Mountain SM: Final masterpieces in Paccots 🎥

Since Marcel Steiner preferred to visit Nico Müller at the DTM at the Nürburgring and last year's runner-up Joël Volluz already ended his season four weeks ago with his Osella FA30, Eric Berguerand was the lone favorite at the Châtel St-Denis - Les Paccots hill climb. Even without pressure, the new Swiss mountain champion put his foot down.

After two clear best times close to his own record from 2018, he improved it by just under two tenths to 53.37 seconds in the third run. That corresponds to an average of 174 km/h on the 2580-meter track! The 40-year-old Valais native thus won six of the eight Swiss hillclimb races in 2019 with his optimal Lola-Cosworth, five of them in record time. Chapeau!

Intra-family duel for second place
The closest to him was Simon Hugentobler in the Osella PA30. In the absence of Steiner and the two registered Frenchmen Frantz and Vielmi, the man from Suhr was clearly the fastest sports car driver. Michel Zemp in the smaller Norma-Honda was unable to do anything against him on the second fastest track on the calendar.

After only fourth fastest time in the first run before the lunch break (one gear was stuck), Robin Faustini really turned up the heat in the afternoon at the wheel of Papa's Reynard 97D and realized the second best individual running time with 56.460. After the 20-year-old from Aargau was also second fastest in the final run, he overtook Zemp and also his father Simon Hugentobler in the overall classification.

If there had been an official overall winners' podium, this picture - Berguerand between Faustini and Hugentobler - would have been a first. Like Berguerand as champion and Steiner as "runner-up", Faustini was already certain as SM third after the Gurnigel hill climb. Gurnigel day winner Thomas Amweg is driving at most one more historic Formula 2 race this year and was therefore absent.

The impressive onboard video shows what the race track looks like from Robin Faustini's point of view:

https://www.facebook.com/robin.faustini/videos/2523893267632079/

Grand first time in junior osella
On this power lane, Christian Balmer in the Tatuus-Honda FM decided the duel with Marcel Maurer in the Tatuus-Renault in the two-liter race cars relatively clearly in his favor. However, they did not come close to Zemp's record times with the two-liter sports car.

Joël Grand, who struggled with various problems on his Tatuus Honda this year, changed vehicles and classes at the end of the season. With an Osella PA21 "Junior" with an original 1000cc BMW motorcycle engine, the 2017 Paccots stage winner set three appealing 1'02 times to finish eighth overall.

Record wins for Werver and Neff
Nicolas Werver, the fastest touring car and GT driver, finished ahead of him. The Frenchman powered his Porsche 911 GT2 to Les Paccots in a new record time of 1'01.750 at the first start on this circuit. The Swiss record is held by last year's winner Thomas Kessler in a Mitsubishi Evo VIII in 1'01.971, who has been absent since the accident in Anzère.

The fastest Swiss with a roof over his head was Frédéric Neff. In his third start this year with the Porsche 996 GT3 R, the 2017 and 2018 champion also managed the IS group victory in a new record time of 1'03.530. In the addition, Marc Wächter from Baar, who appeared in Switzerland for the first time, was only two tenths slower in a Renault RS 01 from the E2 silhouette group.

In sunshine, Romeo Nüssli with the Ford Escort Cosworth, however, was not able to develop as well as otherwise on a wet track. Nevertheless, in the absence of all the fast Mitsubishi drivers (Roger Schnellmann had previously been confirmed as runner-up), he won Group E1 in superior style.

Feigenwinter family on the SM podium
If Andy Feigenwinter achieved his first ever track record here a year ago, he just missed it this time. It was much more important for the new Swiss touring car mountain champion to bring his Lotus Exige 430 Cup to the finish line once again clean and undamaged as the winner of the Group SuperSeries.

He was more pleased with the performance of his son Raphael anyway. Not because he remained unbeaten with the Honda Integra in the always thinly populated two-liter class. As the fourth-fastest series car driver, the young Therwil native once again scored so many championship points that they put him past Ronnie Bratschi, who had an accident on the Gurnigel, and into third place in the championship. Father and son on the SM podium - that's another first in Swiss motor racing.

Philipp Krebs clears the table
Philipp Krebs achieved the ultimate feat. With his seventh win of the season in the Renault Classic Cup, the sixth on the mountain, the man from Berne not only secured this title, but also that in the Mountain Cup. Having been runner-up twice in 2018, Krebs has now clinched the title in its entirety - congratulations, great performance! In the long-distance duel, even a full victory with the VW Polo in a new IS-1600 record time would have been of no use to his opponent Martin Bürki.

You can read why this was the case in a following article. Also about the outcome of the Berg-SM Junior, which Winterthur's Rico Thomann clearly won despite the first victory of runner-up Pascal Siegrist.

ecuriedeslions.ch/paccots

gvi-timing.ch/documents/pdf/2019/paccots/Scratch%20NAT.pdf

renault-classic.ch/pdf's/Intermediate_rankings/2019/10_Intermediate_rankings_2019.pdf