Suzuki Cup: Sandro Fehr takes the lead

Sandro Fehr was no more nervous than usual before the morning race at the ACS Thurgau car racing days in Frauenfeld. The tension, however, was visible in his face. He proved in Ambri in 2022 that he can win, but in the previous three runs he was still missing fractions of a second. If the amateur speleologist from Rorschacherberg wanted to stay on the ball in the championship, he would have to beat the host Marcel Muzzarelli.

Victory with the crowbar
What Sandro Fehr (upper gallery, left) then conjured up on the 3.2-kilometer angular course between the 49 gates was spectacular. The semislicks from Yokohama, which perfectly matched the lightweight Suzuki Swift Sport Hybrid, emitted noises in every corner, indicating the also visibly aggressive driving style. But was it also efficient enough?

It was her. After best time in the first run, Fehr improved by half a second in the second run. This meant the first victory of the season.

Sandro Fehr: "That was with a crowbar, everywhere I was about to take off. Two or three times it even set me up. That was the very last groove according to the motto either or."

The master shows what is feasible
Fabian Eggenberger even improved by a whole second and thus fixed the second place with 0.37 behind. Marcel Muzzarelli (upper gallery center) finished the first attempt even faster than Fehr, but had touched a pylon. Although he had to drive safely and cleanly afterwards, the president of the ACS Sports Commission Thurgau, which organized the event, managed the third-best time.

With the practice from the first race, everyone went a little more briskly in the afternoon - most of all Fabian Eggenberger (upper gallery right). The champion managed a dream run with the last shot, which was one second faster than those of Fehr and Muzzarelli, who were separated by only three hundredths.

Thus, the Zurich secured the first victory in the Suzuki Cup for the newly formed Team 77, synonymous with the year of the pilots.

Fabian Eggenberger: "I had heard how aggressively Sandro drove to victory in the morning. After my first run was clean, I also tried out what was feasible and was a little faster everywhere."

Change at the top of the table
Fehr could also live very well with second place, because it meant he was once again ahead of Muzzarelli and took two more points from him. With Eggenberger's help, who had intervened in the morning race, Sandro was able to snatch the lead of the standings from the multi-champion and extend it to four points.

Marcel Muzzarelli: "Unfortunately I didn't reach my time from practice. In both races I messed up the first run a bit. I don't remember the last time I had a gate error in the first run. Now I just have to be classified twice ahead of Sandro..."

It will not be easy. Next Saturday it's off to the courage track of Bure, where Ambri double winner Patrick Flammer returns to the action and is always strong. In Frauenfeld Reto Steiner scored for the Flammer Speed Team as seventh in the first race and the surprising Alexander Ullrich (middle gallery left) as sixth in the second race. In the first Frauenfeld race, the German native of Glarus was even fifth - he has never finished so far ahead.

In fourth place, Rico Thomann (center gallery, right) missed his first podium by more than 1.2 seconds. In the fifth race of the season, the man from Winterthur would again have finished fourth instead of fifth had it not been for a scoring error. So newcomer Stefan Glanzmann (middle gallery center), who is obviously learning very quickly, was pleased to finish fourth and achieve his first top result.

Michaël Béring was somewhat at a loss. As in Ambri, the winner of the opening race in Bière had to settle for midfield positions (6th and 7th). He had not been aggressive enough and had not skied cleanly enough. Nevertheless, the man from Le Locle finds this funny and he is fully motivated for the last two races in nearby Bure and in Chamblon (June 25).

From the screen to the racetrack
In ninth place twice, Fabio Gubitosi placed right in the middle of the 17-strong field. The picture on the ranks behind also looked almost the same twice.

Salar Bahrampoori (lower gallery), best known from Swiss television, attracted special attention. The son of an emigrated Iranian and a Swiss woman with a Grisons dialect drove the "works car" from Safenwil as Suzuki brand ambassador. With an improvement from 9.78 to only 7.96 seconds behind the two race winners, the rookie did a very good job. It goes without saying that he had "mega fun". After his experiences at track days, for example with Fredy Barth, the racing bug has probably broken out in him.

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