Thomas Amweg: Back to the roots

START IN MARTINI F2 The chapter of Formula 3000 is over for Thomas Amweg for the time being. Instead, he will compete in Oberhallau and Arosa in the former Martini-BMW F2 of his father Fredy Amweg with sporting ambitions. As reported, somewhere in the Lola T99/50 with Cosworth-Mader engine of Thomas Amweg is an electrical worm. Despite all efforts [...]

Anzère was Thomas Amweg's last hill climb so far with the Lola T99. Its handling was unpredictable due to engine misfires (photo: Peter Wyss).

As reported, there is an electrical worm somewhere in Thomas Amweg's Lola T99/50 with Cosworth-Mader engine. Despite all efforts, this one could not be expelled yet.

Before the son of former mountain king Fredy Amweg gets back behind the wheel of the former Formula 3000 race car owned by his sponsor Phimmoracing, he wants to cure the technical ailments with the help of Hunziker Motorsport and try out the potent race car on the circuit. This is the only way the Aargauer can achieve the desired progress.

Thomas Amweg: "I still have absolutely no confidence in this car. It's constantly breaking away quite dangerously, and maybe we've simply miscalculated. I've been in hillclimb racing long enough now to notice when it gets too dangerous."

Eric Berguerand, Thomas Amweg, Robin Faustini and Grégoire Siggen are racing in the E2-SS up to three liters in 2018. Amweg is now saying goodbye to them (Photo: Peter Wyss).

Return to Oberhallau after 28 years
But the problem also has a good side. While Amweg will be absent next weekend in St. Ursanne (a return to the Dallara-Mercedes F3 is out of the question at the moment), he will start a week later in Oberhallau with the Martini-BMW Mk50 that his father drove 28 years ago.

However, the uncrowned mountain king only finished second in Oberhallau in 1990 behind the surprising Formula 2 colleague Erwin Steingruber in a March-BMW 802. Later, Heinz Steiner, the father of today's racing sports car champion, also achieved several successes with this Formula 2 racing car with a good 300 hp.

Thomas Amweg: "A great car, which I was already able to drive for the first time a year ago at the Arosa Classic Car. Actually, again only the start at my season highlight in Arosa was planned. Now this will be good additional training."

Thomas Amweg is hoping for better weather than in Arosa 2017 to show what he and the Formula 2 race car are made of with the Martini Mk50 in Oberhallau and at the Classic Car hill climb (Photo: Urs Gehrig).

Ambitions in the overall ranking
However, Thomas Amweg does not want to be content with just a show drive. Although the driver from Ammerswil is assigned to the historic car group, he is aiming for a top result in the overall classification.

Thomas Amweg: "Based on the earlier Formula 2 times, a push into the top ten could be possible. But of course I won't risk anything unnecessary. Because my title defense a week later in Arosa must not be jeopardized."

By way of comparison, in 1990 Fredy Amweg achieved a best running time of 1'18.59 and an overall time of 2'38.32 with this race car, which would have been enough for tenth place in 2015, eleventh place in 2016 and 13th place overall last year among racing cars that are now far more powerful, including those from the touring car camp.

If son Thomas drives a tad faster 28 years later thanks to better tires in the meantime, the project could actually succeed. We are curious.

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