The season finale of the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse could also go down in history as the Kapfinger Festival. At the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Johannes Kapfinger took maximum points in the GT3 Cup of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse, and his twin brother Michael followed suit with pole position and two race wins in the Open GT field.

It does not get better than this
The Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG protégé (gallery left and center) celebrated his title win in the GT3 Cup in style. In the current 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with around 510 hp, Johannes Kapfinger secured pole position, won both races and set the fastest race lap each time. The 20-year-old from Passau thus exceeded all expectations.

In the first race, Kapfinger only briefly gave way to Italy's William Mezzetti on the starting lap. Alexander Schwarzer (right gallery) saw the checkered flag in third place. However, the double winner from Mugello received ten penalty seconds and thus dropped back to fifth place behind Marc Arn and Peter Hegglin. The German also won the second sprint by 7.4 seconds on Mezzetti, followed by Hegglin, Burkard and Schwarzer. The latter, a former graduate of the Porsche Track Experience, is runner-up in the GT3 Cup.

Johannes Kapfinger: "That was the perfect end to the season. The GT3 Cup title means a lot to me. It will open important doors for my further racing career."

Exciting duel for GT4 title
The decision for overall victory in Group GT4 MR between Alexandre Mottet and Patrick Schetty went down to the home stretch in Misano. Defending champion Mottet traveled to the Italian Adriatic with a one-point lead and also had his nose just ahead in qualifying with his 425-hp Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. In the first sprint, however, Schetty (lower gallery, left) finished third in class ahead of Mottet and thus took over the lead in the standings.

In the second race, only Patrick Hofmann in a 718 GT4 CS RS was sooner at the finish than Class 11 winner Schetty, while Mottet had to settle for 6th place. This meant that Schetty (podium center) was the new Group GT4 MR champion with the car prepared by Amag First Rennsport.

As the only starter in class 12, Alexander Walker reached the finish line in tenth place with his 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport without MR package. However, he was no longer able to challenge Pierre Hirschi - who did not compete in Misano - for the title in the GT4 Competition group.

All Kapfinger or what?
In the Open GT group of Porsche sports cars with driving aids, Michael Kapfinger, the twin brother of the GT3 champion, prevailed twice. Together with Michael Joos, they also won the two-hour night race to close the season. As the best Cayman drivers, Patrick Hofmann and Alex Fontana finished 19th overall with the RS model. Close on their heels were Remo Stebler and Yannick Mettler in the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. The race no longer counted for the championship.

Garski to the uniformity title without a fight
The new and old champion in the Porsche Drivers Competition is Nicolas Garski. With his 991 GT3 (lower gallery on the right), he was the only starter in both rounds of the Chrono classification, but he had no opposition to fear. In the Classic class without instruments, Heinz Schuoler won the regularity test over five laps ahead of Tommy Eriksson and Marius Hutmacher. Eriksson then triumphed in turn ahead of Kurt Spycher and Schuoler over nine laps. The fight for the vice-champion was decided between Xavier Penalba and Peter Meister. Fifth and sixth place were enough for Penalba to win by one point.

Results Porsche Cup Suisse Misano

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Alexander Schwarzer crowned his training as a racing driver with two first places in the GT3 Cup. At Mugello, the Porsche Racing Experience graduate (gallery on the left) first won the 13-lap sprint race before also winning Class 1 in the endurance race over the 100-mile distance. In both competitions, the German underlined his talent at the wheel of the around 510-hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of the current 992 generation (center gallery), which is used in this class without electronic driving aids, with the fastest race lap in each case.

Difficult start phase for the pole setter

Johannes Kapfinger, support driver of the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG, had started the sprint from pole position (gallery on the right). However, after several extraneous contacts, the Passau native only returned from the first lap in fourth place. He passed Peter Hegglin again in the third lap, and on lap 8 he was also able to pass the Italian William Mezzetti and take up the chase for Schwarzer. At the finish, however, the title favorite was 3.2 seconds behind the winner. Mezzetti finished third ahead of Gregor Burkard and Marc Arn.

Title decision postponed

Kapfinger left his class pole for the one-hour Endurance race unused: After a routine brake replacement, it was no longer possible to build up brake pressure, so the leader of the standings did not start the race. He was replaced by Alexander Schwarzer, who was able to maintain the lead in the class over the entire race distance and finished in fourth place overall. Gregor Burkard came as close as 3.2 seconds to him in the final meters. William Mezzetti, Peter Hegglin, Marc Arn and Christof Langer finished in the other positions. The title will now be decided on October 29 in Misano.

The twin brother can do it too

Michael Kapfinger, Johannes' twin brother, won the Open GT group in the sprint race ahead of Dustin Blattner from the USA. Both drove a current 911 GT3 Cup with racing ABS. Together with Dieter Svepes, Kapfinger had to give way to his German compatriots Sebastian Schmitt and Dominik Schraml in the Endurance race.

Mottet and Schetty extend title fight

Alexandre Mottet versus Patrick Schetty - the title fight in Class 11 Group GT4 Clubsport went into the next round at Mugello. With their 425-hp Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport with Manthey package, the two rivals started the sprint race from positions 3 and 4. Already on the starting lap, they passed pole man Remo Stebler (lower gallery, left) and "Gioga". The leader of the standings, Mottet, was able to hold his ground against Schetty until the finish. Stebler still finished third ahead of Detlef Schmidt and Gilbert Denzer, while "Gioga" fell far behind after a problem.

In the Endurance race, Schetty (lower center gallery) finished fourth in class, while Mottet had to retire after the 18th lap. The duo of Antonio Garzon and Antoine Leclerc, who as guest entrants do not count towards the championship, were the winners. Second place and thus full points went to Remo Stebler ahead of Gilbert Denzer.

Two masters of precision

The man of the day in Porsche Drivers Competition at Mugello was Xavier Penalba. In his 991-generation 911 GT3 RS (lower gallery on the right), he had the smallest deviations from his own average lap time in the Classic classification in both the shorter and longer regularity competitions. Penalba relegated Jens Puhlfürst and Marius Hutmacher to the other places in the first heat over five laps. For the second, eight of the nine laps driven were considered. Here Penalba was able to beat Kevin Lattion, Manfred Cathomas and Tommy Eriksson. In the Chrono classification, which allows electronic aids, Nicolas Garski won twice ahead of Fide Scheer.

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The GT3 Cup was pleased to welcome prominent guest entrants in Monza. With Alexander Fach - 2020 and 2021 champion - and his teammates Morris Schuring from the Netherlands and Gustav Burton from Great Britain, three participants from the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup used the first race to prepare for their season finale at the Italian GP in September. They were joined by Israeli Ariel Levi, a fast man from the German Porsche Carrera Cup.

The four of them fought out the first places among themselves. While Schuring took a start-finish victory, Fach was narrowly beaten by 1.330 seconds. A week earlier, the driver from Schwyz had celebrated his first Supercup victory at Silverstone. Third place went to Burton, who managed to beat Levi on the second lap (podium top gallery left).

Movement behind the top quartet
Johannes Kapfinger finished fifth behind this quartet, which is not scored for the championship, and was able to enjoy the full points haul. Behind the sponsored driver of the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG, the action was lively.

After the retirements of Alexander Schwarzer, Peter Hegglin and the US guest starter Anthony Imperato, William Mezzetti moved up to 6th place behind Kapfinger and ahead of Greg Burkard.

From the very back to the podium
In the second sprint race, the registered GT3 Cup contenders again remained almost among themselves. Only Ariel Levi (upper gallery, center) again rose to the challenge and won from pole position with a razor-thin lead of 0.685 seconds ahead of Johannes Kapfinger (upper gallery, right). However, the man from Passau had no reason to risk anything either, because the Israeli played no role in his championship ambitions.

Alexander Schwarzer, who like Peter Hegglin started from the back row with fresh Michelin racing tires, showed a terrific race to catch up. The Porsche Racing Expierence graduate finished fourth and third respectively in the CH standings behind Mezzetti, Hegglin sixth behind Marc Arn.

Michael Kapfinger, Johannes' twin brother, won the first Open GT race with the current 911 GT3 Cup (lower gallery, left) ahead of Jörg Dreisow in the 991-generation 911 GT3 R. In the second heat, both had to admit defeat to Dustin Blattner from the USA. Fastest drivers from Switzerland were Philipp Hagnauer (991 GT3 Cup) in fifth place in the first heat and Enzo Calderari/Philippe Menotti (991 GT3 R) in the second.

Two GT4 wins for Mottet
In the field of various GT4 sports cars, Alexandre Mottet in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport with Manthey package prevailed twice (lower center gallery). Pole setter Jens Richter had to park his car in the first sprint shortly after the start, whereupon Mottet took the lead in the race and in the championship.

Previous leader Patrick Schetty finished second ahead of Detlef Schmidt and Patrick Wäger, while Markus Lietzau and Remo Stebler had to retire early. Lietzau, who had previously been second in the standings, also stayed on the track in the second sprint. Mottet, meanwhile, won the duel with Schetty. From 11th on the grid, Remo Stebler took fourth place.

Uniformly fast to two heat wins
Tommy Eriksson seems to have finally arrived in the Porsche Drivers Competition. In Monza he secured first place twice in the Classic classification. At the wheel of his 997-generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS (lower gallery, right), he allowed himself only a 1.16-second deviation from his own average time of 2:17.05 minutes in the shorter uniformity competition over five laps. Second place went to Pascal Godel ahead of Peter Meister. The two had shared the victories in Imola.

In the longer run, for which eight rounds were compared, Eriksson's difference was 1.28 seconds. This time Meister took second place and Godel third. In the Chrono classification, Nicolas Garski initially had to admit defeat to Virgil Keller, but then reversed the order again in the second run.

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The Drift Series from Germany (Drift.com) will come to Central Switzerland in July and hold its third championship round in 2023 high above Lake Lucerne on Uri soil. The races will be held in the Street (production vehicles), Open (modified vehicles without road approval) and Club (racing vehicles) classes. The first two categories will only complete qualifying runs. In the Club category, battles will also be held according to the usual mode in drift racing, so that a winner of the day can be declared at the end of all the elimination heats and the direct duels.

Swiss premiere of the Toyota GR Supra
Well-known drivers from Switzerland and Europe are expected at the start of the only Swiss race. The two professionals Yves Meyer and Joshua Reynolds (gallery on the left) from Toyota Gazoo Racing Switzerland, who run the Driving Center, will also be competing with their drift cars. Some participants will use this starting opportunity as a good training and test under competition conditions. This is also the case for Yves Meyer, who will present the Toyota GR Supra with over 1000 hp (center gallery), developed and built in Seelisberg, in action for the first time to the Swiss public.

Yves Meyer: "I am delighted that we have succeeded in bringing the drift.de racing series to us. The last time we presented such events was in 2014 to 2017, when they were part of the Swiss drift series. Now we promise the audience a much higher quality show and a great supporting program."

Audience welcome
1500 spectators are allowed to attend the unique event. On Friday, July 21, the free practice sessions will be held from 4 to 10 p.m., and Saturday, July 22, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. will be reserved for the qualifying and race runs (gallery on the right). The final event will be the award ceremony followed by a big party. Food and drink will be provided at various stands.

Tickets at the price of 20 Swiss francs per day or 35 Swiss francs for both days are available in advance via the homepage of the Seelisberger or directly under this Link.

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The most prominent starter in Imola was Dominique Aegerter, who took part in the Porsche Experience and could rely on professional Fredy Barth as his coach. The motorcycle supersport world champion describes his experience of the Porsche weekend in the video.

Kapfinger makes short work of it
In the GT3 Cup sprint race on the Imola GP circuit, Johannes Kapfinger restored the usual order as early as the first of 14 laps. The Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG protégé passed Pietro Armanni and took the lead. The Italian had previously beaten the 20-year-old from Passau by 0.145 seconds in qualifying and started from pole position.

Armanni, who usually competes in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italy, also set the fastest lap in the race. Nevertheless, in the end he was 0.613 seconds behind Kapfinger. Third place went unchallenged to Gregor Burkard (podium top gallery right). The other places were taken by Gianluca Giorgi, Alexander Schwarzer and Marc Arn.

Revenge of the local hero
In the 70-minute endurance race, Armanni (top left gallery) then turned the tables - although the pole setter initially lost ground to Kapfinger (top center gallery) at the start. Over the next 13 laps, however, he steadily crept closer, again setting the fastest race lap and passing him on lap 17 thanks to his later mandatory pit stop.

At the same time, Gregor Burkard and Marc Arn also turned off for a tire change. Both returned to the track ahead of Kapfinger, who had driven up to his team in the 14th lap. While Burkard defended his second place to the finish, Arn had to yield to the German on lap 25. In the end, he finished fourth ahead of Alexander Schwarzer, Roderick Christie and Thomas Brauch.

Kapfinger learns from mistakes
The second sponsored driver of the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG, Jocelyn Langer, finished 14th in the sprint race and twelfth in the Endurance competition in the GT3 Cup classification.

Johannes Kapfinger: "The Sprint race went very well, I was able to keep up with Pietro Armanni and just about secure victory. In the Endurance we tried something new with an early pit stop, but then the safety car went out for us at the wrong moment - as a result I lost a lot of places. But you learn from mistakes. Overall, it was a good weekend because we were able to show that we're fast."

GT4 victories to Lietzau and Mottet
In the group of different racing versions of the Porsche Cayman, Markus Lietzau continued in Imola where he had left off in the sprint race in Le Castellet: with a victory. At the wheel of his 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport (lower gallery, left), the German also prevailed over his compatriot Gero Bauknecht in the only higher horsepower GT4 RS from Class 10. Alexandre Mottet took second place in Class 11 in third place ahead of Patrick Schetty and Detlef Schmidt.

In the Endurance race, Alexandre Mottet also took overall GT4 victory after clinching pole position. At the finish, only 0.288 seconds separated him from his pursuers Markus Lietzau and Florian Strauss.

Enzo Calderari can still do it
In the Group Open GT sprint, a Swiss racing legend took the top step of the podium: Enzo Calderari from Biel narrowly beat Michael Kapfinger in a Porsche 911 GT3 R (lower gallery, center). Johannes' twin brother secured the class win in the 911 GT3 Cup cars with racing ABS and traction control.

Overall victory in the Endurance race went to the German duo of Jörg Dreisow and Manuel Lauck (lower gallery, right) just ahead of Michael Kapfinger/Dieter Svepes and Class 1 winner Armanni.

It also works without tools
In Imola, veteran Peter Meister showed that extremely consistent lap times are also possible without electronic aids. The veteran won the short version of the Porsche Drivers Competition Suisse over five timed laps in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS - the added deviations from his own average time added up to just 0.58 seconds. Second place in the Classic classification went to Tommy Eriksson ahead of Manfred Cathomas and Jens Puhlfürst.

The longer competition over eight scored laps was won by Pascal Godel with a time difference of 0.68 seconds ahead of Eriksson and Thomas Bolliger. In the Chrono classification, Nicolas Garski took first place twice ahead of Virgil Keller and Fide Scheer. His cumulative time differences were once 1.44 and once 0.28 seconds.

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Sandro Fehr brought a two-point lead over Marcel Muzzarelli with him to the Chamblon arena. Nevertheless, the starting positions were practically equal. Because of the closely staggered points system and the equal number of victories (one each), the fastest was automatically the champion at the end of the day if no one came before or in between. However, this was not the case either in practice or in the two race heats.

Not a question of nerves
In the first run on the 4400-meter course, Muzzarelli (top gallery, left) set a time that was half a second better. However, it was clear to both of them that they would have to go even faster, especially since they had missed their own training best times.

Outwardly, the nervousness was not noticeable, but inwardly it was certainly rumbling in both of them. As in the other races of the past season, however, Sandro Fehr (upper gallery, center) proved his nerve by turning the thing around.

Victory over the model
The amateur cave explorer from Rorschacherberg improved by more than a second, his opponent by half a second, both again without scoring errors - and so in the end Fehr's second running time, which was eight hundredths of a second faster, tipped the scales for the title. His joy was enormous after the official ranking list was posted.

Sandro Fehr: "I braked a bit finer everywhere after it had set me up slightly twice in the first run. I knew it was a super time. I never doubted myself and didn't give up. I prepared mentally for three weeks for this decisive final and was therefore free in my mind. For years I looked up to Muzz, so it's great to have won now against such a strong opponent like him."

Premiere as master
For the trained polymechanic, this is his first title win as a driver, having already been a member of the winning team four times in the OPC Challenge and the Suzuki Cup. Fehr has been competing in this one-make cup with various Swift models since 2012, but he has never played a role in the title fight until now.

His opponent, who had already won several Cups, was annoyed about the narrow defeat, but afterwards showed himself to be a fair loser.

Marcel Muzzarelli: "Of course I would know exactly how and where I lost the few hundredths. But I absolutely don't begrudge Sandro the title. He's been around for so long. I know exactly how he feels now as champion."

Two teams in the top five
None of the competitors really wanted to get involved in the title duel, which at best Michaël Béring (top gallery right) and Christian Zimmermann (middle gallery left) would have been able to do. The winner of the opening race in Bière, however, already lost more than two seconds to the winning duo in third place and was happy to finally be on the podium once again.

Thus, the man from Neuchâtel secured fourth place in the championship, which was still contested by Team 77. Danny Krieg, who had to score points for the 1977s in Chamblon, however, could not get beyond eighth place, while team boss and Cup coordinator Zimmermann achieved a good fourth place.

In fifth place, Reto Steiner (middle gallery center) added more good points to the account of the Flammer Speed Team, which was already established as championship third. Rico Thomann (middle gallery right), also in Flammer colors, closed his first full Suzuki season with a sixth place in Chamblon and in the standings.

Stefan Glanzmann (lower gallery left) was also able to live well with 7th place in the last race and in the championship, although like Thomann he may have secretly hoped for the first podium after a fourth place each in Frauenfeld. Fabio Gubitosi (lower gallery, center) and Jean-Luc Janz (lower gallery, right) rounded off the top ten at the finale with a respectable gap.

Next year again
It is already certain that the one-make cup with the Suzuki Swift Sport 48V Hybrid will also take place next year, although a new model is in the pipeline. Details will be announced at a later date. The championship ceremony will take place on August 19 as part of the Oldtimer Grand Prix in Safenwil.

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The Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or for historic racing cars is one of the largest international events still held on the former GP circuit of Dijon in Burgundy. It is also the oldest event in Historic Racing in France, held for the 58th time from June 2-4.

The majority of the races were part of the Classic Endurance Racing Series organized by Peter Auto from Paris. Around 16,000 spectators and participants, among them many from Switzerland, attended the traditional event. The video gives a nice impression of the individual race fields and the trappings.

Fivefold Swiss victory
The Swiss Classic Racers took the cake in the CER2 for GT and sports cars from 1972/73 to 1981. In this one-hour race, there was a fivefold triumph for the Swiss. Yves Scemama in the Cosworth 3.0-powered Toj SC304, who started from second place, initially took the lead before pole setter Maxime Guenat in the Lola T286 with the same engine (top gallery, left, in front of Scemama) took the reins after 17 of the 37 laps with a mandatory pit stop. Third place overall went to Yves' brother Philippe Scemama in the 1981 Group C Lola T600.

Because the trio (podium upper gallery center) was alone in the largest displacement class, the fastest two-liters followed. After the disqualification of the initially leading Brit Tony Sinclair in a Lola T296, multiple champion Beat Eggimann prevailed in his Cheetah G601 (upper gallery right). The Sissach-based garage owner led a horde of Chevrons with the Swiss design, the best of which was his compatriot Philipp Brühweiler. In qualifying, Brühweiler was still ahead.

Toni Seiler's advance to the podium
In CER1 (1966-1971), Toni Seiler and his Lola T70 MkIII (middle gallery, left) only really got going in the race after a rather disappointing qualifying (12th). The reward was third place in class and fourth overall, which was led by his French brand mate Armand Mille.

Impressively, Henrique Gemperle and Marc de Siebenthal also moved their Porsche 908/03 in famous Martini Racing colors (lower gallery center) to third place overall. With a Ford GT40, Yves Scemama decided the GT1 group in his favor.

Best advertising in own cause
Worldwide unique in the context of this event series is in each case the field of Group 2 and Group A from the era of the European Touring Car Championship and DRM from 1966 to 1984 (start second gallery right). The legendary battles between Ford and BMW are continued here with fast and solvent private drivers at the wheel. Although some of the cars are not originals in racing trim at the time, but have been elaborately rebuilt on original bodyshells, they are nevertheless a feast for the eyes and ears.

The specialist in this field is Michael Kammermann from Berne with his company MK Motorsports in Worb, who immediately demonstrated what his beautiful one-offs are capable of. With the BMW 3.0 CSL from 1975 (third gallery on the left), which he used for the first time in 2023 and with which he already won at the Hockenheim Historic in May, he dueled with the four-valve coupé of Maxime Guenat, which he also built, and the two Ford Capri RS3100s of Armand Mille and Yves Scemama.

In the second half of the race Kammermann (third gallery center) definitely took the lead and won with 1.2 seconds ahead of Mille and 33.5 ahead of the father-son duo Guenat. After a technical defect on his Capri in free practice, the 30-year-old Jura native Maxime Guenat had switched to the BMW of his father Dominique, which Michael Erlich drove to many victories two or three years ago.

With a Ford Capri RS 2600 (third gallery on the right, in front of another MK coupe and an Escort RS) built over a period of three years on the basis of a "barn find chassis," Toni Seiler also participates in the Heritage Touring Cup in 2023. However, the Limmattaler with the Weslake engine has no chance against the four-valve engines in the fastest BMWs and Fords. In the Swiss duel against brand mate Thomas Studer, he lost by 0.001 second (12th and 13th place).

One lap too many
The previous evening, Guenat Jr., who has been one of the fastest in his field for years, had already climbed onto the podium with Frenchman Guillaume Mahé in a Shelby Cobra 289 (lower gallery, left) as the winner of the Sixties' Endurance over one and a half hours. The duo inherited that success, however, after the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé ahead of them was disqualified for a violation of the sporting regulations (waved off twice!). Less than 50 seconds behind, Armand Mille and Yves Scemama finished 5th in their Daytona Coupé.

Philipp Buhofer narrowly missed the podium with his Lotus 27 (lower gallery, center) in fourth place in the first race of the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Junior race cars (lower gallery, right). The driver from Zug retired in the second race.

All results of all events of these race series are available to this Link to be taken from the event. The season's highlight will take place on July 1-2 in the form of the 2023 Le Mans Classic on the original Circuit des 24 Heures, where the modern endurance classic will be staged this weekend.

Photos: Peter Auto/Photoclassicracing, Peter Wyss

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He was one of the most enigmatic figures from Switzerland - and he was able to celebrate great successes as both a driver and a team boss. Walter Brun, who everyone simply calls "Walti," made headlines on and off the racetracks from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

Illustrious career as racing driver and team boss
In 1971, the businessman from Entlebuch in the canton of Lucerne was European mountain champion in a BMW 2800 CS from Team Schnitzer, after which he achieved podium finishes in the legendary DRM before turning to Group C with his own Team Brun Motorsport and causing a sensation there. The highlight was winning the Team World Championship in 1986. Famous racing drivers such as the unforgettable Stefan Bellof, Hans-Joachim Stuck and three-time GP winner Thierry Boutsen won with Brun's Porsche 962C.

From 1989 to 1991, Brun was also present in Formula 1 with his own team, which, however, ended in a sporting and financial disaster. By the way, the complete sporting history of Walter Brun and his team was recently published in a monumental work of almost 1000 pages. "Brun Motorsport 1966-1991"

Test drive at Hockenheim as a tribute
Thanks to his irrepressible will and sustained energy, Brun was able to pay off all his debts in the years following his ruin and some time later even competed again himself as a race driver on various GT cars at Le Mans and in the ADAC GT Masters. In 2009, Walti contested his last races - but even at 80 years of age, he has not lost the fun of driving fast cars, as he proved last week in Hockenheim.

On the occasion of two track days in Hockenheim, the Lucerne native was allowed to sit in a Porsche 962C owned by autobau founder Fredy Lienhard. This car was used in the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Trust Engineering team. The preparation for and the race at Hockenheim were in the capable hands of Horag Hotz Racing from Sulgen.

Fredy Lienhard: "The cars from autobau are there to be driven. That is part of our company's philosophy. I also enjoy it when Walti drives. For me, it's a tribute to him. He made history, never gave up and fulfilled his commitments in the most difficult times."

Reunion gives pleasure
A few weeks earlier, the tireless Swiss, who successfully runs the Allmendhuisli restaurant in Stans as a restaurateur, was allowed to get behind the wheel of a former Brun Porsche from private German ownership in Le Castellet. However, the irritating course did not suit him, and so Brun only really got going at the familiar Baden Motodrom. The fact that he also met people there like former Porsche race director Manfred Jantke and Indy driver and Porsche factory driver Simona de Silvestro (lower gallery, left) rounded off the experience for Brun.

Video with interview and driving scenes
What Walti felt during his fast laps, he tells in the video interview with the author. The film was shot and edited by former Audi factory driver and three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner, who nowadays celebrates successes with historic racing cars and is also a passionate video journalist. He has lived in Ermatingen on Lake Constance for more than 20 years and will soon become a Swiss citizen.

Photos: Peter Wyss

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Things went almost perfectly for the 20-year-old German from the Bavarian Huber Racing team (top gallery left and center) in the GT3 Cup sprint race, even on a rain-soaked track. The driver sponsored by Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG took the lead straight from pole position and did not relinquish it on the drying track until the finish.

Schwarzer and Burkhard push ahead
Second place, 2.5 seconds behind, went to Alexander Schwarzer (top gallery, right), who gained two positions right at the start in the current-generation 911 GT3 Cup with around 510 hp. Ernst Keller, the 2018 GT3 Cup champion, was forced to retire on the second lap, while Peter Hegglin rejoined the field in penultimate place after an incident and only managed 12th.

However, Gregor Burkard (center gallery, left) made up ground on the day. A sports penalty for an offense at the first PSCS weekend in Spielberg had moved him back five places on the grid to ninth position. After the opening lap he was already back in third place. At the finish he was just 0.413 seconds behind Schwarzer. Fourth place went to Marc Arn (center gallery), who managed to slip past Jan Klingelnberg in the seventh lap.

The table leader makes it exciting
The approximately 70-minute endurance race over 28 laps on the 5.842-kilometer Grand Prix variant presented Kapfinger with greater challenges. This already began for him with qualifying group 1, which found wetter conditions than group 2. For the Passau native, this meant grid position two behind Schwarzer within class 1 for GT3 Cup contenders and position 13 in the overall standings for all vehicles.

Kapfinger passed Schwarzer on lap four and took over the class lead. He initially lost the lead to William Mezzetti during the mandatory pit stop, which was unfortunately timed due to a safety car phase. However, the junior had slicks fitted and straightened out the situation on lap 17. A short time later he was also leading the overall standings. At the finish he had an almost twelve-second lead over the Italian, who as in the sprint race had set the fastest race lap. Gregor Burkard finished third, just ahead of Marc Arn and Schwarzer.

Jocelyn Langer, the second sponsored driver of Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG, finished 14th in the Sprint race and 13th in class in the Endurance competition.

GT4 victories to Lietzau and Schetty
In the GT4 field (middle gallery on the right), Markus Lietzau in the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport with so-called MR package emerged as the winner. The German had started from third place and led a fighting trio consisting of Patrick Schetty and Detlef Schmidt. In the course of the race, the trio fell to Alexandre Mottet and Remo Stebler, who had started from row 1.

In the Endurance race, Antonio Garzon and professional Antoine Leclerc seemed to be heading for victory before the Cayman had to be parked in the pit lane. This was the hour of Patrick Schetty, who had steadily worked his way up from the seventh starting position in the class. Second place went to Detlef Schmidt and Gero Bauknecht ahead of Alexandre Mottet, who finished third together with Loïc Villiger.

The twin brother can do it too
In the sprint race of the Open GT group, US American Dustin Blattner (lower gallery, left), a participant in the Porsche Track Experience, came out on top ahead of Michael Kapfinger, Johannes' twin brother. Both drove a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of the current 992 nine-eleven generation with racing ABS and traction control. Third place went to Wolfgang Triller with the predecessor model of the 911 GT3 Cup. The long race was decided by the Austrian duo Drmic/Svepes in third overall behind the two fastest GT3 Cup drivers.

Surprising winner in the uniformity test
Margret Melse was the big surprise of the Porsche Drivers Competition Suisse (PDC). She won the shorter uniformity competition over five laps in the Classic classification without electronic aids with her Porsche 718 Cayman S (lower gallery on the left). Tommy Eriksson and Robert Schwaller came a close second and third (lower gallery right).

Schwaller then returned the favor in the longer test over eight scored laps. Second place again went to Eriksson ahead of Marius Hutmacher. In the Chrono classification for participants with electronic aids, Nicolas Garski won twice. But with Cepand Djamchidi the PDC champion had only one challenger.

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The longest and most difficult slalom of the year, with 5300 meters and 110 gates, on the spacious weapons course of Bure in the canton of Jura, brought already the fifth race winner in the sixth race of the season for the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup - and from the point of view of the championship exactly the right one.

The necessary victory for the championship
Marcel Muzzarelli (upper gallery, left) was already the fastest among the 14 participants after two practice runs and confirmed this performance in the race, although he could not quite match the best time of the morning.

He relegated Sandro Fehr (upper gallery center) to second place by only five and a half tenths and Patrick Flammer to third place by 1.2 seconds.

Marcel Muzzarelli: "This result was necessary to keep the championship open. It went the way I wanted it to. But Sandro showed a tremendous performance."

Sandro Fehr proves his nerve
The Grisons native from Thurgau alluded to Fehr's disqualification in the first run because he had overshot or missed a gate. Although he actually had to play it safe after that so as not to pick up a bad strike result, the hobby cave explorer from Rorschacherberg put in the second-best run time.

Sandro Fehr: "This borders on a miracle. It could have turned out differently. It would have been nice for me, but also heartless, if I had already become champion. It's nicer now to fight for it until the end of the championship."

The going out becomes scarce
With only a two-point difference and almost the same individual results in the form of loud podium finishes, there are many possibilities for the championship decision. The simplest: Whoever of the two wins on June 24 on the equally demanding Chamblon course is the champion. Muzzarelli would be it in the event of a points tie due to the higher number of victories. If someone else comes out on top or in between, there will be a count. It is quite possible that in the end even the higher number of directly beaten opponents will decide who wins the title.

That both are super-fair sportsmen with mutual respect is proven by their statements according to which each would like the other to win the title in the event of defeat. For Fehr it would be the first, for Muzzarelli the ninth in the individual ranking of a brand trophy.

Flammer is the third force
The third place on the Bure podium was taken by Patrick Flammer (upper gallery right), the only one to win two races so far (double in Ambri).

Patrick Flammer: "I'm not completely satisfied with it, because I know where and how I lost the time. On the other hand, I kept the title race exciting by not putting myself between the two favorites."

The third final place for the Flammer Speed Team is thus as good as certain, because Michaël Béring (middle gallery, left) again did not go beyond sixth place. Since the surprising triumph in Bière, the man from Neuchâtel has not managed a podium finish.

No showcase result of the boss
Team 77, which was victorious last time in Frauenfeld with Fabian Eggenberger, took only 9th place with Christian Zimmermann (middle gallery center). After a scoring error in the first attempt, the Glarner was not quite with the music with a second safe run, although Bure is not one of his preferred tracks anyway.

But because Danny Krieg, who was scheduled to drive for Team 77, was on vacation with his family, the team manager and technical coordinator of the Cup had to step in. In Chamblon, they both took to the wheel.

Waiting for the first podium
As in race 1 at Frauenfeld, Rico Thomann (center gallery, right) narrowly missed out on his first podium in fourth place. Less than a second was missing. As another good fifth with Flammer's car, Reto Steiner did not score any points this time; he will not do so again for the Flammer Speed Team until Chamblon.

Newcomer Stefan Glanzmann (lower gallery, left), who also finished fourth once in race 2 at Frauenfeld, was quite good in seventh place. Behind him there was a gap of more than three seconds. Nevertheless, 8th place for Gauthier Henchoz (lower center gallery) is a respectable result, with which he equaled that of Bière.

Jean-Luc Janz (lower gallery, right) just made it into the top ten for the first time this season. Fabio Gubitosi, who has yet to match his earlier performances in the OPC Challenge, the visibly disappointed Marcel Landolt, Janz' partner Cédric Moulin and Flavio Corezzola took the remaining places.

Classification Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup Slalom Bure

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