Les Paccots: Wins and titles of the favorites

Shortly before 6 p.m., the 2018 Swiss Hillclimb Championship came to an end in the finish area of Les Paccots. The eighth hillclimb race also went off in sunshine. And - the best thing about the past season - without a significant accident, after 2017 had been disastrous.

Since Marcel Steiner stayed at home after winning the title early at Gurnigel, the second-fastest hill climb on the SM calendar was dominated by the duel between Eric Berguerand and Joël Volluz. In just two of his three training runs, Berguerand beat the record of 54.290 seconds held by Volluz since 2015.

Duel with record times
Already in the first race run, the five-time champion set a new best mark of 53.550. In the second run, Berguerand remained 62 thousandths above his target.

With 54.005 and 53.928, his younger colleague from Valais showed a remarkable performance in only his second race with the Osella FA30, which has been rebuilt since the serious accident in 2016. In the final run, both remained slightly above their first times.

Berguerand won with a lead of eight tenths over Volluz. Thanks to the two additional points for the third record after Anzère and Gurnigel, he advances to the second SM rank with only four results.

There's no question about it: if the technology on the Lola-Cosworth hadn't prevented him from starting or achieving two more countable results in Hemberg and Oberhallau, the title would hardly have gone to Steiner.

Eric Berguerand: "There are years like this when not everything runs smoothly. The important thing is that the technical problems have been solved and I really enjoy riding. I've had the same tires on since Anzère - so with new rubber I could have gone much faster on Gurnigel and in Paccots."

Balmer secures third SM rank
Third place overall and victory in the sports cars went to Frenchman Cyrille Frantz in an Osella PA30 with the same engine as in Berguerand's Lola FA99 (AC Cosworth V8). In 2019, Frantz plans to contest several races in Switzerland.

Third place in the Swiss classification went to Robin Faustini in the Reynard K01, leaving dad Simon Hugentobler in the Osella PA30 behind him this time. If it hadn't been for a breakdown at Gurnigel (defective electrical cables), the 20-year-old from Aargau would have been runner-up.

The third SM place also goes not to youngster Faustini, but to Christian Balmer. As at Gurnigel, the Bernese showed his best side and won the two-liter class in Tatuus-Honda FM ahead of last year's day winner (in the rain) Joël Grand.

Bad luck for Marcel Maurer: The previous SM runner-up lost control of his Tatuus-Renault Midland in the first run ("the rear suddenly broke away") and damaged the suspension on a tire pile.

Although he was able to repair it during the lunch break, unfortunately the drive shaft had suffered a hidden crack in the accident - it gave up the ghost at the start of the second run. With the class win, Maurer and not Balmer would have become SM third.

Bratschi missing, Kessler wins, Neff celebrates
In the absence of Ronnie Bratschi, Roger Schnellmann and Romeo Nüssli (he was only present in practice), Thomas Kessler with his Mitsubishi Evo VIII was the favorite in the E1 touring cars. Kessler lived up to this role.

However, Simon Wüthrich gave him a tough fight in the smaller VW Golf Turbo and had to admit defeat by less than half a second in the addition. Both clearly beat Bratschi's E1 record from 2014 in all races.

Only bad luck on Neff's part could have brought Bratschi the title. Although Neff had technical problems with his 500-plus hp Porsche GT3 R, he brought it home in the first race in a close new record time.

So after the not-so-quick wide pass, he stood firm as the old and new touring car mountain champion - congratulations!

Another masterstroke from Martin Bürki
Once again, the performance of Martin Bürki also deserves praise and respect. After he had clinched the class win in the E1-1600 and thus the 2018 Mountain Cup in his pocket with two safe, fast runs, he stepped it up a notch in the third race run.

Bürki was faster than the best driver in the two-liter class with the VW Polo, as he was at Gurnigel. After Reto Steiner (Ford Escort) at Gurnigel, this was Jonas Magnin in the ex-Rikli Honda at Paccots.

Runner-up in the Berg-Pokal, to which we will return later, was Philipp Krebs, who was stunned by his own performance this year, with another victory in the Renault Classic Cup.

First record drive by Feigenwinter in the Lotus
And Andy Feigenwinter, unbeaten in the SuperSeries, concluded his first mountain season with the first group record at the wheel of the Lotus Exige high-flyer.

If Andy Krähenbühl (guardrail contact on the Gurnigel with the Honda Integra) had not stayed at home, the Basel-Landman would also have scored the maximum points for the first time thanks to the necessary eighth group competitor. And he would have ended up in the unexpected second instead of third SM final place at the expense of the defenseless Ronnie Bratschi.

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