photos: Jürg Kaufmann
