Motorsport: Final duel at eye level
Kris Richard could crown his first season as a touring car driver on Sunday by winning the FIA European Cup. The Bernese and the Czech Petr Fulin are tied on points going into the finale in Imola. He came, he saw and he won: From a Swiss perspective, Kris Richard is the shooting star on the international touring car scene in 2016. Actually, the role of favorite lay within the team [...]
He came, he saw and he won: Kris Richard is the shooting star of the 2016 international touring car scene from a Swiss perspective. Actually, the role of favorite within the team lay more with Peter Rikli. But the 21-year-old newcomer quickly got used to driving the brand-new, 330 hp Honda Civic TCR from Rikli Motorsport and amazed everyone with two race wins on his second race weekend in the FIA ETCC in Slovakia.
From then on, he won the second race at each of the next three ETCC weekends. As a result, he has caught up in the points table with defending champion Petr Fulin from the Czech Republic, who has been leading since the start of the season. And so it all comes down to a showdown on Sunday at the final ETCC weekend in Imola (I). While Petr Fulin prepared himself with two races for the TCR Italia at the same venue and clinched two podium places, Kris Richard did the same successfully last weekend at the TCR Benelux in Colmar-Berg. So in this respect, too, there is again parity. Which reassures Richard: "Petr Fulin was only slightly faster in qualifying than I was the weekend before during testing with our car."
Five TCR cars from Rikli Motorsport
What tactics does he have in mind for the decisive final? Kris Richard: "I'm taking it as a race like any other and not one where everything is at stake. I have to be top in qualifying, secure the extra points and then simply finish ahead of Fulin in the races. The others aren't that important."
Both receive shooting assistance from other Swiss in their teams: Petr Fulin from the Grison-based Christjohannes Schreiber, Kris Richard from the other Bernese Peter Rikli. In addition, Rikli Motorsport is fielding two more Honda cars for Claudio Truffer and the Finn Aku Pellinen, as well as a Seat Leon for Adrian Spescha. However, Richard prefers not to rely on their help: "I'll do my best and want to decide for myself. In the end, the better man should win the title in Imola."
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Photos: Archive
