Suzuki Cup: The title duel comes to a head

The longest and most difficult slalom of the year, with 5300 meters and 110 gates, on the spacious weapons course of Bure in the canton of Jura, brought already the fifth race winner in the sixth race of the season for the Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup - and from the point of view of the championship exactly the right one.

The necessary victory for the championship
Marcel Muzzarelli (upper gallery, left) was already the fastest among the 14 participants after two practice runs and confirmed this performance in the race, although he could not quite match the best time of the morning.

He relegated Sandro Fehr (upper gallery center) to second place by only five and a half tenths and Patrick Flammer to third place by 1.2 seconds.

Marcel Muzzarelli: "This result was necessary to keep the championship open. It went the way I wanted it to. But Sandro showed a tremendous performance."

Sandro Fehr proves his nerve
The Grisons native from Thurgau alluded to Fehr's disqualification in the first run because he had overshot or missed a gate. Although he actually had to play it safe after that so as not to pick up a bad strike result, the hobby cave explorer from Rorschacherberg put in the second-best run time.

Sandro Fehr: "This borders on a miracle. It could have turned out differently. It would have been nice for me, but also heartless, if I had already become champion. It's nicer now to fight for it until the end of the championship."

The going out becomes scarce
With only a two-point difference and almost the same individual results in the form of loud podium finishes, there are many possibilities for the championship decision. The simplest: Whoever of the two wins on June 24 on the equally demanding Chamblon course is the champion. Muzzarelli would be it in the event of a points tie due to the higher number of victories. If someone else comes out on top or in between, there will be a count. It is quite possible that in the end even the higher number of directly beaten opponents will decide who wins the title.

That both are super-fair sportsmen with mutual respect is proven by their statements according to which each would like the other to win the title in the event of defeat. For Fehr it would be the first, for Muzzarelli the ninth in the individual ranking of a brand trophy.

Flammer is the third force
The third place on the Bure podium was taken by Patrick Flammer (upper gallery right), the only one to win two races so far (double in Ambri).

Patrick Flammer: "I'm not completely satisfied with it, because I know where and how I lost the time. On the other hand, I kept the title race exciting by not putting myself between the two favorites."

The third final place for the Flammer Speed Team is thus as good as certain, because Michaël Béring (middle gallery, left) again did not go beyond sixth place. Since the surprising triumph in Bière, the man from Neuchâtel has not managed a podium finish.

No showcase result of the boss
Team 77, which was victorious last time in Frauenfeld with Fabian Eggenberger, took only 9th place with Christian Zimmermann (middle gallery center). After a scoring error in the first attempt, the Glarner was not quite with the music with a second safe run, although Bure is not one of his preferred tracks anyway.

But because Danny Krieg, who was scheduled to drive for Team 77, was on vacation with his family, the team manager and technical coordinator of the Cup had to step in. In Chamblon, they both took to the wheel.

Waiting for the first podium
As in race 1 at Frauenfeld, Rico Thomann (center gallery, right) narrowly missed out on his first podium in fourth place. Less than a second was missing. As another good fifth with Flammer's car, Reto Steiner did not score any points this time; he will not do so again for the Flammer Speed Team until Chamblon.

Newcomer Stefan Glanzmann (lower gallery, left), who also finished fourth once in race 2 at Frauenfeld, was quite good in seventh place. Behind him there was a gap of more than three seconds. Nevertheless, 8th place for Gauthier Henchoz (lower center gallery) is a respectable result, with which he equaled that of Bière.

Jean-Luc Janz (lower gallery, right) just made it into the top ten for the first time this season. Fabio Gubitosi, who has yet to match his earlier performances in the OPC Challenge, the visibly disappointed Marcel Landolt, Janz' partner Cédric Moulin and Flavio Corezzola took the remaining places.

Classification Suzuki Swiss Racing Cup Slalom Bure

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