Slalom Bière: Marcel Maurer strikes back
FIRST DAY WIN 2018 After delays in the schedule, the decision for victory in the Bière Slalom was made in only one race run. After two successes by Philip Egli, it was the turn of Marcel Maurer. On Sunday morning, the competitors in the third round of the Swiss Slalom Championship had to complete their first training run in the rain on the weapons course of Bière. After that [...]
On Sunday morning, the participants in the third round of the Swiss Slalom Championship had to complete their first training run in the rain on the arms course of Bière. Afterwards it dried up, but more dark clouds threatened at the foot of the Col du Marchairuz (where a mountain race used to take place).
Due to several incidents, there were delays in the schedule, which finally led to the cancellation of the second race run shortly after 5 pm. Those who, with foresight and skill, had put down a clean and fast first run, swung on top in the end.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
Marcel Maurer had nothing against this decision. After Philip Egli's best time in the wet practice run, the Bernese took the lead in the second practice session with his Tatuus-Renault Midland fitted with slicks.
Behind him followed Jean-Marc Salomon in the Tatuus-Honda FM, who had already won here in 2011, 2014 and 2017. While the driver from the Jura was unable to beat Philip Egli's time in the first race, Marcel Maurer, who started last, did so with a time that was almost two seconds better.
By stopping the event, the Bernese remained in front and celebrated his second day victory in Bière after 2016, the first this season.
Marcel Maurer: "It was drizzling again at the start, but I had very good grip. We tried something with the suspension and the tires, which worked great right away. Many thanks to my team! But I was surprised that it didn't get tighter."
Philip Egli, who won in Frauenfeld and Interlaken in the Dallara 393, also had an explanation for this.
Philip Egli: "I had a mediocre run with two or three small mistakes. In addition, I had too low revs in some corners. What I gain with our new EPR-1 engine on the straights, I lost that way. I've been looking for a shorter gear ratio for a long time, but I can't find anything. And making an extra one is too costly."
Cleverness and skill lead to touring car victory
Fourth place overall, and thus the first respectable success, went to Michael Helm in the Tatuus-Abarth Formula 4. 5th place went to Jean-François Chariatte in the TracKing, before already being followed by the irresistible Martin Bürki in the E1-Polo 1600.
Martin Bürki: "The conditions were difficult, the track offered very little grip. I guessed that the first run had to be clean, but had to fight with the car. That's why there were also some accidents."
Behind three other racing sports cars, Manuel Santonastaso lined up as the second-fastest touring car driver. With the BMW 320 from the Interswiss group, the man from Thurgau even managed to leave Frédéric Neff in the widened Porsche 911 GT3 R behind. However, the mountain champion has never been a slalom specialist and was practicing for the hillclimbs.
Only two drivers left without losing points
Bürki and "Santi" now also lead the slalom championship alone, which comes down to a duel between these two. Perhaps Christoph Zwahlen can also intervene in this title fight. With his Opel Kadett 2.5, the former champion, who has returned to slalom racing, was clearly the fastest in the E1 up to three liters, with the so far strongest opponents Köchli and Bürki missing.
In the E1 two-liters Patrick Flammer already used his first chance and celebrated in the absence of Danny Krieg (drives with the Audi A4 STW only again on the mountain) the first victory with his Suzuki Swift Evo 2000. The Glarner was slower than Santonastaso, Niederberger (Opel Kadett City) and Andrey (Peugeot 405) in the big IS-2000 class, but faster than the first in the E1 cars over three liters.
This would have been Albin Mächler if the 2017 runner-up had not touched a pylon with his BMW M2 on the way to the second-fastest touring car time. Without a second run, this resulted in only 4th place with the time bonus (10 seconds).
Victory thus went to Bürki's teammate and protégé Jürg Beiner in a BMW M3 V8 ahead of Stéphane Berset in a BMW Alpina B3 and Julien Prével in an Opel Astra Turbo.
SM standings after 3 of 8 races: 1st Bürki and Santonastaso, 60 points each; 3rd Egli and Zwahlen, 55 each; etc.
Next run: May 27 in Bure.
