Weekend tip: Monster show at the Gurnigelrennen 🎥
WHERE TO MEET At the hill climb on the Gurnigel, where beautiful autumn weather is forecast for the weekend, the best Swiss hill climbers fight for the last championship points. The race cabs are also worth seeing.
Everything is set to offer motorsport fans a top-class mountain race next weekend. Around 220 drivers, including a handful of foreigners, are expected to line up at the start in the picturesque Gantrisch region on September 10/11.
On Saturday, they will hold three training runs to reacquaint themselves with the 3734-meter course three years after the last Gurnigel race. On Sunday, the first race run starts at 7 am. The classification is made after adding up the two best times from three race runs.
Berguerand vs. Steiner & Co.
With the exception of Joël Volluz (doing service for Alpine GT driver Sergio Pinto at the Rallye-SM in Morzine), all the Swiss drivers are in the field with potent three-liter racing sports cars. Led by title favorite Eric Berguerand in the Lola-Cosworth and local hero Marcel Steiner in the LobArt-Honda-Turbo, they decide the overall podium among themselves.
Only Simon Hugentobler is missing from the start list after his two participations in St-Ursanne and Oberhallau, because he rents his Reynard 97D F3000 to Joel Grand from Valais. Since quite good weather is predicted for the weekend, nothing stands in the way of Grand's F3000 premiere, because in case of rain he would pass for safety reasons.
Return of Hans Schori in the mountain monster
Attractive is not only the field of participants (to which we refer in our first Preview Monday), but also the quartet of racing taxi drivers. Hans Schori, Swiss mountain champion in 2011, is once again driving the legendary "mountain monster" on this occasion after several years.
The car in question is a Mitsubishi Evo VI RS with around 800 hp. Schori bought it back from Belgium and restored it to its original racing condition (gallery on the left). On Thursday he did a few test laps with it at the Ecentcenter Seelisberg. As an alternative, the man from central Switzerland has a "mini monster" that also has a lot of horsepower but is somewhat tamer in handling.
Feigenwinter's GT3 mountain premiere
Andy Feigenwinter's appearance in the Porsche 997 GT3 R is even a Swiss premiere. The Swiss mountain champion of 2019 otherwise only drives the sports car entered in the 2012 ADAC GT Masters (3rd overall) in the Porsche Cup Suisse Open GT (center gallery) and in the Masters Endurance Legends Series, most recently at the Oldtimer GP at the Nürburgring, where he celebrated two class victories.
The other two cab drivers are Sandro Morros with a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup, with which he took third place in the E1 over 3.5 liters in 2019, and Felix Marti with a BMW M2 CS Racing Cup, the likes of which have never been seen at a Swiss hill climb (gallery on the right).
For the passengers, the race taxi rides - four to five per day - will be just as much a thrill as it will be a visual and acoustic treat for the spectators along the route.
View from natural grandstands
The winding, medium-fast mountain race course from Dürrbach up to Gurnigelbad is considered technically demanding. In the starting area, on the Laas and in the finish bend, the audience enjoys a beautiful view of the racing action from the natural grandstands.
A spectator footpath leads from the start to the finish for the most part along the course. For 50 francs you can also be transported comfortably by helicopter from the start to the finish or vice versa. Parking is available near the start (accessible from Riggisberg or Rüschegg) and near the finish (via Gurnigelpass).
Tickets are most easily and quickly available in advance (with discount) via the homepage (Link) to obtain. There you can also find further information such as the route map, the course and the start list. A livetiming is available under this Link.
