Weekend tip: The GP duel continues 🎥

SO YOU ARE THERE This weekend, Formula 1 will once again be the focus of automotive sports. On TV or on the Internet, there will also be live action from the Porsche Supercup, the VLN, Berg-EM, W Series and WRC. Last year, Formula 1 redeemed itself with the first two races in July at the Red Bull Ring in [...]

Editorial - 25 June 2021

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton are providing plenty of excitement in Formula 1 this season (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool).

Last year, Formula 1 redeemed many fans from a month-long forced break without real motor racing with the first two races in July at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. This week, the GP squad has traveled there practically straight from Le Castellet to compete in what is already the eighth world championship round of the year at the GP of Styria on Sunday and the GP of Austria seven days later.

Orange will dominate
This brings the advantage that the teams can collect a lot of data on the first weekend and thus know how the tires and the cars behave before the second event. However, this can also be a disadvantage, as it can lead to a limitation of strategy options.

On the shortest race track on the calendar in terms of lap time, the terrific duel between world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes and world championship leader Max Verstappen in the Red Bull-Honda continues. With 15,000 spectators permitted, including many in orange from the Netherlands, there will also be a real atmosphere on the sidelines for the first time.

Those who can't be there live can experience it on Sunday at 2:50 p.m. on SRF zwei. Commentators are Michael Stäuble and Marc Surer. On Saturday, they will report live from qualifying on the same channel from 2.55 pm.

A relaxed warmup in a rustic atmosphere for Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly. Because of team and Red Bull owner Didi Mateschitz, the next two races are virtually home games for them.

Fabio Scherer with Fach Auto Tech in the Porsche Supercup
At the same venue, the Porsche Supercup will start on two consecutive Sundays for rounds 2 and 3 of the season. From a Swiss perspective, Fabio Scherer's debut in this one-make cup is special.

The Lucerne native is driving one of the three cars from Fach Auto Tech. For him, this is a change of pace and welcome driving experience after he had to miss the second WEC round in Portugal due to a positive Covid 19 test.

Fabio Scherer: "This will be a new experience for me. I'm curious to see how I perform. The fact that we'll be racing there again the following week is a slight advantage for me. I know the circuit very well. That will certainly help me get used to the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup."

He can certainly learn a lot and quickly from specialist teammate Christopher Zöchling, who in fourth place at Monaco is aiming for his first podium of the season in front of the home crowd.

The race starts live on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on Eurosport and Sky Sport as well as the streaming service f1tv.formula1.com. Afterwards, the Supercup can be followed on the social networks (@PorscheSupercup).

Fabio Scherer competes in a one-make cup for the first time. No easy task against the cracks in the Supercup.

Fourth VLN race at the Nürburgring
Three weeks after the 24-hour race, the Nürburgring-Nordschleife is once again the focus of the endurance series staged by the VLN organizers' association. The only Swiss with a chance of a top-10 result this time is Patric Niederhauser in an Audi R8 LMS.

The livestream of the Nürburgring Endurance Series starts at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday. The four-hour race starts at 12 noon. See everything on the Internet at VLN.de, YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.tv streamed.

Unlike last time in the Czech Republic, there will be no spectators at the side of the track. Nevertheless, Ronnie Bratschi will again give his best with the Mitsubishi Evo VII RS (Photo: Team Beyou).

Ronnie Bratschi lacks opponents
Completely cancelled last year, the Coppa Paolino Teodori is already the fourth round of the European Mountain Championship 2021. For Ronnie Bratschi from Uri, the 750-kilometer journey from Altdorf to Ascoli Piceno south of Ancona is only half worth it, as his PF1 class only has one opponent (Luca Gaetani on Ferrari), which only earns half European Championship points. In the performance ranking (scratch of all touring cars classified by performance factor), however, the Mitsubishi driver can extend his lead.

A livestream is available on the event's Facebook page at this Link and the livetiming here.

As sixth in the 2019 W Series, Fabienne Wohlwend automatically qualified for 2021. Now she wants to cut an even better figure.

Second racing season of the women's racing series
The W Series also fell victim to the Corona pandemic in 2020. As part of the GP Austria, the 18 qualified women will thus start their first or some, like Fabienne Wohlwend, their second season with the around 280 hp Tatuus turbo race cars.

The Liechtensteiner, who competes with a Swiss license, is the only German-speaker in the field and has set her sights on her first victory. In terms of action, the W Series races were in no way inferior to those of the men in 2019.

The W Series can be seen in Switzerland, for example, on Channel 4 or Sky Deutschland.

WRC return to Africa
Finally, rally fans get their money's worth with the Safari Rally Kenya. For the first time since 2002, WRC points will be at stake in East Africa.

Pictures of individual special stages will be available from Friday morning onwards on the YouTube channel of the WRC. Also on the homepage of Servus TV individual special tests will be broadcast on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, the free Austrian TV channel will broadcast a preliminary report, live coverage of the Power Stage and a post-event report from the sixth round of the 2021 World Championship on Sunday from 15:15.