Rally Ticino: Gilardoni wins, Hirschi is champion
PREVIOUS DECISION Victory in the fifth round of the Swiss Rally Championship in Ticino went to Kevin Gilardoni ahead of former champion Grégoire Hotz. With 4th place, Jonathan Hirschi secured the SM title early.
There was no lack of excitement at the 24th edition of the Rally del Ticino. Not only because there was just 1:13 min between 1st and 7th place. With winner Kevin Gilardoni and former champion Grégoire Hotz, two drivers mixed up the top 3 of the Swiss Rally Championship.
Two points would be missing
Jonathan Hirschi's (gallery, left) early title win in a VW Polo GTI was even more of a talking point. The driver from Neuchâtel and his co-driver Michaël Volluz scored 166 points with a third place in the SM. If Hirschi were to come away empty-handed at the finale in Valais, he would be left sitting on it.
His direct rival Jonathan Michellod (center gallery) could catch up with him with a victory in the RIV, because the man from the Valais would then have 179 points. But because there is a strike result, Michellod would get the 15 points he got in Ticino as sixth in the SM ranking deducted again and would have a maximum of 164 points. In an ideal case, Michellod would still be two points short.
For once not on the attack
The same applies to last year's champion Mike Coppens (gallery, right). The third-placed driver in the Swiss championship has 129 points on his account after the Rally del Ticino. If he were to win his home race, as he did last year, he would have 171 points. In this case, Coppens would lose his worst result (Chablais) and would have a maximum of 154 points. So even he can no longer catch up with Hirschi.
Naturally, the new champion is pleased that he has already been able to close the bag in Ticino.
Jonathan Hirschi: "I didn't go full attack. At one point I had put on tires that were too soft, which we then corrected for the fourth stage. Things went better after that, so toward the end of the rally I tried to manage my lead over the direct pursuers."
Clear case for Gilardoni
Hirschi was 25 seconds behind Hotz/Ravasi and 31 seconds behind Gilardoni (lower gallery left and center). The latter is an Italian citizen but lives in Graubünden near the cantonal border with Ticino and races with a Swiss license.
The 30-year-old Skoda driver was clearly the fastest in the Ticino with co-pilot Chiara Giardelli. The duo was in the lead from the first stage and only relinquished it briefly (in SS4) to Grégoire Hotz, the 18-year older multi champion. The decision was then made in the fifth test (Valcolla 2), where Gilardoni took a few seconds off him.
Ballinari to tip the scales
Behind Gilardoni, Hotz, Hirschi and Coppens, local hero Ivan Ballinari secured fifth SM place. The two-time Swiss rally champion contested the "Ticino" for pleasure. The fact that he pushed Michellod down to sixth place by 3.1 seconds decided the championship early.
Jonathan Michellod: "That was now the second rally in a row in which we were very well prepared and could have kept up Hirschi's pace. But there was another technical problem. In the fifth SS, a wheel bearing broke and I had difficulties in dosing the brakes properly. That cost me a lot of time and also one or two places."
No points for the third
The top 8 at the Rallye del Ticino were completed by Franco Bernadazzi (Skoda Fabia) and Sergio Pinto on his Alpine A110 GTR (lower gallery on the right), which was slightly damaged at the rear. Of course, there were no SM points for the Italian guest starter Gianluca Luchi, who finished third in the overall standings ahead of Hirschi.
The victory in the Juniors and in the Renault Clio Trophy Swiss went to Yoann Loeffler without any competition after the retirement of Guillaume Girolamo in SP6, who was already the champion.
