Reitnau: Without Berguerand, but with Meisel
REITNAU MOUNTAIN RACE Last year's winner Eric Berguerand has to cancel his start at the popular hill climb race in Reitnau. Reto Meisel returns to the Swiss mountain in his Mercedes SLK340. More than 220 drivers have submitted their entries. On Sunday, everything that has rank and name in Switzerland is expected at the start in Reitnau - except [...]
On Sunday in Reitnau, everything that has rank and name in Switzerland is expected at the start - except for Eric Berguerand. Last year's winner and track record holder from Valais has not yet been able to solve the problems with the newly acquired AC Cosworth 3.0 V8 engine.
On the contrary, the engine of the last Formula 3000 generation was returned to tuner Roland Dupasquier. He is now to find out what caused this. Since the previous engine can no longer be installed without modification work, the five-time Bergmeister has to wait for Dupasquier's answer.
Eric Berguerand: "Sometimes the engine built into the Lola chassis ran, sometimes not. Apparently it's not an electronic problem. Now Dupasquier is to find out the reason. Unfortunately, there won't be enough time for that until Reitnau, maybe for the race a week later in Massongex."
As a father of two, there are more important things for him than racing anyway, and he no longer wants to spend all his free time on it. Berguerand will probably still be present in Reitnau to look after his dad Louis with the Formula Renault.
Marcel Steiner again the lone favorite
Berguerand has held the track record in 48.20 seconds with his Lola FA99 since 2013. Beating this will be a challenge for Marcel Steiner. The defending champion is the lone favorite with his LobArt-Mugen, as he was on June 10 in Hemberg, and he already snatched the new record in Toggenburg.
Thomas Amweg and Robin Faustini, with their comparable ex-F3000 and Nippon race cars, respectively, will hardly be in a position to pose a serious threat to Steiner yet. However, the two local heroes are ripe for the podium alongside him.
Meisel now only competes sporadically
A big name returns in the touring cars. Reto Meisel has not appeared in a Swiss race since his Mercedes SLK340 caught fire in Oberhallau around ten months ago due to a technical defect.
The 2016 champion then dissected the homebuilt and fitted it with new body parts. In May, he proved that the car, which is only registered in Switzerland in Group E1, and the driver are both in good shape again with two starts at the European Championship rounds in Portugal and Spain in Group E2-SH. Unfortunately, further defects thwarted top results.
The Aargauer races in Reitnau for the sake of his sponsors and the spectators. Since the management of his flourishing garage in Leuggern takes up an enormous amount of his time, racing has taken a back seat for him. Therefore, he has not yet fixed any further starts in Switzerland.
Impressive touring car field
In the absence of Meisel, Ronnie Bratschi and Roger Schnellmann settled the touring car victory among themselves in Hemberg with their Mitsubishi Evo VIII. In the process, Bratschi set a new E1 record. In Reitnau, Meisel has held it since 2016 in 53.97 seconds. So this three-way battle promises to be very exciting.
With Bruno Ianniello, the former record holder and crowd favorite will also be taking part with his Lancia Delta S4.
Yves Hängärtner also wanted to return to the circle of all-wheel-drive mountain monsters with his elaborately modified Ford Escort Cosworth. Six years ago, the man from Biel captured the E1 group victory with it in Reitnau in the rain.
His first test at the Romont slalom went quite well. However, since there is still some fine-tuning to be done, Hängärtner postponed his comeback on the mountain - the long-term goal since the race on Gurnigel.
For the coming Sunday, the weather forecast promises high summer temperatures. With more than 220 riders registered, hot battles for victories and top placings are therefore to be expected in some classes.
