There is definitely no lack of variety in the 2022 Swiss Rally Championship. After reigning champion Mike Coppens came out on top at the season opener in the Jura and Jonathan Michellod enjoyed his first victory at the "Chablais," it was now the turn of Jonathan Hirschi and co-driver Michaël Volluz at the third round around the Italian town of Alba.

For the 36-year-old from Neuchâtel, it was the second overall victory in the Swiss championship. In 2014, Hirschi came fourth overall in the Rallye du Valais and won the national classification.

Change at the top of the table
With this success, which had been in the offing since the start of the season, the former Formula Renault, LMP2 and current GT3 and rally driver took the overall lead with 99 points at the halfway point of the SS Rally ahead of Michellod (92) and Coppens (73).

At the wheel of a VW Polo R5 (gallery on the left), he was the fastest Swiss right from the start and never relinquished the lead.

Jonathan Hirschi: "We were in front from the power stage. In the second to last stage I slowed down a bit, but we were still the fastest. I then took it easy on the last stage. I still had my puncture at the Critérium in the back of my mind."

Unexpected second place for Ballinari
Second place at the Rally di Alba, which was the venue for a Swiss championship round for the first time, went to brand colleague Ivan Ballinari. The two-time Swiss champion from Lugano obviously benefited from the Piedmontese air.

For "Bally" it was the first podium this season after the forfeit at the Critérium Jurassien and a rather disappointing fourth place at the Rallye du Chablais. And that with a new co-driver, Elena Giovenale.

Punctures of the chasers
Behind Ballinari, 3:29 minutes behind winner Jonathan Hirschi, Jonathan Michellod in the Skoda Fabia (center gallery) finished third. The man from the Valais, who was still leading before the Rally di Alba, was not particularly satisfied with this result, however. A puncture cost him a lot of time.

Reigning champion Mike Coppens and his Citroën C3 (gallery right) also suffered a puncture shortly before the finish after touching a lump of rock. As a result, the man from Valais dropped back to 4th place overall behind Michellod. 53 seconds behind, Sergio Pinto finished fifth in the Alpine RGT.

Rally2 newcomer Guillaume Girolamo was unlucky. As early as the third SS, the Valais native had to park his Ford Fiesta with brake problems. Up to that point, however, the 25-year-old from Haute-Nendaz had put in a strong performance. He was fourth fastest in the first SS and even third fastest in the second.

Guardian angels flew with
Cédric Althaus and his co-driver Lisiane Zbinden were lucky. The driver from the Jura went off the track with the Renault Clio Rally4 on the seventh special stage and then overturned spectacularly down a vineyard.

Thanks to the robust safety cell, they escaped the scare and a few aches and pains. For this reason, you may also watch the accident video above.

Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia) secured overall victory in the race, which counts towards the Italian Championship and Tour European Rally, ahead of Andrea Crugnola (Citroën C3) and Fabio Andolfi (Skoda Fabia). Hirschi/Volluz finished 14th overall, 2'41 min behind the Lithuanians.

Photos from Alba: Rallye-Fotos.ch

rallyalba.it

Martin Bürki is the Swiss slalom champion for the eighth time in a row and the ninth time overall. The garage owner from Uetendorf also left no stone unturned in the final in Chamblon in his E1 class up to 1600 cubic meters with his optimal VW Polo.

Only Christian Darani in the Fiat X 1/9 and Martin Oliver Bürki in the self-tuned BMW were faster in the touring cars. Both also secured clear victories in their E1 classes.

Zwahlen shows what can go wrong
Even though the VW Polo driver's titles are now almost a habit, they are by no means a matter of course for the old and new champion.

Martin Bürki: "It wouldn't be possible without hard work and a lot of discipline. Besides, something can always come up."

Just like Christoph Zwahlen. The man from Thurgau has been one of the fastest on the mountain or in slaloms for years. In Chamblon, Zwahlen literally took off in his Porsche GT3 during practice on Sunday morning, but fortunately remained unharmed.

Martin Bürki: "It's precisely incidents like this that can cost you the title in the end and can also happen to a top driver like Christoph or me. That's why I always accept congratulations only when everything is over."

Five drivers with the maximum
A look at the final standings shows just how close things are in the 2022 Swiss Slalom Championship. In the final standings, Bürki only left the competition behind thanks to the better strike result.

Christian Darani (Gallery left), Nicola Fankhauser (Gallery middle), Martin Oliver Bürki (Gallery right) and Philip Egli also completed the 100 points in Chamblon. Fankhauser had unfortunately too few opponents with his Honda Ciic Type R in the A-2000 in Bure and got there only half points. For the Simmentaler the fourth place behind Bürki II and Egli is nevertheless a strong performance.

Due to his vacation absence, Darani has the zero of Bure as a strike result and therefore has to make do with fifth place overall. The 2021 runner-up was otherwise the fastest or second-fastest touring car driver everywhere.

No chance against Philip Egli
The day's victory at Chamblon once again went to Philip Egli in the Dallara-EPR (gallery left). The Glarner, who lives in Zurich, forms a unit with his aging Formula 3 Dallara that is almost impossible to defeat. Despite his only defeat of the season in Ambri 1 against Lukas Eugster, he still made it onto the championship podium.

Lukas Eugster was 4.5 seconds behind Egli in Chamblon with two almost identical running times. His Ligier-Honda was simply too wide in some places and could hardly be turned in.

Third place overall went to Jannis Jeremias in the original Formula Renault (center gallery). The 22-year-old from Lake Biel was thus 3.3 seconds faster than his mentor Yves Hängärtner, who was unable to make proper use of the power of the significantly wider GP3 Dallara on this track. Because of his slip in the second run, Victor Darbellay even slipped through in the final standings in fourth overall in the little Arcobaleno.

Confirmation of the champion in Suzuki Cup
In the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup, Fabian Eggenberger (gallery right, photo Denise Steinmann), who had already been crowned champion, triumphed for the fifth time in seven races, this time with a lead of just three tenths of a second over the dethroned defending champion and runner-up Marcel Muzzarelli.

Third place went to Michaël Bering for the second time. Third place in the final standings thus goes to Sandro Fehr, who missed the podium in Chamblon in fourth place by just two tenths of a second. An analysis of the Suzuki final race and the championship will follow in the course of the week.

ecuriedunord.ch

It was Emil Frey Racing's race weekend. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO from Safenwil ended up at the front in both one-hour sprint races with driver changes.

First victory on third race weekend
On Saturday, Austrian Mick Wishofer captured pole position in the number #14 sports car and then gave Emil Frey Racing its first triumph in the international German GT Championship together with his Finnish partner Konsta Lappalainen on the drying Zandvoort circuit, which was initially treacherous with slicks.

On Sunday, Jack Aitken did the same optimal groundwork with the best time in his qualifying session, which the Briton then turned into the second victory for the Swiss racing team with Spaniard Albert Costa Balboa at the wheel of the #63 on the dune circuit on the Dutch North Sea coast.

Revenge is sweet
Aitken/Balboa thus took revenge for the difficult race the day before, which they had finished in twelfth place after an early penalty lap by race control (stripping too early at the rolling start). With a time of1:34.715 minutes, Aitken also set a new lap record for GT3 sports cars at Zandvoort on Sunday.

Towards the end of the second race Wishofer had to retire in the #14 after a puncture.

Jubilation after previous disappointment
Frenchmen Arthur Rougier and Franck Perera also scored valuable points in the #19 car. In the first race, the third duo finished eighth and in the second race they took a well-deserved podium after drama from the Porsche #91 on the last lap.

Jürg Flach, Technical Director: "It was a very strong weekend with a great performance from the whole team. To be on the podium with any car is exceptional and I'm very happy for the whole team. After the disappointing end to the race at Le Castellet (round of the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup, red.), this was highly deserved."

Advance in the championship
The #63 win means Costa Balboa and Aitken are now fourth in the GT Masters standings going into the next round of the season just nine points off the lead, while Rougier and Perera are sixth, just 13 points behind.

Profiteer of the race weekend was Jusuf Owega. Together with Ricardo Feller from Aargau, the German in the Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3 from Montaplast by Land Motorsport clinched fourth place in the first race and defended his sole lead of the standings despite a zero on Sunday.

emilfreyracing.com

adac-gt-masters.com

After the second event of the season at Road Atlanta, The Drift Force, the team from Nidwalden founded by Yves Meyer and Joshua Reynolds, had just one week to prepare for the next event at Orlando Speedworld in Florida. Working with their American partner team, noticeable improvements were nevertheless made to the Toyota GT86 in the short time available, which paid off in a pleasing way.

However, due to a defective sensor in the camshaft control system and a mechanical gearbox problem, the Swiss was only able to get used to the new track, consisting of an oval course and an infield, in a few laps on the two practice days.

It was only at the last minute that the Toyota Gazoo Racing Switzerland car was at the start in time for qualification. Yves Meyer then managed this effortlessly, which was a reward to the whole team.

Tough nut cracked
On race day, the 30-year-old from central Switzerland then met a tough nut in the first duel. Aurimas Bakchis, a Lithuanian who lives in California, has been a member of the professional drifting circuit for eleven years and has since won a total of nine Formula Drift events, finishing third overall in the championship in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

With awe and respect, but with a lot of confidence in himself and the technology of his 900-hp drift car, Meyer entered the battle against the veteran - and emerged as the surprising winner.

Yves Meyer: "It was a tremendous team effort up to that point. Because Bakchis had crashed into the wall in my chase run, I collided with his car, whereupon we had to repair it in a few minutes until my lead run. That also worked out thanks to help from all sides."

The accident and the repair work can be seen in the video above starting at 3:40 minutes.

Rain as a spoiler
Unfortunately, after a thunderstorm due to the accident, there was no time to tune the chassis to the wet surface. With a horsepower monster that was difficult to tame under these conditions, Yves Meyer therefore lost to his normally beatable opponent in the round of 16 and was eliminated.

Nevertheless, the Swiss returned home with many positive impressions.

Yves Meyer: "We made a huge leap forward in the set-up of the new KW-Competition suspension. Our speed on a dry track is off the charts, even my opponents noticed that in practice. I therefore feel highly motivated for the next event."

Reynolds must pass
His team partner Joshua Reynolds unfortunately had to watch because spare parts for his Toyota did not arrive in time due to logistics problems.

The American-born driver hopes to be back in action on the second weekend of June at Englishtown Raceway in New Jersey or, at the latest, in mid-July at the fifth event of the season at Madison Raceway in the US state of Illinois.

thedriftforce.com

instagram.com/thedriftforce

formulad.com

No championship has ever been decided so quickly. On April 30, the drivers started the 2022 racing season with their mostly new Swift Sport Hybrid 48V. Exactly four weeks later, after six of the seven races completed, the champion in the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup was already decided after the Bure slalom on May 28.

Cool head in stressful times
Fabian Eggenberger made it possible with four wins and two second places. Only at the beginning of the season in Bière was Marcel Muzzarelli clearly ahead of him after a show of power, after which the challenger distanced the defending champion in the standings point by point.

Eggenberger could live well with Sandro Fehr's win in Ambri 2, as Patrick Flammer also got ahead of Muzz and thus took another point from him.

After his fourth win of the season and Muzzarelli's (upper gallery, left) renewed fourth place in Bure, it is no longer mathematically possible for the dethroned champion of 2019 and 2021 to knock the Cup leader off his throne at the final in Chamblon, even after deducting a strike result.

To become champion so early, in only 28 days, also felt special to the new champion.

Fabian Eggenberger: "Five out of six races on consecutive weekends were stressful. Because I also have a lot to do in my garage, there was hardly any time to check the car. All the more reason for me to want to secure the title early with another win."

Enormous power density at the top
The fact that the top three in the Jura - Eggenberger, Flammer (center gallery) and Fehr (right gallery) - were separated by less than eight tenths and that Muzzarelli would have been third without the gate error in the faster second run also gave him food for thought. Already in the previous races, fractions of a second decided the podium places.

Fabian Eggenberger: "To be so close at 5255 meters is abnormal. My closest opponents are beaten below value in the."

Hybrid better than expected
Like predecessor Muzzarelli, Eggenberger is an actual one-make cup specialist. As early as 2012 and 2013, the 45-year-old garage owner from Dübendorf won the then Suzuki Grand Prix, and most recently in 2018 also the internal Suzuki prize money classification within the LOC2 class until the launch of the new turbo model.

Now he is the first master with an electrically assisted model, which he can only take a positive view of.

Fabian Eggenberger: "Before, I had the feeling that the hybrid didn't suit me so well. With every race, I've realized for myself how well the car fits and how fast it is, as you can see from the times I've set."

Recognition from the strongest opponents
Respect is also paid to him by the opponents, the strongest three of whom express themselves on behalf of all.

Marcel Muzzarelli: "Chapeau to Eggenberger's performance in Bure and throughout the season. He has obviously found the right recipe with the hybrid car. With four wins in six races, he absolutely deserves the championship!"

Sandro Fehr: "I can only applaud Fabian's performance. He has managed to get through this year without making any mistakes and always goes one better. I'm very happy for him."

Patrick Flammer: "Fabian's time in Bure was unattainable for me. He is the deserved champion. This year, everything went right for him, he was incredibly fast and consistent."

The beaten trio also showed top performances in individual races and are now still battling it out for the runner-up title and third place in the championship. There is still a lot of prize money at stake. Of course, everyone hopes to beat the other...

Béring not yet at top level
Michaël Béring (lower gallery, left) was particularly aware of the high level of the top four. Despite hybrid experience in the 2021 mini-season, the Jura native only managed a podium finish in Ambri in third place. At the familiar home race, he was surprisingly far away from it in fifth place.

However, the son of the 1975 and 1976 European mountain champion has secured fifth place in the championship and will try to take fourth place from Patrick Flammer.

Rico Thomann and Reto Steiner finished 6th and 7th with the Suzuki from the Flammer Speed Team in Bure. As a newcomer on the most difficult and fastest track, Thomann lost less than one second per kilometer, reflecting the talent of the 2019 Junior Mountain Champion.

Sandro Fehr: "Bure is completely different from the other slalom courses. To be fast here, you have to have courage and clench your butt cheeks. For newcomers, it's impossible to be fast there without experience. Therefore, hats off to Rico!"

Difficult love relationship
Jean-Claude Debrunner, Roland Graf (center gallery) - faster than car partner Rolf Tremp (12th) for only the second time - and Heiko Leiber in Eggenberger's car also still made it into the top 10 with a respectable margin.

And after his eleventh place among 16 competitors, Giuliano Piccinato (gallery, right) at least looked less sad than after his penultimate place in Ambri. However, the series-produced sports car with mild hybrid will certainly not become his great love in this lifetime ...

auto.suzuki.ch/suzuki-swiss-racing-cup

The man of the half-hour in the GT3 Cup sprint race at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet was Leonardo Caglioni. The Italian, who otherwise races in the Carrera Cup Deutschland, drove the 515 hp 911 GT3 Cup of the current 992 model generation from pole position to a start-finish victory and also set the fastest race lap.

Aeberhard makes the best of the situation
Behind him, Jürg Aeberhard managed to squeeze past Gregor Burkhard in the twelfth and final round. The 35-year-old from Berne thus made up the places he had lost after the start and can be happy about the full points score. As a guest driver, Caglioni is not counted for the championship.

At virtually the same time, Gabriel Rindone managed to snatch fourth position from 18-year-old Jasin Ferati. Ferati is supported this season by the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG as a development driver.

Caglioni also left no stone unturned in the endurance race over 28 laps. However, the fastest qualifier had to do without pole position: After 20 laps he was in front again for the first time and again shortly after the mandatory pit stop.

Change at the top of the table
In the GT3 Cup classification, the guest driver salvaged victory just ahead of Aeberhard and Ferati. Gregor Burkard's good fourth place and 3rd place in the Swiss classification was subsequently disallowed because the Sportec boss pitted for a mandatory stop due to a misunderstanding after the scheduled time window had closed.

For the two second places, Aeberhard receives the championship points of the winner in each case, thus taking the top spot in the standings from Ferati.

Jürg Aeberhard: "In both runs I concentrated on driving at my speed and reeled off my laps in a relaxed manner. This tactic, combined with the perfectly prepared car, put me on the podium at the end of each race. I'm very happy with the results, as they were also my first races on this circuit."

New GT4 models not to be beaten
Drivers of a Cayman GT4 competed for points and trophies in four classes. In the current 425-hp Clubsport models with the so-called MR package (Manthey Racing), veteran Alexandre Mottet retained the upper hand against Giovanni Naldi after twelve laps.

Among the Club Sport vehicles without MR expansion stage, Andreas Greiling drove to victory. Stefan Kipfer won Class 12 in a previous-generation 981 Cayman GT4 CS.

The latest Competition variant of the 718 Cayman (GT4 RS Clubsport) also took to the track at Le Castellet. As at the Red Bull Ring, Valerio Presezzi at the wheel of the 500-hp mid-engine sports car (gallery on the left) prevailed over Paolo Locatelli to take a commanding victory in the overall standings.

The GT4 RS also retained the upper hand in the subsequent Endurance race, which lasted a good hour: together with professional driver Max Busnelli, Valerio Presezzi took first place, just 2.359 seconds ahead of the Germans Markus Lietzau and Florian Strauss in the 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR.

Lietzau/Strauss, in turn, only just managed to hold off defending champion Laurent Misbach, who, with Alexandre Mottet as his partner, was just 0.478 seconds short of first place in Class 10.

In the Porsche 718 GT4 Clubsport without MR addition, Fabio Resico dominated again, sharing the car with Philipp Frommenwiler. In Class 12, Stefan Kipfer was pleased to have reinforcements from Alain Valente and another first place.

Good GT3 debut for "Hagi
In Open GT, veteran Philippe Menotti at the wheel of a 991-II GT3 R (center gallery) took a narrow sprint victory ahead of Loïc Villiger (992 GT3 Cup) and Austrian Frederick Jerioch (991-II GT3 Cup).

The endurance race went to the Austrian duo Christian Voithofer/Max Wimmer in a 991-II GT3 R ahead of the German pairing Schmitt/Schraml and soloist Philipp Hagnauer (both 991-II GT3 Cup). For "Hagi", already a good fourth in the sprint and also second in class, it was the first race weekend in the GT3 car from the Porsche Basel Racing Team (gallery right).

Garski's winning streak interrupted
After eight consecutive victories by Nicolas Garski, the Porsche Drivers Competition at Le Castellet saw a new name at the top of the leaderboard. Tommy Eriksson completed the first regularity event over four scored laps in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS with a deviation from his own average time of 0.6 seconds. The podium honors went to Peter Meister, the fastest in qualifying, and Garski.

However, the reigning champion set the record straight again in the second race: With his usual precision, the GT3 driver allowed himself a difference of just 0.79 seconds, although nine laps were taken into account this time. Eriksson finished second ahead of Marius Hutmacher, who brought one of the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS to the start.

porsche.com/swiss/en

Following the National Council in the spring, on May 31 the Council of States also approved the motion of the Transport Commission and agreed to lift the ban on events of public circuit races with motor vehicles in Switzerland.

An old braid with exceptions
The circuit ban came into force in 1957 as a result of the serious accident at Le Mans in 1955. The only exceptions were kart races, club races in Lignières, autocross and motocross. Likewise, hill climbs, rallies and slaloms continued to be permitted with cantonal approval in each case, regardless of their danger.

The ban has since failed to be overturned in several attempts, despite the fact that motorsport safety measures and vehicle technologies have improved extremely in recent decades.

With the advent of Formula E, which made stops in Switzerland in 2018 (Zurich) and 2019 (Bern), the Federal Council provisionally created the possibility of holding circuit races with electric vehicles. In order for this solution to continue, the amendment to the law proposed by the Federal Council is needed.

No longer appropriate division of the licensing regime into two parts
Circuit races with motor vehicles will henceforth be subject to the same licensing regime as all other motor and cycling events on public roads.

However, future cantonal permits for such events must now take into account the requirements of road safety and road safety education, and now also environmental protection. The majority of the Commission trusts the cantons to handle such permits appropriately.

Referendum possible despite parliamentary decision
The proposal to amend Article 52 of the Road Traffic Act was written and submitted by FDP National Councilor Christian Wasserfallen. The self-confessed motor sports fan wanted to use the collective revision of the SVG to overturn the ban. His NR colleague Walter Wobmann (SVP) lobbied the associations for this.

Christian Wasserfallen: "A small and nice success that an unnecessary ban has been removed in Switzerland for once. I am relieved."

This point has now been cleared up in the procedure for settling differences between the National Council and the Council of States, and the ban has therefore been deleted. However, it is possible that there could be a referendum against the law from Road Cross or related associations.

Christian Wasserfallen: "But this is not because of circuit racing, but because of the looser regulations on speeding offenses."

Formula 1 and Formula E unlikely
Of course, the members of the Council with an affinity for motor sports are aware that this does not mean the return of Formula 1 in Switzerland. For cost reasons alone, this is unrealistic.

After the financial debacle, Formula E is hardly an issue anymore either. No Swiss city or cantonal parliament or organizer would take this risk. Unless a courageous private company took over the risk guarantee.

Conceivable would be smaller circuit races on a national or international level, for example with one-make cups, touring cars and GT cars, which also tend towards electric classes or already have or are planning such series. For example, DTM Electric, GT Electric, FIA ETCR, etc.

Paving the way for a multinational race track
Because an important hurdle has now fallen with the lifting of the circuit ban, there could well be efforts to find investors for the project of a Swiss motodrome without the highest FIA standard (for F1 and WEC, for example).

This would also be a concern and the hopes of the successful initiators.

Christian Wasserfallen: "Old military sites and land in decentralized regions would be particularly suitable for this. The idea should be to be able to build a modest and nice race track that can be used multifunctionally - for training, driver safety courses, vehicle tests, races, events, presentations and so on. This would have to help put together a coherent overall concept."

Then a lot of cash would stay in Switzerland, which has been spent on such events abroad for decades. The economy and also the climate - fewer long journeys - would then also have something to gain.

parlament.ch/en/council-operations/official-bulletin/official-bulletin-the-negotiations?SubjectId=57000#votum4

Martin Bürki took a big step towards SM title number 9 in the penultimate round of the Swiss Slalom Championship. However, the Uetendorf garage owner did not just leave it at 20 points for the superior class victory.

After a safe and yet fast first run, Bürki conjured up the absolute touring car best time on the 5255-meter track in the second run with the optimal VW Polo 1600. He even made it into the top 5 overall.

Christoph Zwahlen, who had been leading until then, also improved but had to admit defeat by almost half a second in the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup from Group IS.

Strike result will decide
Before the final in Chamblon (June 26), the man from Berne is now alone at the top of the standings with the maximum of 100 points. In principle, only technology or he himself can oust him from this position.

Christian Darani (Fiat/E1-2000), who is on vacation, namesake Martin Oliver Bürki (center gallery in BMW E33 as winner of E1-3000), Nicola Fankhauser (Honda Civic/1st A-2000) and Philip Egli (Dallara/1st E2-2000) can also still get to 100 points with a fifth fully rated class win.

Therefore, the better strike results will probably decide the medal ranks in the end. Bürki has to finish at least second in Chamblon to be absolutely sure.

In Bure, Mathias Schläppi in the Suzuki Swift S2000 (gallery on the left) took advantage of the absence of Darani to take a superior first class win in the E1 two-liters.

Demonstration of power by Philip Egli
The day's victory in the 51st edition of the slalom organized by the Ecurie des Ordons in the Jura went once again to Philip Egli (gallery right). Already in the first run he improved his winning time of 2019, when it was raced for the last time in Bure, by three seconds.

In the second run, however, Egli was faster once again. With 2'26.007 he left Ambri1 winner Lukas Eugster in the Ligier-Honda sports car no chance.

Philip Egli: "This time I'm almost more happy about the time achieved than about the day's victory. Everything was just right. It wasn't too warm, the track was clean and grippy and I managed two very smooth runs, although I had to abort the first run and start again."

Creative forced break by Yves Hängärtner
Behind Egli and Eugster, Jannis Jeremias in the original Tatuus Formula Renault secured third place overall ahead of Victor Darbellay on an Arcobaleno. The Biel native had already achieved this on May 15 in Frauenfeld.

His Ecurie-Biennoise club colleague Yves Hängärtner was not at the start after the defective 4th gear in Ambri. He wants to use the next weeks to optimize his Dallara-Egmo GP3 (chassis, aerodynamics, shorter gear ratio) and then attack properly at the final.

ecuriedesordons.ch

The local heroes from Phoenix Racing decided the 50th edition of the ADAC 24h Nürburgring in their favor after a thrilling 24-hour sprint that equaled the record distance of 159 laps of 25378 meters each.

The South African Kelvin van der Linde, the two Belgians Dries Vanthoor and Frédéric Vervisch as well as the Dutchman Robin Frijns prevailed in the Audi R8 LMS evo II with an advantage of just 55.276 seconds over their Meuspath neighbors in the Getspeed Mercedes-AMG. This was driven by DTM Champion Maximilian Götz, Fabian Schiller and Briton Adam Christodouloue.

After two Corona years with severely limited attendance, around 230,000 spectators experienced the anniversary race throughout the weekend and provided an impressive backdrop.

Spectacular accident among brothers
With its sixth success, the Phoenix team led by boss Ernst Moser moved a little closer again to the seven victories of record winner Manthey. The well-known Porsche team from the Eifel region lost its "Grello" in a spectacular accident early on Saturday evening.

Laurens Vanthoor flew off into the guard rails in a duel with his brother Dries after a slight collision with the latter's Audi at around 250 kph. The Porsche customer teams then experienced a general debacle, as did the hapless BMW teams with their inherently fast new M4 GT3s.

Swiss car in the lead
The first leader was Jonathan Hirschi from Neuchâtel, whose Ferrari 488 GT3 of Octane126 from Wallisellen had been surprisingly put on pole position by German Luca Ludwig in the top qualifying session on Friday evening. With flagging tires, Hirschi had to cede the top spot in the course of the third lap and then gradually dropped back.

A collision through no fault of Simon Trummer with final repairs threw the team from Wallisellen back in the early evening. The end was sealed by an accident of Björn Grossmann during the night.

Missed opportunities for the Swiss Audi works drivers...
Nico Müller and Patric Niederhauser also collected a total of six lead laps each with their Audi #22 from Team Car Collection (upper gallery left) due to the later refueling stop. They missed the overall winners' podium in fourth place behind the second Getspeed Mercedes by only 1'07 minutes.

However, they lost a good three times as much time due to two penalty stops for speeding under yellow. The podium was therefore within reach. Niederhauser's second car from Audi Sport Team Car Collection finished in sixth place.

The team with Ricardo Feller also had the podium in its sights (upper gallery, right) before double starter van der Linde collided with a slower car while lapping shortly before the end of the ninth hour of racing and vehemently threw the Audi into the tire piles.

...and Mercedes drivers
The lap record was realized by Philip Ellis in a Mercedes-AMG (upper gallery center), which he shared with Raffaele Marciello from Ticino and Luca Stolz (D). A puncture caused by a "graze" with a competitor soon threw them back a lap. At the finish they had to settle for 7th place and the fastest race lap by the man from Zug.

Philip Ellis: "I'm taking a lot of positive impressions from this race. We were the fastest car in the field no matter what the weather conditions were and made no mistakes. Our expectations were obviously different - we had what it takes to win here."

Yannicks Mettler's GT3 Mercedes was sidelined by an accident as early as the first third of the race. And Julien Apothéloz's hopes of crossing the finish line in the first Nürburgring marathon were dashed around one and a half hours before the end of the race when Sandro Trefz (D) crashed while lying in a good 14th position during a brief but tricky rain phase.

Applause for three class wins
Other Swiss drivers had reason to celebrate. As in the 2022 VLN races, Mauro Calamia, Ivan Jacoma, Roberto Pampanini and the German Kai Riemer took victory in the strong Cup 3 class with the pink Cayman GT4 CS (middle gallery, right).

As underdogs, the brothers Armando, Dario and Luigi Stanco from Winterthur virtually outgrew themselves with the Seat Leon Cup Racer from 2016 (middle gallery center), which is looked after by Autorama Motorsport and whose chassis already has a good 70,000 kilometers under its belt. In a flawless race, they won the SP3T class of two-liter turbos over the factory Subaru (technical failure) and the two accident- and defect-plagued VW Golf TCR of Max Kruse Racing.

Team boss Stefan Tanner: "It was very close, a thriller of nerves. We could only win this race with a good strategy and flawless team performance from drivers and mechanics. 15 minutes before the end, a defective injection valve made itself felt. We decided that the Seat would finish with only three cylinders. And that's how we did it."

Jasmin Preisig and Gustavo Xavier finished 2nd in their Golf TCRs (lower center gallery), and teammate Fred Yerly and his partners finished 3rd.

Only their BMW M3 GTR had to bring over the laps the family Kroll (Martin and his brother Michael) and Prinz (Martin's daughter Chantal and son-in-law Alexander). But an engine failure in practice caused their team a lot of work, which was rewarded with the finish and the logical victory in the SP6 class, which was only occupied by them.

Second places as a sense of achievement
Other teams with Swiss crews took good second places in well-staffed classes. Marco Timbal, Ivan Reggiani and Nicola Bravetti, for example, with a Cayman GT4 CS in the alternative drive class. Likewise Miklas Born with an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the SP10 class (lower gallery on the left) and Ranko Mijatovic in a BMW 330i (lower gallery on the right) in the VT2 rear-wheel drive production car class.

Full results and more information about the race can be found on the event's homepage.

24h-race.com

On the longest slalom course of the year on the extensive military grounds of Bure in the canton of Jura, Fabian Eggenberger once again made short work of his opponents.

In the first race run on the 5255-meter course, the garage owner from Dübendorf set a best time that Ambri winner Sandro Fehr came within two tenths of. Patrick Flammer and Marcel Muzzarelli also stayed within the same second.

It (almost) does not get any better than this
In the second run Eggenberger (gallery left) managed almost a dream run with which he left Flammer (gallery middle) and Fehr (gallery right) behind by almost eight tenths.

Fabian Eggenberger: "If I hadn't been a bit too hesitant through the last chicane shortly before the finish, the desired 3'09 time would have been in it. And if someone else had been faster, he would really have deserved the win."

However, the victory remained with Eggenberger, his fourth in six races so far.

Early title decision due to strike result
This means that the 45-year-old from Zurich has been determined ahead of time as the winner of the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup 2022. Marcel Muzzarelli, who had won the first race in Bière on May 1, had to settle for an unfamiliar fourth place, as he did six days ago in Ambri.

Without an uncharacteristic scoring error in the second run, Muzz would have blown away the duo Flammer/Fehr, separated by only seven hundredths. Because everyone still has to deduct one strike result, Eggenberger can no longer be ousted from the top of the table even if Muzzarelli fails and wins at the same time on June 25 in Chamblon. Congratulations!

Muzzarelli, Fehr and Flammer will fight it out for second place in the standings.

Fifth place in Bure, around three seconds behind, went to Michaël Béring, who had hoped for more at his home race. Rico Thomann, Reto Steiner, Jean-Claude Debrunner, Roland Graf and Heiko Leiber (as a double starter on Eggenberger's Suzuki) took the other places in the top 10.

Background report on the race
The detailed report with votes and analyses will follow in the course of the next week on our homepage.

Action photos: Rami Hänggi.

auto.suzuki.ch/suzuki-swiss-racing-cup

ecuriedesordons.ch