Slalom Chamblon: Martin Bürki in double pack
TWO NAMED SIBLINGS AT THE TOP OF THE TABLES Martin Bürki secured the ninth slalom championship title in Chamblon in a VW Polo. His namesake in the BMW is runner-up. The day's victory once again went to Philip Egli in a Dallara.
Martin Bürki is the Swiss slalom champion for the eighth time in a row and the ninth time overall. The garage owner from Uetendorf also left no stone unturned in the final in Chamblon in his E1 class up to 1600 cubic meters with his optimal VW Polo.
Only Christian Darani in the Fiat X 1/9 and Martin Oliver Bürki in the self-tuned BMW were faster in the touring cars. Both also secured clear victories in their E1 classes.
Zwahlen shows what can go wrong
Even though the VW Polo driver's titles are now almost a habit, they are by no means a matter of course for the old and new champion.
Martin Bürki: "It wouldn't be possible without hard work and a lot of discipline. Besides, something can always come up."
Just like Christoph Zwahlen. The man from Thurgau has been one of the fastest on the mountain or in slaloms for years. In Chamblon, Zwahlen literally took off in his Porsche GT3 during practice on Sunday morning, but fortunately remained unharmed.
Martin Bürki: "It's precisely incidents like this that can cost you the title in the end and can also happen to a top driver like Christoph or me. That's why I always accept congratulations only when everything is over."
Five drivers with the maximum
A look at the final standings shows just how close things are in the 2022 Swiss Slalom Championship. In the final standings, Bürki only left the competition behind thanks to the better strike result.
Christian Darani (Gallery left), Nicola Fankhauser (Gallery middle), Martin Oliver Bürki (Gallery right) and Philip Egli also completed the 100 points in Chamblon. Fankhauser had unfortunately too few opponents with his Honda Ciic Type R in the A-2000 in Bure and got there only half points. For the Simmentaler the fourth place behind Bürki II and Egli is nevertheless a strong performance.
Due to his vacation absence, Darani has the zero of Bure as a strike result and therefore has to make do with fifth place overall. The 2021 runner-up was otherwise the fastest or second-fastest touring car driver everywhere.
No chance against Philip Egli
The day's victory at Chamblon once again went to Philip Egli in the Dallara-EPR (gallery left). The Glarner, who lives in Zurich, forms a unit with his aging Formula 3 Dallara that is almost impossible to defeat. Despite his only defeat of the season in Ambri 1 against Lukas Eugster, he still made it onto the championship podium.
Lukas Eugster was 4.5 seconds behind Egli in Chamblon with two almost identical running times. His Ligier-Honda was simply too wide in some places and could hardly be turned in.
Third place overall went to Jannis Jeremias in the original Formula Renault (center gallery). The 22-year-old from Lake Biel was thus 3.3 seconds faster than his mentor Yves Hängärtner, who was unable to make proper use of the power of the significantly wider GP3 Dallara on this track. Because of his slip in the second run, Victor Darbellay even slipped through in the final standings in fourth overall in the little Arcobaleno.
Confirmation of the champion in Suzuki Cup
In the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup, Fabian Eggenberger (gallery right, photo Denise Steinmann), who had already been crowned champion, triumphed for the fifth time in seven races, this time with a lead of just three tenths of a second over the dethroned defending champion and runner-up Marcel Muzzarelli.
Third place went to Michaël Bering for the second time. Third place in the final standings thus goes to Sandro Fehr, who missed the podium in Chamblon in fourth place by just two tenths of a second. An analysis of the Suzuki final race and the championship will follow in the course of the week.
