Motorcycle/GT: Bernese jubilee overseas
AEGERTER AND NIEDERHAUSER CELEBRATE In Argentina, Dominique Aegerter secured the world championship title in the Supersport class early with a third-place finish. Hours later, fellow Canton resident Patric Niederhauser let himself be celebrated as Indy winner.
Sunday's race in San Juan, Argentina, was his second match ball in his mission to complete the world championship for production-based motorcycles with 600 cc displacement as successfully as he had wished. He finished the previous day's race in fifth position on a track that was new to him.
Overwhelming moment
While his last remaining title rival Steven Odendaal from South Africa stayed on the track in the second race, the man from Berne rode the Yamaha YZF R6 of Ten Kate Racing from the Netherlands to third place.
So the Swiss could celebrate the early title win right on the podium for the three best of the race. Afterwards, the new Supersport World Champion struggled to find the words.
Dominique Aegerter: "The feelings of having won the first world championship title are overwhelming. It's still hard for me to realize the whole thing."
Thanks to all
But the charismatic motorcycle professional from Rohrbach does not forget to whom he owes this success.
Dominique Aegerter: "I'm really happy for the team, my family and friends, without whose support I would never have reached this point. I have spent 25 years of my life working towards this day. I have had to sacrifice a lot to reach this goal. It has not always been easy times. But I never gave up holding on to my dream."
The third world champion of the modern era
"Domi77" is only the third modern-era motorcycle world champion on the circuit after Tom Lüthi (2005 world champion in the 125cc class) and Randy Krummenacher (2019 supersport champion). In 2013 and 2014, Aegerter was fifth in Moto2, in which he celebrated his greatest individual success in 2014 as winner of the German GP.
In 2021, the 31-year-old has won ten races so far and finished on the podium 14 times. The season will be completed in four weeks at the new race track in Lombok, Indonesia.
Flawless top performance
Four hours later, another Bernese driver cheered a few thousand kilometers further north at a historic site. With the Germans Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock as partners, Patric Niederhauser won the 8 Hours of Indianapolis. The race on the GP Circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway counted as the second round of the 2021 Intercontinental GT Challenge.
The accomplished driver trio prevailed with the Audi R8 LMS fielded by the French Saintéloc team because they consistently avoided accidents and contact in the many critical race situations on the legendary circuit. Even a drive-through penalty after a pit stop that was too short due to a faulty measurement did not prevent the drivers from winning.
Niederhauser biggest long distance victory
The advantage over the Mercedes-AMG driven by Raffaele Marciello from Ticino, who however flies the Italian flag, was 11.9 seconds. While Haase and Winkelhock have already won numerous major endurance races for Audi, it was the first victory of this kind for Patric Niederhauser.
In the end, only Haase and Niederhauser took turns in the cockpit, as Winkelhock is expecting offspring with his partner and, with the organizer's permission, left early on race Sunday.
Bad luck for Nico Müller's car
The sister car, and with it Nico Müller, lost all chances of a good result through no fault of its own shortly after the race began. After Robin Frijns was hit by a McLaren whose driver had missed the braking point by lengths, he lost four laps in the pits due to the repairs due.
Because no good lap times were possible after that, the Dutchman and his Audi Sport driver colleagues Nico Müller and Mattia Drudi were left with only 12th place in the end.
Class win for Lucas Légeret
On the other hand, a second Swiss driver celebrated. Lucas Légeret, Frenchman Aurélien Panis and Belgian Nicolas Baert finished fourth as a private team in a third Saintéloc Audi amid strong competition.
They were just eight seconds short of the overall podium. Nevertheless, in the end they stood on the coveted Indianapolis podium at a separate ceremony as winners of the Silver Cup standings over four direct rivals.
Now the championship title beckons
In the Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers' standings, Audi has now increased its lead over Ferrari to 40 points. A maximum of 43 points will still be distributed for the best manufacturer at the 9 Hours of Kyalami (South Africa) on December 4.
In the drivers' standings, the three Indy winners are now level on points at the top of the table with the Ferrari trio Ledogar/Nielsen/Pier Guidi. Both teams have so far scored points for a win and a fifth place at the Spa 24 Hours and Indianapolis respectively.
intercontinentalgtchallenge.com
