Oberhallau hillclimb race: The laughing third
DAY WIN FOR ROBIN FAUSTINI In only his second race with an Osella FA30, youngster Robin Faustini celebrated his first national day win at the Oberhallau hill climb. Changeable weather made for difficult conditions. The moody "summer" of 2021 also affected the Oberhallau hill climb race. Constantly changing weather conditions demanded from the 172 drivers from Switzerland, Germany and Austria who started at the training [...]
The moody "summer" of 2021 also affected the Oberhallau mountain race. Constantly changing weather conditions demanded a lot from the 172 drivers from Switzerland, Germany and Austria who started at the training. And in the end, they also decided this year's only Swiss hill climb for modern racing vehicles.
It smelled like a German day winner
As we predicted in advance, the starting position in the battle for the day's victory was completely open even after the practice of the racing sports cars on a mostly dry track. After two runs, the German Alexander Hin in the Osella PA30 was just ahead of the two Swiss drivers Thomas Amweg in the Lola F3000 and Robin Faustini in the Osella FA30.
The German guest was still behind Amweg with the potent sports car after the first race run in the rain and set the fastest time of the day in the second run on a dried track.
Rain tipping the scales
For a long time it remained dry in the afternoon under threatening clouds, before during the last and decisive run of the racing sports cars a short drizzle fell, moistening the 3000-meter track only in places. It was enough to turn the classification around at the top.
Hin had to take to the wet track a few minutes earlier than his pursuers and lost almost seven seconds on his previous best time. Amweg, on the other hand, lost only six tenths on his best time from the second run, which, however, could have been much better without a time-consuming swerve in the last corner and may have cost him the day's win.
Faustini dream come true
For the first time with bib number 1 on his car, final runner Faustini managed to work magic in some places to set the best time in the third run, which gave him a 1.65-second lead over Amweg and 5.57 over Hin for the surprising win of the day.
For the 23-year-old Suhrer, it was his first ever, and only his second race with the Osella FA30 used for the first time the previous Sunday in Osnabrück. A non-functioning ignition interruption during sequential shifting demanded his full concentration in addition to the difficult conditions.
Robin Faustini: "We did everything we could to win today, as I had dreamed. That's why I also had new tires fitted at the end. Changes to the setup, which was set more for rain, gave me confidence after I hadn't been able to cope with the shifting problems at all in practice. This victory should also be a thank-you to dad (Simon Hugentobler, editor) and a motivational boost for further races."
Faustin's next dream is to take part in the FIA Hill Climb Masters in Portugal in October and win the junior classification.
Thomas Amweg Handicap
For Thomas Amweg, the second place was a slight disappointment after he had been celebrated as the day's winner for the first time two years ago at Gurnigel and had been in front after the first race run in the wet.
The weight handicap of the Lola (70 kilos compared to Faustini's Osella) and the lower power of the Cosworth F3000 engine compared to the Zytek V8 units of the two opponents he was not able to compensate this time in the sum of the fastest two of three running times, moreover he risked less than Fuastini at the end with old tires.
Steiner with his back to the wall
Fourth overall was secured by Joel Burgermeister in the Tatuus F4 LRM ahead of his two-liter class opponents Philip Egli (Dallara) and Marcel Maurer (Tatuus-Renault). Only in rain, as in the first race, might Maurer have been able to compensate for the performance deficit.
Like Hin, Michel Zemp was a victim of the weather and slipped from P5 to P7 in the overall standings, but without having to give up his two-lap victory in the sports car category. The man from Langnau will also compete in the FIA Hill Climb Masters.
Marcel Steiner, on the other hand, was not able to have a word about a top position because of unsolvable gearbox problems on the old, but very well maintained Martini Mk77-BMW - a short-term replacement car for the LobArt-Honda (engine failure). His season without a single result is probably over.
Reward for the efforts
In the touring cars, Romeo Nüssli played out the potential of his four-wheel drive Ford Escort Cosworth. In practice, the 65-year-old hardly got to drive properly, and for race day he had to install an alternator he had obtained at home in Tägerig.
As the second-fastest "Hüsli driver", Hermann Bollhalder in the Opel Speedster Turbo beat his own class record in the E1-3000 for the third time in a row.
Reto Meisel achieved the fastest time of all touring cars in the third and only dry run of Group E1. Contrary to his announcement, the 2016 champion did not drive the Mercedes SLK 340, but the attractive 190 RM1, which he had previously used for years and also developed himself.
In the Interswiss group, Willi Jenni kept the upper hand in the Porsche GT3 duel with Christoph Zwahlen after his initially leading opponent spun at a tricky spot in the second run without stopping and then did not compete again.
All other class winners can be found in the rankings.
Official ranking race field 1 Official ranking race field 2 Official ranking race field 3 Scratch
