Slalom: Victory for Philip Egli in the new car
EXCITING CAR RACE DAYS IN FRAUENFELD With his Dallara F393, used for the first time, Philip Egli took his fourth win of the day in Frauenfeld after tough resistance from Marcel Maurer. In the touring car category, Simon Wüthrich took his first overall victory in a VW Golf Turbo. The 19th Frauenfeld Auto Race Days, impeccably organized by the ACS Thurgau, not only took place in midsummer spring weather. Also sporty saw [...]
The 19th Frauenfeld Auto Race Days, impeccably organized by the ACS Thurgau, did not only take place in midsummer spring weather. In terms of sport, too, thousands of spectators saw the best that Swiss slalom sport has to offer.
After the first race run on the 2.7 km course, Philip Egli and Marcel Maurer were only nine hundredths apart. Egli competed for the first time with the Dallara F393 because he wants to leave the F394 Opel (ex Jo Zeller Racing) he has been using in its original condition. With it, the Zurich native will soon be able to compete in historic Formula 3 races.
For this purpose, he equipped the spare chassis with a more powerful Opel engine (type C20XE from a Calibra with 250,000 km!) that he had "tinkered" himself with friends. Whether this would be enough against his main opponent in the likewise optimized Tatuus-Renault Midland at the first go, Egli dared to doubt.
Philip Egli: "It's no longer a Formula 3, but an E2 single seater, but I now have much more power than before. The only downside is that the transmission is too long because there's nothing shorter yet."
Position determination in Interlaken
His joy was all the greater when he was able to beat Maurer's second best time and thus celebrate his fourth triumph in this race with a lead of just 26 hundredths.
Philip Egli: "I wouldn't have been as fast today with the other car. Or it would have been even tighter. But I won't know where I stand until next Saturday in Interlaken, when Hängärtner, Salomon and Balmer also come with their Formula Masters."
In third place, Lukas Eugster put himself on the overall winners' podium after just his first race in a Formula Renault. In 2017, the driver from eastern Switzerland was runner-up in the Berg-SM Junior on a standard Toyota GT86.
The "Turbiene" stabbed
With a terrific best time right in the first practice run at even cooler temperatures, Simon Wüthrich in the VW Golf Turbo 4×4 hinted at his ambitions in the E1 touring cars. Although he did not quite reach it in the race, he was the only E1 driver to stay under the two-minute mark.
After first class victories in the past, the 37-year-old from Emmental now achieved his first national overall victory with his "Turbiene". He and three friends invested a lot of time over the winter in further developing the car and engine, whose output was increased from 470 to 550 hp.
Wüthrich knew how to put this into practice straight away, leaving slalom runner-up Albin Mächler in a BMW M2 of about the same power, but much heavier and driven only on the rear axle, no chance.
Simon Wüthrich: "When I saw the 1'58 time in the first practice, I startled myself. For me, this was actually just a test. I'm not much of a slalom skier. Now I'm still racing in Interlaken before I concentrate on the mountain races. This win is a nice reward for us because we build everything ourselves and want to make something happen with it."
Eight drivers with 20 points at the top of the table
Manuel Santonastaso was also outstanding in his BMW 320. As IS class winner, the Thurgau native was also faster than all the E1 two-liters led by Danny Krieg in the Audi A4 STW. Only by eight hundredths did "Santi" stay above the two-minute mark.
A perfect second race run with a personal best time in Frauenfeld was also achieved by Martin Bürki. Apart from Wüthrich, Santonastaso, Mächler and the two Porsche GT3 drivers Bruno Sawatzki and Patrick Drack (winner of the Porsche Cup Suisse), the champion in the optimum VW Polo 1600 left all the larger-displacement touring cars behind him.
Together with the already mentioned Egli, Krieg, Santonastaso, Wüthrich as well as Christoph Mattmüller in the VW Scirocco (1st IS-1600), Harry Eberle in the Opel Kadett (1st IS-3000), Christoph Zwahlen (1st E1-3000) and Jeremy Noirat (solo winner and 4th overall in TracKing) the defending champion is already leading the championship again. All other classes were undermanned.
Christoph Zwahlen - the winner of hearts
Keyword Zwahlen: The local hero was also the winner of hearts. 55 months and three weeks after his accident in Massongex in 2013 ("The pain in my legs reminds me of it every day"), the jovial man from Thurgau returned to the national circuit in his new Opel Kadett.
From run to run, he optimized the brake system, which was rewarded with the class win. René Köchli (Honda Civic RK3) and Martin Oliver Bürki (BMW E33) might have been faster in the second run had it not been for their technical failures. However, they were quite happy for their classmate to take the win.
But next Saturday in Interlaken they don't want to give any more such gifts...
