Slalom: Practice makes perfect

MARKENPOKALE AUF DEM ANNEAU DU RHIN At the ACS Zurich event in Alsace, four cups competed in races. With one exception, the favorites prevailed. While the Swiss Slalom Championship will only be continued after the hill climbs have been completed, several one-make cups were contested on August 31 at the Anneau du Rhin in Alsace [...]

Editorial - September 4, 2019

To stay in practice, some Suzuki gathered in Alsace. Nothing changed in the hierarchy - except for Barbara Barbara Baeriswyl, who drove her Swift (front left) faster than Alexandra Mühlethaler for the first time (photos: Wisu Bucher).

While the Swiss Slalom Championship will only continue after the hill climbs have been completed, several one-make cups were contested for points and trophies on August 31 at the Anneau du Rhin in Alsace. Although the event, which was top organized by ACS Zurich, does not count towards the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup, 20 drivers entered the morning slalom and 15 the second race in the afternoon for practice and fun.

Double victory for Muzzarelli
Of the usual suspects in the awarding of the podium places, only Fabian Eggenberger was missing, and due to time constraints Simeon Schneider had to forgo the second run. Championship leader Marcel Muzzarelli, who can already close the bag on September 21 in Drognens, won both slaloms on the 3.3-kilometer course in his Suzuki Swift Sport.

Precision work while outrunning a gate. Marcel Muzzarelli was once again the fastest Suzuki rider on the slalom circuit.

In the first race, the man from eastern Switzerland set the best time in both runs and in the end clearly relegated Simeon Schneider and Sandro Fehr to the places of honor. In the afternoon, the track and also Muzzarelli were no longer quite so fast. At first Fehr led with five hundredths ahead of him. After both were able to improve minimally in the second run, they were still four hundredths apart - but in reverse order, to Fehr's chagrin.

From sixth place in the first race, Patrick Flammer improved to third place in the second race. Mario Diethelm and Jean-Claude Debrunner were best of the rest in fourth place.

Shared joy: Dino Wintsch (left) took two victories and the championship title, Norbert Sieber (right) the victory in the second sprint.

Wintsch also with first defeat early Lotus champion
The drivers from the Lotus V6 Cup Suisse completed no less than three stages. In the slalom and in the first of the two sprint stages, for which the three fastest lap times within a time window were added, Dino Wintsch was once again invincible. However, indefinable hammering noises made themselves felt under the bodywork of his Exige 430 Cup.

For this reason, the Zurich native only completed four laps in the second sprint to at least be classified. These were not enough for victory in the Competition class, which was taken for the first time this season by Cup organizer Norbert Sieber in the Exige LWR. Nevertheless, Wintsch is already the champion with nine victories so far.

Piccinato's victorious return
There was also a premiere in the Production Class. One and a half months after his accident in the Damüls mountain slalom, Giuliano Piccinato returned to the race track in an Exige 350. The fact that he immediately won the slalom with it and thus celebrated his first victory of the season was balm on the wounds of the man from Bättwil.

Picci" did not take part in the two sprint tests. Title contenders Benno Berchthold (Exige 350 Cup) and Fabian Egger (Exige S) each took first and second place once between the pylons. A premiere for Egger, too.

Giuliano Piccinato has digested the violent accident in the Vorarlberg. He found his way back to success with a new Exige 350 Cup.

Victory of the day to Porsche driver Sandro Morros
Faster than Wintsch with Yokohama semislicks in the slalom (1'51.09) were only two of the drivers from the Porsche Slalom Cup who started with racing tires. With 1'48,06 Sandro Morros in his 991 GT3 Cup took the day's victory ahead of Patrick Drack in a 997 Cup, who sporadically appears in Group E1 in Slalom-SM races.

Open title fight among the Abarth drivers
In the Abarth Trofeo Slalom, defending champion Sylvain Burkhalter scored full points for the first time thanks to four competitors in the standard 695 Biposto class. In return, Walter Reho, as the fastest over two opponents in the Corsa class, had to settle for five points instead of ten.

The driver from Hergiswil was the only one to score points in the six races so far and is still at the top of the table without a strike result. With two races still to go in the Slalom Championships in Drognens and Ambri, Reho's championship rivals Lukas Desserich, Beat Wyssen, Sylvain Burkhalter and Bruno Riesen are also still in contention for the title, taking into account one strike result.