Bernina GT: Perfetti wins the Carrera duel 🎥

Cinematic impressions with original racing sound. The lead image shows Daniele Perfetti's yellow RSR. An acoustic treat is the V6 engine in the Alfa Romeo 155 TI (ex Nicola Larini, DTM 1995), which Ronnie Kessel drove for the demonstration.

Nothing could be more exciting. In both practice runs and the first two race runs on Saturday, Florian Feustel was still ahead by three tenths of a second in beautiful autumn weather on the 2330-meter Bernina Pass.

Gearbox problems at last year's winner
However, the specialist for historic Porsche racing cars, who works and lives in Neunkirch SH, struggled with the third gear of his transmission in the Carrera RSR IROC. In addition, as in the Arosa ClassicCar, he had to make do with the mere 315 hp three-liter replacement engine instead of the racing powerplant with a good 350 hp used in last year's victories in Arosa and at the Bernina. As a result, he remained well above his best time from last year.

Incidentally, the 33-year-old Swiss-by-choice is preparing a Porsche 910 for 2022, during which he wants to compete for the German Rally Championship for historic vehicles with the Carrera. Victories at the Rally Mallorca in 2020 and 2021 give him the courage to do so.

Perfetti makes the victory perfect
Meanwhile, the transmission linkage in Daniele Perfetti's RSR broke in the first race run. After a quick change, the Ticino driver was able to start the second race on Saturday. Things seemed to be going in favor of the Arosa winner with a narrow lead - if the weather forecast for Sunday was right.

But Peter showed himself merciful and let it rain only after the event. Perfetti took advantage of the cold conditions, which were ideal for the engines at this altitude, and turned the tables. While Feustel was unable to top his previous day's best time, Perfetti improved by almost half a second.

He thus won the Bernina Gran Turismo Mountain Race 2021 with a lead of just 15 hundredths. The fastest time from four runs on the 5.2-kilometer course from La Rösa to the Bernina Pass was taken into account.

Thunderbolts in the places of honor
Third place overall in the field of 17 Competition participants from six nations with mandatory FIA racing licenses was secured by Thomas Kern in the likewise briskly moving Shelby Cobra 427. Like fourth-placed Michael Erlich in the De Tomaso Pantera, he only started on Saturday. But their times were enough to leave the Finn Kari Fazer in a Ford RS 200 and all the other chasers behind.

Erlich took out the former Group 5 flounder for the first time since 2016 and contested his first hill climb with it. The notary from Belp did not bring the 550 hp onto the asphalt well enough in the many corners due to the lack of grip of the racing tires used.

Fast drivers in the Regularity ranking
The fastest of the Regularity drivers was Franco Gansser with a Porsche 911 SC RS, which the man from Graubünden, with a passenger in the passenger seat, boldly threw around the bends with which he was familiar. Like some other Regularity drivers, he didn't care if he was too fast (seventh-best running time of all those who started) and received penalty points for it.

Thus, the ninth fastest time of the Italian Giustino De Sanctis in a Lancia Stratos in historic Alitalia rally colors was just as little reflected in the overall classification as the twelfth best running time of Christian Klainguti in a Lotus Eleven or the best time of all pre-war race cars of his son Andrea in a Riley Scope Special.

Home victory for Kurt Engelhorn
Kurt Engelhorn on a Jaguar D-type thus emerged as the overall winner in the regularity classification. The German is one of the initiators of this event and a native of the Engadine. The time-honored hotel at the start in La Rösa was bought by him and lavishly restored - more home victory almost doesn't go...

Official ranking Competition Scratch Regularity Final 2021 Scratch Race Regularity

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