Slalom Bure: Third day victory for Philip Egli
SLALOM-SM Philip Egli, René Köchli and Martin Bürki were the standout riders at the fourth round of the Swiss Slalom Championship in Bure. At the halfway point of the 2018 season, two drivers jointly lead the standings. At 5.255 km in length, the 49th staging of the Bure slalom was slightly shorter than last year, but with 112 gates still [...]
With a length of 5.255 km, the 49th edition of the Bure slalom was somewhat shorter than last year, but with 112 gates it was still extremely demanding. The only really fast skiers were those who were able to memorize the fluid course and the new sections precisely and apply their knowledge of the course accordingly.
Among them were the three men mentioned at the beginning plus some specialists. First and foremost Philip Egli, who had been kicked out on this slope a year ago and took revenge.
Third day win 2018 by Philip Egli
The man from Zurich drove his Dallara to clear fastest times twice and almost took the third victory of the season after Frauenfeld and Interlaken. His average was 124.9 km/h!
Philip Egli: "In Bure, everything was right from the start. The new track layout is very attractive and the grip of the track was excellent. This meant I could always keep the revs nice and high and the throttle response was very good as a result. After finishing the first run cleanly, I was able to attack again in the second and improve the time once more."
Local hero Jean-Marc Salomon was almost seven seconds behind in the Tatuus-Honda FM after the first run and finally came as close as 3.7 s to Egli.
A podium like last three years ago
On the other hand, it was not Marcel Maurer's weekend. The day's winner of the last race in Bière first saw himself hindered in both practice runs and then very slightly touched a pylon with his Tatuus-Renault Midland in the first race run.
The second run should therefore have been a good one, but he broke off the attack after the downhill passage because of problems with shifting and rode as well as possible to the finish. There, the clock nevertheless stopped only 1.4 seconds later than just before at Salomon.
So the podium was Egli, Salomon and Maurer, as last in June 2015 in Romont and Chamblon - those slaloms that follow next...
Lukas Eugster learns quickly
Slalom newcomer Lukas Eugster had a strong performance. With the borrowed Formula Renault, the man from Herisau was fourth fastest net in the first run.
Despite the disqualification in the second run, only Jeremy Noirat in the TracKing-Suzuzki was able to push past him. His brand colleague and host Jean-François Chariatte remained behind Eugster after the second attempt, as did Didier Planchamp in the Tatuus-Renault.
Well-deserved touring car victory by René Köchli
René Köchli realized two almost exactly equally fast times with the 2.5-liter Honda Civic RK3, which put him at the top of all touring cars for the first time. With Egli and Köchli, two members of Racing Club Airbag thus also won their overall classifications for the first time.
Martin Bürki, however, was only seven tenths behind in the lower-torque 1600cc Polo and paid full tribute to the E1 group winner.
Martin Bürki: "Köchli deserves it. He's had problems with his car so often. I myself only had one small mistake in it and am very satisfied, especially since I still had to replace a broken clutch cable after the first practice run. That's why I decided to do the second practice as well, even though I wanted to take it easy on the car. With almost 23 kilometers, the material is put under enormous strain."
Flammer's Suzuki was the fastest two-liter
Together with Manuel Santonastaso, the defending champion continues to lead the championship at the halfway point of the season (four of eight races) without any losses. After the first race, Jürg Ochsner in the Opel Kadett was still ahead of "Santi" in the IS-2000, but the man from Schaffhausen, in contrast to the man from Thurgau at the wheel of the BMW 320, was no longer able to improve.
Fastest two-liter ever this time, however, was Patrick Flammer in the Suzuki Swift Evo. As in Bière, the man from Glarus won in the E1-2000, which in the past had still been dominated by the likes of Danny Krieg (driving the Audi A4 STW only again on the mountain) and Daniel Wittwer (not yet planning any further starts with the VW Golf after the death of his brother in Oberhallau in 2017).
Fight for the SM podium places
The third-best touring car time behind Köchli and Bürki was achieved by Albin Mächler in the BMW M2. With the first "twenty" in 2018, the runner-up from 2017 moves back up to sixth intermediate SM rank.
Christoph Zwahlen won IS-2500 with the Opel Kadett, but in the division up to three liters he is only second behind Köchli. Therefore, Egli now overtook him in table. This sees Bürki and Santonastaso ahead with 80 points each, followed by Egli (75), Zwahlen (70), Flammer (67), Mächler (60) and Maurer (59).
