With 13 races at seven events, the Swiss Lotus drivers completed a full-fledged annual championship, as they had done in the difficult previous year. This came to an end with the prize-giving ceremony at the Eichberg health and vacation hotel in the Seetal valley between Lenzburg and Lucerne.

The raging gastronome
The resort, which is known far beyond the region, is run by Hannes Mahler and his family. The host was also one of the most successful participants in the past season, which included the RRCV Mountain Slaloms in Vorarlberg, sprint tests in Bresse (F) and Hockenheim, as well as the only National Slaloms in Frauenfeld and Ambri.

Not much would have been missing, and Mahler would have taken home the biggest trophy for winning the Competition classification. The long-time Mini Challenge specialist entered the one-make cup organized by Lotus-West from St. Gallen with an optimum Lotus Exige 430 Cup and finished as runner-up.

Bollhalder regularly fast
In an identical sports car, Dino Wintsch clearly won the Cup in the two previous years. This year, the architect from Hombrechtikon only appeared in Hockenheim and left the territory to his rivals.

At first, Hermann Bollhalder with his Exige 430 took first and second places in the first six races. After that, however, "Bolle" didn't want to score any more bull's-eyes. But because his opponents took turns at the top and he always kept up with them with good placings behind them, the fast garage owner from Toggenburg lived off his points cushion until the sweet end.

In the course of his series of successes and double starts in the mountain slaloms, Bollhalder also won the annual championship of the Renn & Rally Club Vorarlberg - congratulations!

With each other against each other
The man of the second half of the season, however, was Hannes Mahler (center gallery). The man from Aargau celebrated the first Lotus victory in the morning slalom of Frauenfeld and failed in the second race in the afternoon in his attempt to top his training best time, which was not beaten by anyone, by overshooting a passage. The result was his only poor result of the season (9th), but he was able to brush it off with two previous fourth-place finishes.

In the last five races, Mahler then won three times and finished second twice, which also put him ahead of Bollhalder. In the end, he was eight points behind the new champion. He was by no means unhappy about this, because the duo maintained an honest exchange of information, helped each other and spurred each other on to top performances.

Hannes Mahler: "The satisfaction is just as great as if I were champion myself. I never thought it would still be so close between us. I had a lot of fun with this car and was pleased that everything worked. It's fascinating what times are possible with it."

Variety in all positions
Norbert Sieber is also satisfied with third place overall. He was the only one besides Heinz Wiese (who had an accident on the last race day in Eichenberg - we wish him a good recovery!) to bring an Evora (gallery on the right) to the start. The Rheintaler made up for its weight disadvantage with victories in Damüls and Ambri as well as five further podium places. At the IKSM slalom in Wangen, which is no longer part of the Cup, Sieber celebrated another day's victory over Wintsch & Co. on October 31 with Mirco Suter's Exige.

Apart from him, only Benno Berchtold managed a class win in the very first race in Bresse, Fabian Egger in Frauenfeld, Daniel Strim in Arlberg and Dino Wintsch in Hockenheim. They occupied the other places in the championship in this order.

If Egger had not had to miss the last two events and thus three results for professional reasons, he and not Berchtold, who was tied on points, might have finished fourth overall in 2021. Mario Hedinger in Frauenfeld (2nd) and Eichenberg (3rd) and Mirco Suter in Hockenheim (3rd) also made it onto the podium in a race.

Kobelt came, saw and won
Edy Kobelt and Roberto Zürcher also delivered a thrilling battle for fractions of a second with their Exige 350 Cup in the Production Class. In the end, it was 7:5 and on points 175:161 for Lotus newcomer Kobelt (gallery left).

A great success and a boost for the Swiss multi-champion, who returned to the sport after suffering from cancer years ago. Third in the small group, Daniel Steinmann only managed to prevail once in the opener at the Circuit de Bresse.

There would still be the less expensive Elise
Only theoretical interest was shown in the newly introduced Elise class. However, the Cup management is sticking to it and expects the first participants in 2022. According to initiator and Lotus salesman Norbert Sieber, who also likes to have drivers from other dealers, the four-cylinder models are cheaper to buy and maintain.

Detailed information and results can be found on the Lotus Cup Suisse homepage.

Lotus Cup 2021 Total

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Alexander Fach rounded off his title defense project with two more brilliant performances at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy. On the 4.226-kilometer circuit on the Adriatic coast, the 18-year-old from Schwyz started from pole position in both GT3 Cup races, set the fastest race lap in each case and did not let the lead slip away from him once.

Faster than the stronger competitor
Remarkably, Luca Pastorelli (right gallery), who already drove the new 911 GT3 Cup, finished second in each race. This sports car is based on the current 911 generation 992 and, with 510 hp, has significantly more power than the previous model with 485 hp. It also has a competitive advantage over its predecessor thanks to more efficient aerodynamics, among other things.

Fight for the third place
The battle for third place in the first race was exciting, with Gregor Burkard (left gallery) narrowly beating Dominik Fischli and Alexander Schwarzer. In the second GT3 race, Fischli (center gallery) - who, like Fach, enjoyed the second year of the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG junior sponsorship program - improved from fourth on the grid to third.

The 25-year-old kept the upper hand against Burkard and Schwarzer all the way to the finish, while Peter Hegglin again entered his name in the results list in sixth place. Due to an incident on the track, the field completed the last two laps behind the safety car.

Third win of the day in the new Cup car
It no longer had any influence on the championship decisions, but the participants of the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse nevertheless enjoyed the final night race under floodlights. This year, the starters from the GT3 Cup retained the upper hand.

Almost as a matter of course, the winner in the end was Alexander Fach - especially since the youngster was not driving his usual race car, but the new 911 GT3 Cup. At the finish, his lead over runners-up Alexander Schwarzer and Dominik Farnbacher in the Porsche Racing Experience by Manthey car was almost a full minute.

Alexander Fach: "What a weekend - I still have to process what all happened. To finish the season with three wins is especially nice."

Where does Fach's future path lead?
The head of the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse was also impressed after the sixth and final event.

Richard Feller: "With Alexander Fach's successful title defense, we have proven that our support concept for young racing drivers works very well. I am very excited to see where his further motorsport career will take him. The combination of young talent and experienced gentleman drivers is also a success story."

Misbach and Garski prevail as champions
In the GT4 Clubsport class, Laurent Misbach secured the title with his sixth and seventh sprint wins of the current season. Nicolas Garski also performed confidently in the Drivers Challenge. With his sixth victory in the sixth uniformity competition, he is the deserved champion.

We will come back to these two championship decisions in a separate report.

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The dramatic title decision at the Nürburgring in two minutes.

With the fastest time in qualifying and thus pole position for Saturday's race, Ricardo Feller created the ideal starting position for himself at the finale of the German GT Championship and the ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring.

Third victory in Saturday's race
After a short battle with the pursuers, the 21-year-old from Aargau also immediately took the lead, whereupon partner Christopher Mies completed the duo's third victory of the season in the Audi R8 LMS from Land Motorsport.

Despite extending their lead in the standings, the decision in their favor on Sunday turned out to be a nail-biter. Starting driver Mies lost several positions in the turmoil of the first lap, which led to the race being interrupted after two accidents.

After the restart, it was just a matter of getting the GT3 sports car to the finish line in one good place in the points. This was necessary because the Porsche duo Ammermüller/Jaminet drove to their fourth win of the season and otherwise would have cleaned up everything.

In the end, 10th place was enough for Feller to win his first ADAC GT Masters title after 2016 and for Mies his second.

Ricardo Feller: "I was always dreaming of this moment even a few years ago in ADAC Formula 4. Now to clinch the drivers', team and junior titles is simply unbelievable. In the last race I had to take a back seat against my nature, but the junior title wasn't given to us either. This is really a terrific day."

Which brand will snatch up the talented Swiss?
For Feller, there is now only one goal for the season: signing a works contract, which he absolutely deserves after such top performances - which also include appearances with Emil Frey Racing in the GT World Challenge. The only question is with which manufacturer or manufacturers? Negotiations will undoubtedly be intensified now.

Rolf Ineichen makes it, Simona de Silvestro misses the podium
Rolf Ineichen was the second Swiss to make it onto the overall podium in a Lamborghini in third place on Sunday in the cold Eifel. The Lucerne native, who had previously won at Hockenheim, finished a good seventh with partner Franck Perera (F) in 2021.

Simona de Silvestro would also have liked to finally finish her final race of the season on the podium. After her partner Klaus Bachler took pole on Sunday and handed over the Herberth Motorsport Porsche to her in the lead, the driver from Vaud slipped to seventh place in her half of the race after losing several duels.

With 5th place, Audi works driver Patric Niederhauser equaled the best result of the season with young Jusuf Owega, behind which Jeffrey Schmidt on Callaway Corvette clearly lagged behind with two 13th places.

GT4 title to Swiss-German alliance
There was also celebration at Hofor Racing on Sunday evening. The BMW M4 GT4 entered by Bonk Motorsport from the fleet of Aargau racing team owner Martin Kroll is this year's ADAC GT4 Germany champion car after second places in 2019 and 2020.

Michael Schrey from northern Germany and Italian Gabriele Piana, who lives in Lugano, had a weekend to forget in terms of results. Nevertheless, the duo, which had been leading the standings since the start of the season, could no longer be knocked off the top spot.

Protest by Porsche against Ferrari foul
The day before, Neel Jani and Kévin Estre (F) looked on course for the title in the GT Pro category of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Bahrain 8 Hours. However, third driver Michael Christensen (DK) was hit by the Ferrari of the only remaining title rivals at the rear of the Porsche 911 RSR in the final quarter of an hour. The ensuing spin dropped him behind the provisional winning and world champion duo of Pier Guidi/Calado.

Because Porsche Motorsport cannot understand the decision of the race organizers to first issue a penalty and then withdraw it, the German team lodged a protest in due time. The FIA must now decide on this.

Judge for yourself: Was this ramming of the Ferrari, seen from 4:16 minutes, fair?

Neel Jani criticizes
For the Swiss Porsche works driver, therefore, there is still faint hope of winning the title after all. He, too, is not happy with the forced outcome.

Neel Jani: "We were champions until eight minutes before the end of the race and then lost it. If someone overtakes us nicely, then we have no problem with that and he's the deserved winner - but not with a ram. The team did a top job, strategy and pit stops were mega."

Joy for Sébastien Buemi, disappointment for Fabio Scherer
Sébastien Buemi had one laughing eye and one crying eye in the hypercar class. With Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley, the man from Vaud took his third overall win of the season in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid ahead of the sister car and the Alpine team. However, their teammates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López only had to finish to secure the drivers' championship crown. Toyota had previously been established as the manufacturers' world champion.

Fabio Scherer took a rather disappointing fourth place in class with United Autosport's Oreca-Gibson, which started from pole position. For the team from England, which had been leading the LMP2 standings until Le Mans, the end result was only fourth place in the championship.

adac-motorsport.com

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The Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup 2021 came to an end with a simple but all the more heartfelt and intimate championship ceremony at Auto Zürich. It was a short season, consisting of only two events in Frauenfeld and Ambri, because all other National Slaloms were cancelled during the year.

Nevertheless, the fifteen best drivers will receive the promised prize money totaling over 20,000 Swiss francs. In addition, there will be tire vouchers from partner Yokohama and other non-cash prizes.

Hybrid is trump
Sandra Fichte, Head of PR & Marketing at Suzuki Schweiz AG since September 1, has gasoline in her blood, just like her predecessor Jürg Naef. Therefore, for her and the Emil Frey Group, it was out of the question that the brand trophy with the largest number of participants would be continued in 2022.

However, the majority will have to purchase new sports equipment, as only the new Suzuki Swift Sport Hybrid will be permitted. For marketing reasons, this makes sense, as the Safenwil-based company is now the first organizer of a championship with hybrid models.

That quite a few participants are not happy about the vehicle change is equally understandable. Despite the request to reconsider the admission criteria and perhaps also to offer the previous gasoline-powered cars a platform on the side, nothing is likely to change in this decision.

As fast as normal gasoline engines
The final race in Ticino showed that the newcomer has potential. Patrick Flammer decided the first of the two slaloms at the Ambri airfield on October 2 in his favor with the hybrid model from the fleet of the Flammer Speed Team from Glarus. Newcomers Michael Bering and Rico Thomann also shone in their performances, which they can now regard as an investment in the future.

Michael Bering: "Of course, the Swift Sport Hybrid is a bit slower on paper. But you have to move with the times. We've proven that you can drive fast with it, too. And it's certainly fun."

3000 francs discount
While Bering (gallery left) and Flammer already have new cars, many of their previous Suzuki colleagues are considering whether to go along with the vehicle change or take a break. This also applies to the old and new champion Marcel Muzzarelli (gallery on the right).

As a bonus, Suzuki Switzerland is offering a discount of 3,000 Swiss francs to all new customers. The net price of the Swift Sport Hybrid, which is ideally suited as an everyday car, is thus just under 23,000 francs.

The success bonuses will remain the same in 2022, i.e. 3000 Swiss francs plus a Yokohama voucher of 1500 Swiss francs for the champion down to 200 Swiss francs for 15th place overall. Those who contest at least three races will be reimbursed 300 Swiss francs per event.

The tight points system with 50 points for the race winner and one less for each of the next-placed drivers will be retained. Each driver can deduct one strike result, and there is no longer a team classification.

It is impossible to predict how many of the eight races currently listed in the provisional SM calendar (April 10, Romont; May 1, Bière; May 15, Frauenfeld; May 21-22, Ambri 1 and 2; June 19, Bure; June 26, Chamblon; September 25, Drognens) will take place as planned. But everyone is hoping for a return to normality with a varied racing season.

Well informed with AutoSprintCH
The exact regulations with the conditions of participation can be found on the Suzuki Switzerland homepage. Like Yokohama and Yokobo, the company responsible for tire service, Ecstar engine oils, MultiLease as well as Inoxcar (exhaust), AutoSprintCH as media partner continues to be one of the supporters of the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup.

Background information about this year's and previous races can therefore be found on our informative homepage with just a few mouse clicks (in the Suzuki Cup search window).

Final ranking Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup 2021

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Some of the best moments of the first Bahrain race in 60 seconds.

After Toyota not unexpectedly secured the world championship title in the hypercar class a week ago, the second endurance race in eight days in Bahrain will be about the drivers' crown. Sébastien Buemi and his two team partners actually only have theoretical chances of winning the title.

Buemi must hope for support
Due to the increased race duration from six to eight hours, 50 percent more points than usual will be distributed. The winners therefore receive 38 points, the runners-up 27 and the third 23. With a 16-point gap to their teammates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, who were victorious at Le Mans and a week ago at the 6-hour race in the Kingdom, and who will also start from pole position at the finale, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley can therefore no longer become world champions by their own efforts.

In the event of a victory, the Vaudois, who turned 33 on October 31, can only hope for bad luck on the part of the second Toyota pairing or a brilliant performance by Alpine, i.e. a second-place finish by the French. For Nakajima, it is also his farewell race in the FIA WEC.

Jani-Porsche must finish ahead of Ferrari
Neel Jani's starting position is better. With their third win of the season in the Porsche 911 RSR, the Swiss and his French partner Kevin Estre, also with the help of their second-placed factory colleagues Bruni/Lietz, moved to within one point of the leaders Alessandro Pier Guido and James Calado in the better of the two Ferrari 488s from AF Corse. With his best qualifying time on Friday, Estre then ensured a tie in the standings thanks to the extra point - it doesn't get more exciting than that!

Jani's calculation is simple: They have to finish ahead of the Italian car, no matter how, to become world champion in the GT class. As simple as it sounds, the task in the final race will be difficult, as the Italians with their strong two-car team will also leave no stone unturned and also start from row 1. It would be the second world championship title for the Biel native with Porsche after 2016 with the 919 Hybrid and the first in the GT category at the first attempt.

13 drivers with GT title chances
On Saturday and Sunday, it's also down to the wire for another Swiss in GT racing. Ricardo Feller and Germany's Christopher Mies lead the German GT Championship aka ADAC GT Masters by four points ahead of the final two sprint races at the Nürburgring.

With 56 points still to be awarded, mathematically there are still 13 drivers (see Table before final) are in the running for the title. With Raffaele Marciello from Ticino on a Mercedes-AMG and Rolf Ineichen from Lucerne on a Lamborghini, who recently won at Hockenheim, two other Swiss drivers are among them alongside Feller, although they will have to hope for a super weekend of their own and bad luck on the part of the opponents in front of them.

Ricardo Feller needs warm tires and racing luck
After a good second half of the season so far with the Audi R8 LMS, which has always been optimally prepared by Land Motorsport, the 21-year-old from Aargau traveled to the cold Eifel on Wednesday evening with confidence.

Ricardo Feller: "Of course, before such a decisive weekend, you're tense in a different way than before normal races. But nothing else is different. The team has done a mega job so far, everything has worked, so we're doing everything as we have so far. We just need the necessary race luck."

The only unpredictable factors are the fighting fury of the opponents and the weather on the final weekend. Both can throw a spanner in the works of all the title favorites. Another decisive factor will be which teams are best able to bring the Pirelli standard tires of their different cars up to temperature in order to stay within the good working window. Mercedes and Porsche often had an advantage in this respect.

Live on TV and Internet
Both title decisions can be seen on TV and the Internet this weekend. The Bahrain 8 Hours will be broadcast on Saturday from 11:40 a.m. to around 8:40 p.m. on RTL+, the free live stream from RTL Deutschland (formerly TVNOW).

The last three hours of the race will be televised on NITRO. Before that, the TV station, which is also free to air in Switzerland, will report from 2:30 p.m. on the first day of racing at the Nürburgring and from 3 p.m. on Sunday on the title decision.

Hofor Racing swears by revenge
Qualifying and the race are also available online via livestream on RTL+, on adac.de/motorsport and with YouTube also all the action in the ADAC GT4 Germany. Here, Italian Gabriele Piana, who lives in Ticino, and German Michael Schrey in the BMW M4 GT4 owned by Michael Kroll from Aargau and Hofor Racing, respectively, are leading.

After losing the title at the green table last year, the duo still has a score to settle. The lead is 21 points, with 50 still up for grabs. NITRO will bring you the highlights of the GT4 races on Sunday from 5 p.m. onwards.

Formula 1 title duel in Mexico
Not even a preliminary decision is to be expected in Formula 1, on the other hand. The Mexican Grand Prix is only the fifth-last race of the season. At the most, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton's race at the 2200-meter high GP circuit could result in a repeated change at the top of the standings - that alone is worth tuning in for.

SRF zwei will report from qualifying on Saturday from 8:55 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. and will broadcast the race on Sunday from 7:50 p.m. to 10 p.m.. Commentators from the Zurich studio are Michael Weinmann and Marc Surer.

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Six hours of racing summarized in less than six minutes.

With an air temperature of up to 35 degrees Celsius and an even considerably hotter track surface, the fifth race of the season on the Bahrain GP circuit developed into the expected heat battle. The victory of Toyota Gazoo Racing in the Hypercar class and Porsche Motorsport in the GT cars was never in danger. Both manufacturers settled the success internally among themselves.

Buemi team behind
Sébastien Buemi, who started from pole position, managed to defend the lead against the sister car in his start turn. A pit stop that was too long for a tire change and the slightly higher wear of the rubber brought the decision after four hours to the disadvantage of the car with the Vaudois driver.

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid won after 185 laps with a 51.4-second lead over the sister car driven by Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley. Third place went to Team Alpine. Toyota is thus the first world champion of the new hypercar era. In the drivers' standings, the winners of Le Mans and now Bahrain lead by 15 points over their teammates.

Now Neel Jani can become GT world champion
In the GT cars, Neel Jani from Biel and Frenchman Kévin Estre won their Porsche 911 RSR by seven tenths of a second after six hours against fellow factory drivers Gianmaria Bruni from Italy and Richard Lietz from Austria. Unlike recently at Le Mans, the two AF Corse Ferrari cars had no real chance against the German sports cars.

With their third win of the season and the extra point for pole position, Estre and Jani were able to reduce the gap in the drivers' championship to a single point ahead of next Saturday's final 8-hour race in Bahrain. In the manufacturers' standings, Porsche regained the lead from Ferrari.

Neel Jani: "It couldn't have been better. We were very close to our sister car throughout the race. Only at the very end did they stop attacking us. For us, first place is enormously important in order to have the best starting position in the drivers' world championship in the finale. In a week's time we'll give our all at the season finale to win all the titles."

In the GTE-Am teams, Thomas Flohr and Rahel Frey finished 7th and 8th with their Ferrari teams.

No podium for Fabio Scherer
In the fiercely contested LMP2 class, the Belgian team WRT with the trio Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi set the tone. For Fabio Scherer and his partners Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson, the podium was within reach.

However, a slight collision by the Portuguese and a subsequent time penalty threw them back to fourth position, just eight seconds behind third place. The chances of winning the world championship title are now merely theoretical for Scherer's United Autosports team.

Class ranking

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The emirate on the Persian Gulf is hosting the first double event in the history of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The fifth race of the season on October 30 lasts six hours and is run in daylight, while a week later an eight-hour distance with a finish in darkness is on the agenda.

Toyota ahead of first title with the hypercar
Toyota Gazoo Racing has traveled to the Bahrain International Circuit with a 100-percent winning record so far this season. With a 51-point lead over Alpine and 65 points still up for grabs in the final two races, a third-place finish on Saturday will be enough to successfully defend the title.

There is an exciting three-way battle among the drivers. The first hypercar world champion will probably not be decided until after the final round on November 6. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López are in the lead in the number 7 GR10 Hybrid thanks to their victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

Their teammates Sébastien Buemi (gallery below left), Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley in the GR010 Hybrid #8 are only nine points behind. This trio has also won two of the four races of the season and will start from pole position on Saturday. The Alpine drivers who finished third in qualifying and in the standings, including Nicolas Lapierre from Geneva, are also still in the championship race.

Porsche against Ferrari
Like Toyota, Porsche celebrated a one-two finish at last year's eight-hour final round in Bahrain. If the Stuttgart-based company manages to build on this, Neel Jani could secure his second world championship title after 2016 with the 919 Hybrid, this time in the 911 RSR with partner Kevin Estre from France (center gallery in free practice).

However, Ferrari is slightly ahead in the Constructors' World Championship after its triumph at Le Mans, as is their better duo Pier Guidi/Calado in the Drivers' Championship. In qualifying, Estre set the best possible starting position with the fastest time.

The man from Biel likes the track and the environment in Bahrain.

Neel Jani: "It's a duel between our car and the number 51 Ferrari. Let's see how the competitors go into the two races. It could be that the first race serves as strategic preparation for the second, in which a lot of points will be at stake once again at the end. Let's wait and see."

Fabio Scherer wants to win again
Fabio Scherer (gallery, right) only has a theoretical chance of winning the title in the LMP2 class. The absence in Portugal (positive coronal test) and the bad luck at Le Mans can hardly be made up for despite the two wins at Spa and Monza. Team-mate Phil Hanson also scored once more (Portugal) and could at best be crowned sole world champion.

The personal objective of the Lucerne native is therefore different.

Fabio Scherer: "I want to win the last two races and thereby help United Autosports to win the LMP2 classification among the teams. At the moment we're in 4th place, 13 points behind, so if we manage a similar performance to Spa or Monza, where we won in superior fashion, it should be possible to make up this gap."

Live in full length
The free-to-air TV station Eurosport 1 will broadcast both endurance races live in full with German commentary. The broadcast on Saturday, October 30, starts at 9:45 a.m. and ends after the podium ceremony at 4:30 p.m.

The much shorter highlights can be seen the same day from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 to 11:55 p.m., and on Sunday from 8:10 to 10 p.m.

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The cross-section presented by the video portal Rally Start provides beautiful action scenes of the R.I.V. 2021

At the 61st Rallye du Valais, Sébastien Carron seemed to be on his way to victory and the championship title after setting the best SS times on Thursday and Friday. But on the first special stage on Saturday morning, he hit a hidden stone with his Skoda Fabia R5 and destroyed two wheels.

The home rally was thus over for Carron and the other Valaisan was automatically champion. Mike Coppens, however, did not show any signs of weakness and won an exciting duel with Michaël Burri in the only VW Golf GTI R5 in the final phase.

With victory in his home race, the 42-year-old from Verbier fulfilled a long-cherished dream, the crowning glory of which is his first SM title. Jonathan Michellod (Skoda) climbed onto the overall winners' podium in third place.

Places 4 and 5 went to Sergio Pinto (Alpine A110 RGT) and the Belgian Peter Tsjön (Skoda).

Feller still at the top of the table
Among the Swiss drivers involved in the ADAC GT Masters at Hockenheim, Ricardo Feller and Rolf Ineichen shone. With his strong performance in qualifying (2nd) and in the first half of the race on Saturday, the 21-year-old from Aargau played a major role in the second place that partner Christopher Mies safely drove home in the Audi R8 fielded by Land Motorsport.

On the other day, Mies only qualified for the midfield, whereupon seventh place was damage limitation. As a result, the duo still has a four-point lead at the top of the standings. The decision will be made on November 7 at the Nürburgring, where theoretically 13 drivers still have a chance of winning the title.

Among them is Rolf Ineichen. On Sunday, the fastest non-professional in the field took his first win of the season and the fourth of his career in a Lamborghini after optimal preparation by his French partner Franck Perera.

The highlights of race 2 show how Perera/Ineichen drove to victory in commanding style.

Delétraz and Frey on the ELMS podium
In theory, Louis Delétraz was already certain of being champion before the four-hour final round of the European Le Mans Series. After finishing second together with Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye on the Algarve Circuit in Portugal, the Geneva native was also practically it, as he simply had to get to work to score as well as his partners.

Rahel Frey was also able to celebrate. The woman from Solothurn brought the Ferrari from Iron Lynx home in a respectable third place in the ten-team GT category after good preparation by Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting.

Fabienne Wohlwend sixth in the W Series
In the USA GP, Fabienne Wohlwend only managed a ninth-place finish in the first round of the W Series. Despite dropping out in the second race, the Liechtensteiner only lost one position in the championship and qualified in sixth place for the third season of the women's racing series in 2022.

Jamie Chadwick won both races. The Briton thus successfully defended the title she won in 2019 and will once again collect half a million US dollars in prize money.

First off-road success for ABT Cupra
There was also a jubilant mood in the Allgäu region near the border on Sunday evening. Jutta Kleinschmidt and Mattias Ekström brought the all-electric Cupra XE entered by ABT in Kempten around the track in second place at the Iceland X Prix in Sardinia. This was the first podium in Extreme E for the German team and the Spanish brand.

The winner for the third time in four races so far was the duo Johan Kristoffersson/Molly Taylor from the team of former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg. At the finale on December 19 in Wales (GB), the title can only be snatched from them with a lot of bad luck.

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The title fight in the ADAC GT Masters with the predicate German GT Championship is more exciting than ever - and could end, as it did two years ago (Patric Niederhauser), with a Swiss driver at the top. Before the penultimate race weekend at Hockenheim, however, a good 20 drivers still have realistic chances, and mathematically there are even considerably more.

Feller is cautiously optimistic
With two wins this season, Ricardo Feller and his German partner Christopher Mies in the Land Motorsport Audi R8 lead the standings by just two points over the Mercedes duo Engel/Stolz. With eight victories, Audi is the most successful GT3 brand at the Baden Motodrom.

A good omen for the 21-year-old from Aargau - but he remains modest with his expectations.

Ricardo Feller: "Our title chances are definitely there, but it won't be easy. My personal goal is to finish in the top 5 twice at Hockenheim and score solid points. The track suits the Audi well, the R8s have always been quite good there in the past. However, I've got a bit of a headache because of the Mercedes-AMG because I rate them very strongly there."

Home game for Jeffrey Schmidt's Corvette team
Among the realistic title contenders is Raffaele Marciello from Ticino, who will be competing under the Italian flag in a Mercedes.

With a 57-point gap, Jeffrey Schmidt and his German partner Marvin Kirchhöfer, who lives in Lucerne, and the Callaway Competition team based in nearby Leingarten near Heilbronn would have to succeed in a perfect home race and the two leading teams would have to fail in many other ways. Anything is possible.

ADAC GT Masters eBay Backstage takes a look behind the scenes at Callaway Competition.

Live on site or on TV/Internet
Thanks to the Hockenheimring, which can be reached in just a few hours by car, many relatives of the Swiss pilots and quite a few "neutral" spectators from the southern neighboring country are expected. Tickets are conveniently available for self-printing in advance at adac.de/motorsport or available at the box office.

Those staying at home can watch the action on free-to-air TV station NITRO, which will broadcast both races live from 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. At TVNOW.com and on www.adac.de/motorsport they will also be available online in the livestream, where there will also be live broadcasts of the two qualifying sessions.

First overseas GP in almost two years
It's Grand Prix Time again this weekend, and for TV viewers, it's even prime time. After a one-year break due to the Corona pandemic, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin returns to the F1 calendar with a slightly different look. During the past year, the track was renewed along about 40 percent of its total length.

Swiss television will report live from the 17th World Championship Round 2021 from Texas on Sunday evening from 20:20 to 22:55 on the SRF zwei channel, as will ORF1 from 20:15. Qualifying will be broadcast on Saturday from 22.55 to 00.10 on SRF info.

US premiere for Fabienne Wohlwend
In the supporting program, the W Series will hold its two finals overseas for the first time. This also means a premiere for Fabienne Wohlwend from Liechtenstein.

For the only German-speaker in the competitive Frauenfeld, it's about the direct qualification for 2022, which is guaranteed to the eight best. Fabienne is currently still in fifth position. The goal would also be the first victory or the second podium of the season.

The title and the associated prize money of 500,000 US dollars will be decided between the British Alice Powell and Jamie Chadwick (winner in 2019), who are tied on points, and Emma Kimmiläinen of Finland.

The British channel Channel 4, which is also available in Switzerland, will broadcast race 1 live on Saturday night from 00.05 and race 2 on Sunday from 17.25 CEST. Also, the races should be broadcast live or retrospectively on the YouTube channel of the W Series will be on display.

Extreme E in Sardinia
Finally, the electric off-road buggies of the Extreme E are on the road again. The fourth and first race in Europe will take place this weekend in Sardinia. The race will be held at the Capo Teulada military base on the southern tip of the island.

With the Iceland X Prix, the organizers want to draw attention to forest fires and extreme weather conditions in southern Europe. In sporting terms, this is something that Nico Rosberg's mixed team in particular would like to do. Ideally, they could secure the title before the mid-December finale in Wales.

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Swiss television SRF dedicated an elaborate documentary to Clay Regazzoni on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death in December 2016. It is worth watching it again to learn more about him.

Two have found each other. Clay Regazzoni's widow Maria Pia and daughter Alessia were looking for a more suitable place for the small but fine memorial collection in honor of the great Ticino racing driver. And the team around Fredy Lienhard, the founder of autobau erlebniswelt in Romanshorn, was in the process of designing a new building a few years ago.

The right moment for both
Thus, the request of the Regazzoni family, who have come to know and appreciate each other well since joint events in the past years, fell on fertile ground with the Thurgau patron and motorsport promoter.

Fredy Lienhard: "They asked me at the right moment and I was able to accept at the right moment."

And so the new building in Romanhorn was expanded to include a cube-like, light-flooded pavilion purely in honor of the most successful Swiss GP driver of all time (five victories, four of them on Ferrari and the first ever for Williams).

The previous Memorial Room in Lugano was rather hidden and something for insiders. In Romanshorn, where a cross-section of the history of national and international Swiss motorsport has been on display for years, this memorial collection now receives a fitting and dignified setting as a permanent exhibition open to the general public.

Affair of the heart
For the Regazzoni family, the move away from Clay's home to Romanshorn was a decision of reason - and also of the heart.

Alessia Regazzoni: "We have been thinking about the future for a long time. We were looking for a place where racing drivers' hearts beat faster. Where my father's legacy is taken up with passion. And where the whole of racing-mad Switzerland can be proud. The wealth of Dad's memories is perfectly housed in Autobau. Here, it is brought to new life."

A fighter even after the blow of fate
Lienhard's Honor Room is not only about the athlete who died in 2006, but also about Clay Regazzoni as a person. Especially in his time after the serious accident in Long Beach in 1980, which almost cost him his life and confined him to a wheelchair.

Fredy Lienhard: "Clay never resigned. With a strong will and dedication, he also achieved a lot in his second life. We want to show that you can always go new ways."

For this reason, reference is also made to Regazzoni's successes as a paraplegic and founder of a foundation for research into paraplegia. At the ceremonial opening in front of over 200 invited guests, the Lienhard family therefore immediately presented a donation to the "Club Clay Regazzoni - Aiutami la Paraplegia".

Variety of exhibits
Among the exhibits from Clay's career before that fateful day are a Ferrari 312 B3 F1 from 1974, the Tecno F2 in which he captured the 1970 European Championship title, and that March-BMW 782 in which the Ticino native thrilled the crowd at the 1979 St. Peterzell-Hemberg hill climb (second).

From the period thereafter are also some sports cars on display. Plus lots of trophies and memorabilia from around the world.

Every Sunday comes the memory
From now on, the Clay Regazzoni Honor Room can be visited every Sunday from 11 am to 3:30 pm. All other exhibitions within the world of experience are open every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as currently during the fall vacations from October 19 to 21.

autobau.ch/clay-regazzoni/honor-room