Valais: Olivier Burris resigns as winner

HAPPY END OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER The 2019 Rallye du Valais lived on the duel between Olivier Burri and Mike Coppens. After his ninth victory at Switzerland's biggest event, Burri is retiring from active rallying. As the Valais season finale did not attract any top foreign drivers this time, despite the international TER and ERT series, the 60th edition of this traditional event was clearly [...]

Editorial - October 21, 2019

Olivier Burri celebrated his ninth victory with his team and at the same time his farewell to rallying (Photo: Jürg Kaufmann).

As the Valais season finale did not attract any top foreign drivers this time despite the international TER and ERT series, the 60th edition of this traditional event was clearly in Swiss hands. Only Belgian Pieter Tsjoen managed to move up to third place at the start before slipping off the wet track in his Skoda Fabia R5 Evo.

Routine against youth
After the local hero Sébastien Carron, who was expected by many, had decided not to take part, the 56-year-old veteran Olivier Burri on a Skoda Fabia R5, who had already won the RIV eight times, as well as the young Jérémie Toedtli, who was competing for the first time with one of the new VW Polo, were regarded as clear favorites.

The local Mike Coppens, Burri Junior, the successful defending champion Ivan Ballinari (all Skoda) and Cédric Althaus, who after the "Chablais" again brought a VW Polo from Sébastien Loeb Racing to the start, all had chances as outsiders.

Fast Coppens, unlucky Toedtli
The first stage on Thursday evening, with two extremely demanding night stages, held considerable dangers, but fortunately most pilots went about their work with the necessary caution. However, the SS "Croix-de-Coeur" above Verbier in particular classified relentlessly.

In the third SS at night, local hero Mike Coppens drove faster than ever before and thus laid the foundation for second place (Photo: Ramon Hänggi).

Not unexpectedly, Mike Coppens, who lives in this region, set the fastest time, and only Burri Senior was able to keep up to some extent. On the other hand, Ivan Ballinari, who has already been confirmed as the Swiss Rally Champion 2019, was not risky enough and already lost almost a minute in eighth place.

For co-favorite Toedtli, who was still the fastest in the 25.25-kilometer SS2 "Les Cols," the rally was already over when the Polo suddenly stopped due to an electrical defect. A long emergency repair initially brought relief, but in the end the driver from Neuchâtel did not reach the finish line in regulation.

Coppens puts pressure on Burri
On Friday, Coppens, who is excellently coached by co-driver Jamoul, showed his best side and quickly reduced his 21-second gap to leader Olivier Burri, which he had primarily built up in "Les Cols". After the first run on the circuit in Sion, he was almost level, as the Bernese-Jurassian lost significant ground due to a poor tire choice in the rain.

Olivier Burri led from the start in his Skoda Fabia R5, but remained under pressure from the surprising Coppens until halfway through the final stage (Photo: Peter Wyss).

On Friday evening, the starting position was still completely open with a difference of only 6.4 seconds. Ivan Ballinari came on strong and took third place after Tsjoen's departure, followed by Michaël Burri.

In five of the eight stages of the second leg, however, Jérémie Toedtli (driving without an SM classification under the SuperRally rules) was the fastest. The youngster thus proved that the advance praise from certain insiders was entirely justified.

Jérémie Toedtli was the fastest man with the VW Polo on eight of the 18 stages. Unfortunately, an electrical defect knocked him out of the decision early on (Photo: Jürg Kaufmann).

Master accident
On the first stage on Saturday morning it rained heavily. Ballinari again drove aggressively, but before the last bend his Skoda got out of control on the extremely slippery surface. The man from Ticino hit a candelabra with his right side 20 meters before the finish photo cell and was eliminated.

Burri and Coppens continued to battle it out at the front until the Valaisan lost 12 seconds to the leader in "Anzère 1" and then fumbled again on the circuit. From then on he resigned himself to second place, but still produced the best performance so far of his career, first promoted by Philippe Roux.

Ivan Ballinari drove towards third place. Shortly after this photo was taken, the champion crashed his Skoda Fabia R5 (Photo: Jürg Kaufmann).

Winner Burri keeps his promise
Olivier Burri was also able to take it easy and, after 18 special stages (213.8 kilometers), clinched his ninth victory in the Valais. His first four victories date back to the years 1993 to 1996, the eighth (on Group N Subaru) was 13 years ago. Because the garage owner from Belprahon had promised his family before the start that he would retire if he achieved the goal of a ninth victory at the RIV, which he had cherished for years, the career of the four-time Swiss rally champion ends here.

With the son on the podium
Son Michaël, who had moved up to third place after Ballinari's accident, saved the remaining podium spot from Cédric Althaus, although he had to make do with two-wheel drive in two stages due to a defective drive shaft. Althaus lost almost two minutes right at the start due to coordination problems with his new co-driver.

Althaus was also not particularly convincing on the second day with the optimal VW Polo. On Saturday, he got the car more and more under control, but despite his problems, he was still a good 20 seconds behind Burri junior at the finish.