Slalom: Martin Bürki in front of the 5th championship title
SLALOM GENEVA Now securing his fifth championship title in the slalom is practically just a formality. On the indoor and parking lot course of Geneva-Palexpo, only day winner Marcel Maurer in the Renault race car was faster than defending champion Martin Bürki in the small Polo. Admittedly: The fact that it was possible to achieve the overall winners' podium with the best race car driver and two touring car drivers was ultimately due to the changeable [...]
Admittedly: The fact that it was possible to achieve the overall winners' podium with the best race car driver and two touring car drivers was ultimately due to the changeable weather conditions. But not only.
As the ten drivers with racing cars had to complete their first race in the onset of rain, Martin Bürki, who had previously started in the dry like all the touring cars, led the overall classification with his VW Polo. As in the second training run, which was also wet, Marcel Marcel showed with his clear best time in the race cars that such conditions suit him.
Egli misses a goal and lets Maurer cheer
While the touring car drivers were logically unable to improve their first times, the track dried off so much for the E2 drivers that they were still able to turn the tide in their favor. But only Maurer managed to do so. Philip Egli was almost a second earlier at the finish, but had missed a gate after a bump.
The man from Berne thus took his first win of the day in the most unusual race of the year. Unusual because its start was in the middle of Hall 4 with subsequent gates to Hall 5, where the Motor Show is always held in March. The finish after 2.65 km and 73 gates was in parking lot P49.
The first time was still enough for Egli to take second place in the racing cars. But the two places next to Maurer on the overall winners' podium went to Martin Bürki and Daniel Wittwer. Bürki in his 1600cc E1 Polo thus won the overall touring car classification for the fourth time in a row, Wittwer in the VW Golf with a six hundredths lead over Patrick Flammer in the Suzuki Swift Evo in the E1 two-liter class.
Bürki now only needs to finish eighth in his class once more at the next race on October 1 in Drognens or then at the final on October 8 in Ambrì so that he can no longer be mathematically displaced from the top of the table. It would be his fourth slalom title in a row, the fifth overall since 2011.
The other medal positions are completely open. Since Albin Mächler had only two opponents in the E1 over 3000, his again amazing performance (sixth overall in the big BMW M2 on this angular course) was only rewarded with half points.
As a result, the player from Schwyz slipped from second to fourth place in the table. However, Mächler can theoretically still become champion after deducting a strike result like Wittwer if everything goes against Bürki. But this is no longer to be expected.
