FIA Masters: Meisel's golden return 🎥

THE Swiss team also won a medal at the fourth FIA Hill Climb Masters in Portugal, this time with Reto Meisel. The terrific three-way battle for the day's victory was decided in favor of Christian Merli. Impressive scenes from the Rampa da Falperra, where the FIA Hill Climb Masters took place on the outskirts of Braga. [...]

Editorial - 11 October 2021

Impressive scenes from the Rampa da Falperra, where the FIA Hill Climb Masters took place on the outskirts of Braga. Reto Meisel and day winner Christian Merli appear right at the beginning, later also Thomas Amweg with a small transverse (Rosmanao Videos).

Those who didn't witness it almost can't imagine the atmosphere. According to estimates by the organizers, around 80,000 spectators came to the training session, on race day it is said to have been around 100,000.

Normally, the Portuguese don't pay admission to a hill climb. But for the three euros charged plus a few more for grandstand seats, they got their money's worth at the FIA Hill Climb Masters 2021 in Braga.

The Portuguese love motorsports and hillclimbing. Here, some fans celebrate France's champion Geoffrey Schatz on the downhill run (Photos: Peter Wyss).

Triathlon of champions
In front of this impressive backdrop, the Italians Simone Faggioli and Christian Merli fought a sensational battle for fractions of a second with the French champion Geoffrey Schatz in beautiful late summer weather. For once, record European champion Faggioli never had his nose in front.

On the 2970-meter short version of the Rampa da Falperra, where otherwise a good 2.2 kilometers longer are raced for points for the European Mountain Championship, Schatz, Merli and Faggioli were separated by only four tenths after the first race run.

In the second sprint, the South Tyrolean unpacked the hammer and drove the Osella FA30 Zytek up the mountain in 1'02.033, which corresponds to an average of 172.4 km/h. This meant the day's victory was not decided by the addition of the two best times, as is usually the case. This meant the day's victory, for which the addition of the two best times did not count, as is usual in the European Mountain Championship, but the fastest run in three attempts.

Christian Merli captured the day's victory in his home country, as he did in 2018.

Faggioli only third for once
Passing Faggioli in the second sprint to move up to second place, Schatz, unlike his opponents, did not fit new tires until the third run. However, the Frenchman was unable to exploit the extra power of his Oreca turbo engine in the Nova Proto sports car to prevent Merli's victory. In the end, Merli's lead was 359 thousandths, while Faggoli's gap to his compatriot was just over six tenths.

Simone Faggioli: "I had a small mistake in the last run. But I don't think I would have caught Merli, but I think I would have caught Schatz."

Christian Merli captured gold and Faggioli silver in the FIA category 2 race cars, just as he did three years ago in Gubbio, while Schatz won the Open category for unlimited or non-FIA homologated cars. His older brother Nicolas had taken overall victory in a Norma-BMW V8 at the inaugural FIA Hill Climb Masters in Eschdorf in 2014.

Strong British
Behind them, the British Alex Summers and Wallace Menzies took 4th and 5th overall with their super-light mountain sprint monoposti with over 600 hp. Summers in particular impressed with his courage and speed in the guardrail channel. Silver in the cat. Open as the best national representative compensates him for the BHC title lost in the duel with Menzies.

Ronnie Bratschi's hunt for a medal ended at the guardrail. Fortunately, the damage was limited.

Bratschi accident
The small Team Switzerland also had something to celebrate, although the results did not quite meet their expectations. After the three practice runs, Ronnie Bratschi and Reto Meisel were ahead in their categories. For Bratschi, the battle with the four-strong armada of Polish Mitsubishi drivers ended at the guard rail in the second run.

Ronnie Bratschi: "I started the passage in question one gear higher than in practice and couldn't get fourth gear in when I shifted back. Without pulling out of the fast left-hand bend, I was no longer able to prevent the impact."

The time from the first run was at least enough for third place in Group 1.

Meisel's gilded return
Meisel's Mercedes SLK 340 Judd was named in the same category and group, but because it did not comply in all respects with the new FIA regulations for touring cars and GT, the stewards on site reassigned it to the Open category.

There, the Aargauer had an unintentionally easy game with his direct opponents for the medal, but logically did not leave it at that. In the first and second runs, Meisel was the fastest of all the touring car drivers, and it was only in the final sprint that the Pole, who had won category 1, caught him by two thousandths.

Reto Meisel: "I wasn't even trying anymore and just wanted to get the car to the finish in one piece. Nevertheless, I was faster again. For me, it was the first real race with the SLK after two and a half years in which I felt the car, because two weeks ago in St. Agatha I wasn't really driving it fast."

Reto Meisel fired the Mercedes to 1st place in the Open Touring Cars on the Rampa da Falperra (victory in record time), which he knows from the 2019 European Championship round.

Third gold medal in four editions
Meisel is the third Swiss gold medalist after Eric Berguerand in Luxembourg in 2014 and Roger Schnellmann in Italy in 2018.

There was no additional medal in the Nations Cup, for which the smallest difference in two runs of three of the four nominated riders of a country team count. Here France swung ahead of Slovakia and Belgium on top, while Team Switzerland (silver in 2014 and 2016) had to settle for 6th place.

Michel Zemp regularly fast, but outclassed
Switzerland had one of the most regular riders ever, Michel Zemp's deviation was only five hundredths, less than any of the nominated riders in the 15 national teams.

Apart from additional experience, Zemp could not gain anything with the Norma-Honda in the combined field of all E2 sports cars with predominantly higher horsepower engines, so that his 28th overall place is worthy of all honor.

Michel Zemp enjoyed his second participation in front of a big crowd after Gubbio 2018 in the Cupra TCR. He was outclassed in the sports cars with the Norma Honda.

Cautious Thomas Amweg
Thomas Amweg, like all 153 drivers from 18 nations, enjoyed the incomparable ambiance in Portugal. With the Lola F3000, however, he fell far short of his best form.

On the one hand he lacked a training run, on the other he simply wanted to bring the borrowed race car to the finish line in one piece five months after the accident with the Martini F2 in Arosa. Overall 31st place, immediately ahead of the fastest two touring car drivers, illustrates this.

ASS leads by example
We dedicate one more paragraph to the German riders. Alexander Hin, Georg Lang and Erwin Buck competed as brave lone fighters. The German sporting sovereignty - unlike Auto Sport Schweiz, which even offered generous support - showed zero interest in the biggest hill climb of the year.

Twelfth overall, Hin was the fastest German-speaker in Portugal in the Osella-Zytek. Buck received open scene applause for his courageous driving in the VW Scirocco. As a reward, there was a trophy for 3rd place in Group 3 of the FIA Touring Car category

Austria was not represented at all. Karl Schagerl's VW Golf Turbo adorned the poster...

So the team spirit of the Swiss and their yield in all FIA Hill Climbs Masters so far is anything but self-evident.