Massongex: Maurer takes the big chance

Of the drivers with large, fast-moving racing sports cars, only Marcel Steiner and Eric Berguerand made an appearance in Massongex. For both of them, the third round of the Swiss Mountain Championship, which was held for the last time in 2015 and was extremely poorly attended, was already over on Saturday.

While Berguerand managed to get his Lola-Cosworth running at the last minute in Reitnau a week ago, the technology let him down again at his home race.

Eric Berguerand: "The engine worked during the test on Thursday. When I tried to start the first practice session here, the starter broke. We then drove home and installed another starter. This one also broke on Sunday morning. Now we hope to finally get the engine running cleanly by Anzère."

Engine damage at Marcel Steiner
Marcel Steiner was thus the lone favorite with his LobArt sports car, as he had been at the season opener in Hemberg. However, an engine failure in the third practice run put paid to the third day's victory in a row.

The Steiner Motorsport team packed up after that and started already on Sunday in Oberdiessbach with the big disassembly of the Mugen V8 engine.

Marcel Steiner: "Fortunately, there was no major engine damage because I parked the car immediately. But getting spare parts for these engines is complex because they're not available off the shelf. I hope we can get them repaired by Anzère."

The hour of the two-liter pilots
As there was no other competitor with a big racing car on the grid apart from Bovier from the Valais on an Osella BMW that was too slow, Christian Balmer and Marcel Maurer moved into the unexpected role of favorites with their two-liter race cars.

With the five significantly better training times, the advantage seemed clear with Balmer in the Tatuus-Honda FM. The Swiss mountain champion of 2007 knew the 3150 meter long track from Massongex to Vérossaz very well, in contrast to newcomer Maurer. But things turned out differently...

Reward for steady increase
While Balmer was only 82 thousandths ahead of his younger colleague from the Bernese canton after the first race run, the latter managed the best time of the day in the second run with 1'54.838. This pushed Maurer in the Tatuus-Renault Midland to the top of the classification, which he successfully defended with an only less slower third run.

This made the surprising day's victory of Marcel Maurer perfect, who had never been able to win the class on the mountain before. His strength in slaloms obviously paid off on this special course with fast passages in the lower part and a few tight turns in the upper part.

Marcel Maurer: "I didn't expect to come close to Balmer. But I was able to improve from run to run and get used to the very demanding course. I realize that this would never have happened if Steiner and Bergus hadn't had technical problems. But these are opportunities for our smaller cars. To beat a Balmer in Formula Master makes me and the whole team, who deserve a huge thanks, proud and happy."

In the mountain championship for racing cars, Balmer and Steiner are now at the top of the table with 54 points each, ahead of Maurer with 51 points. Steiner, however, no longer has to deduct a result. And Berguerand is out of the title race with two zeros, as he will not be driving in St-Ursanne either.

Bratschi takes the lead in the table
Surprise also in the touring cars. Ronnie Bratschi's only real opponents in Group E1 were Thomas Kessler (both Mitsubishi Evo VIII) and Romeo Nüssli in the Ford Escort Cosworth. The man from Uri had them both safely under control, but continued to struggle with the technology of his car.

Because the clutch was a problem, Bratschi only took part in two races. These were enough for third place overall ahead of Kessler and David Papagna in the 1400cc Gloria sports prototype. With his second run in 1'55.745, he set a new touring car record and was less than a second slower than Maurer.

Ronnie Bratschi: "The track is fun in itself, but it's material murder. If the clutch had held up, I probably would have had a say in the day's win. But the new E1 record and the full points for the championship were more important to me."

In this respect, the two-time FIA Hill Climb Champion took an important step - and to the very front. Previous SM leader Frédéric Neff had to charge his Porsche GT3 R in practice due to gearbox damage.

Flammer third fastest in TCR Asta
As for Steiner, a race against time now begins for the defending champion in the touring cars in order to have the car ready again for the next hill climb in Anzère (July 21/22).

The zero dropped Neff to third position behind Bratschi (71) and Andy Feigenwinter (62.5) with his 54 points from the two IS record wins in Hemberg and Reitnau.

Feigenwinter dominated the SuperSeries group with his Lotus Exige 430 Cup virtually without competition, but this time only received half points due to a lack of sufficient opponents.

Not relevant for the championship, but worth mentioning is the sensational performance of Patrick Flammer. The driver from Glarus was the third fastest touring car driver ever in the Opel Astra TCR, even ahead of Nüssli in the twice as strong Allad-Cossie.

Flammer paid for his aggressiveness with bodywork damage in the third run, but the other two times were enough for the TCR victory ahead of Michel Zemp in the Cupra, who had previously won twice.

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