Slalom Ambri: An SM final made to measure

Contrary to the weather forecasts, it remained dry at the Ambri slalom throughout the weekend, and on Sunday it was even mostly sunny.

Thus, the entire 2018 Swiss championship in slalom as well as on the mountain passed without a single rain race. Moreover, without a single serious accident.

The most beautiful victory of Maurer
Marcel Maurer's day was as perfect as the event organized by Equipe Bernoise - in complete contrast to his long-term rival Philip Egli. The Bernese rider, who recently turned 30, was the fastest in training and in both races on the 3.6 km long course, which, to the delight of all participants, was even smoother than before.

Three years after his last start with his Reynard 92D Cosworth F3000, Tiziano Riva was unable to repeat his day's victory at the Ambri slalom. However, the garage owner from Lugano had not expected this due to a lack of practice with the drivers from the two-liter race car class, who have become stronger in the meantime.

For Marcel Maurer, it is the third stage victory at the wheel of his Tatuus-Renault Midland after Bière in May and Drognens two weeks ago. In addition, he won the Massongex hill climb in July.

Marcel Maurer: "That was a perfect end to my best season in racing so far. I was on the limit everywhere. That was my most beautiful victory, after all there was a Formula 3000 at the start. Thanks to the good preparatory work with the help of my team, without which it wouldn't be possible, I didn't have any technical problems this year like before. So I was able to concentrate fully on driving."

Accident of Egli already before the start
Meanwhile, Philip Egli caused problems for himself by spinning his Dallara F393-EPR-1 into the embankment on the inspection lap, almost in the same place as two years ago in the first race run. Fortunately, the damage was repairable, so that the man from Glarus was able to compete in the two races.

Even without training, he came as close as 1.72 seconds to Maurer in the second run and still captured second overall ahead of Riva.

Philip Egli: "The faster second run was not so nice, the line and the braking points did not fit. With two practice runs, it would definitely have been very close in the fight for the Tagessieh. But I made the best of the situation and am now even third in the championship."

Technical bad luck for Christoph Zwahlen
The fact that Egli comes to medal honors has to do with the bad luck of Christoph Zwahlen. Together with Philip Egli and Manuel Santonastaso, the Thurgau native was tied for second place before the final.

In the second practice run, however, Zwahlen noticed bearing damage on the 2.4-liter 16V engine of his Opel Kadett C GT/E. In order not to risk a capital engine damage, Zwahlen loaded up.

Egli thus needed only one valid run, regardless of the time, to secure the necessary point for third SM place. Of course, he was not satisfied with that.

For his part, second place behind Hermann Bollhalder in the Opel Speedster Turbo, who was hard to beat on this track, would also have been enough for Zwahlen to win bronze.

Christoph Zwahlen: "Now I'm only fourth in the championship. If someone had offered me that before my comeback, I would have signed immediately. I was already lucky here when I won my first slalom title thanks to Werner Willener's technical misfortune.

As expected, the 2018 slalom runner-up is Manuel Santonastaso. With his approximately 300 hp BMW 320i E21, the Thurgau native won the two-liter class and the overall classification of the Interswiss group in superior fashion.

First overall touring car victory for a TCR driver
In the battle for the best time of all touring cars and GT cars, the old and new champion Martin Bürki with his 1600 E1 Polo got to the limit on this fast track. In the long-distance duel, Christian Darani in the Fiat X 1/9 from the E1-2000 class kept the upper hand in contrast to Drognens.

With eight twenties Martin Bürki finished the championship with the maximum score 140 (plus 20 as a strike result) ahead of Santonastaso (135+15), Egli (130+15) and Zwahlen (130+0). Congratulations!

However, a new name immortalizes itself as the fastest driver with a roof over his head at a slalom, nota bene including the Silhouette prototypes from the E2 category. Patrick Flammer managed to fully exploit the potential of the modern Opel Astra TCR on this ideal track.

At the Massongex hill climb, the man from Glarus was already sixth overall, but at that time Bratschi and Kessler were even faster in their E1 Mitsubishi. Now, the 27-year-old Suzuki Switzerland employee even set the fastest touring car time ever, finishing seventh overall.

www.equipe-bernoise.ch