Weekend report: Swiss teams scored points here đ„
WELL DONE IMSA drivers Louis Delétraz and Philip Ellis topped the podium at the 12-hour race in Sebring. However, they were not the only Swiss drivers to celebrate at the weekend.
Auto Sport Award winner Louis Delétraz continues to ride the wave of success. The 26-year-old from Geneva, who drives for Acura-Andretti in the USA, celebrated his first win of the season in the 12-hour race in Sebring as part of the IMSA. Delétraz overtook race leader Sébastien Bourdais in the final stint and won with a mini-lead of 0.8 seconds. Thanks to the victory in Sebring (and third place in the opening race in Daytona), Delétraz and his two team-mates Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor are now level on points with the Porsche-Penske of ex-Sauber F1 driver Felipe Nasr at the top of the overall standings.
Philip Ellis' success in the GTD class
However, Delétraz' victory in the prototype class was not the only Swiss success. Philip Ellis (center gallery) from Zug, who drives a Mercedes AMG GT3 for Winward Racing, repeated his triumph in the opening race and, after the 24 Hours of Daytona, has now also won the 12 Hours of Sebring in the GTD class. In contrast to Delétraz, Ellis is the sole leader in his class with the maximum number of points.
Kilian Josseron victorious in Lonato
Kilian Josseron (left gallery) also provided another Swiss highlight at the weekend. The 13-year-old kart driver from Duillier in the canton of Vaud won the Trofeo Andrea Margutti in Lonato. Josseron started from 6th on the grid and finished third. Afterwards, he benefited from two five-second penalties against the two riders in front of him. There was also almost a Swiss victory in the senior category. Christian Canonica from Ticino missed out on his biggest success to date in the OKN category by just 0.2 seconds. Tiziano Kuznini finished fifth in the same race. Albert Tamm finished 6th in the minis (over 10s).
SĂ©bastien Buemi best Swiss driver
There is no success story to report from a Swiss perspective in Formula E. SĂ©bastien Buemi was the best Swiss driver in tenth place at the e-Prix in SĂŁo Paulo, but has slipped to 10th place in the overall standings after 4 of 16 races. Edoardo Mortara (12th) and Nico MĂŒller (out) are still waiting for their first points. Mortara at least had a ray of hope with 6th place in qualifying. MĂŒller retired due to an overheating problem. Victory went to Briton Sam Bird.
Jonathan Hirschi (gallery, right) did not quite make it into the top 10 at the Le Touquet Rally. The 2022 and 2023 Swiss champion finished 11th in his second outing in France in a Citroën C3.
Photos: IMSA, Josseron archive, Cornevaux
Source: Auto Sport Switzerland
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