Rally: Local hero Olivier Burri in the Porsche GT3
Five weeks after the season opener in France, the second round of the Swiss Rally Championship takes place in the canton of Jura on Friday and Saturday. Spectators can look forward to a novelty at the Critérium Jurassien: Olivier Burri has rented a powerful Porsche 997 GT3 for the home race. The yardstick is the Frenchman Vallicioni, who starts with a Swiss license and [...]
The yardstick is the Frenchman Vallicioni, who starts with a Swiss license and finished third in March. If it stays dry, both Porsche drivers are likely to achieve a top result.
Their strongest opponents rely on four-wheel drives. So does the second local hero Nicolas Althaus. Like Olivier Burri, he has only planned this outing with a Peugeot 208 R5 for the time being, but has no illusions of being back in contention for victory due to a lack of practice. With championship leader Sébastien Carron, Ivan Ballinari, Pascal Perroud and Mike Coppens (all R5) as well as the German-speaking Swiss Urs Hunziker in a Mini Cooper WRC and Ruedi Schmidlin in a Ford Fiesta S2000, all the familiar names are at the start.
Excitement with spectacular show interludes
The rally center is located in Delsberg, where the last special stage will be held on a circuit on both days. The first stage with three special stages will start on Friday, April 22, at 6 pm. On Saturday, April 23, 7 special stages are on the program. Around 25 teams from the Slowly Sideways squad will take to the track ahead of the licensed teams. The historic rally vehicles will be driving for demonstration purposes only and will provide a unique show.
www.criterium-jurassien.ch
Photos: Jürg Kaufmann
