Weekend tip: Hill climb Ayent-Anzère
FOURTH RUN TO THE MOUNTAIN CHAMPIONSHIP The highest mountain race in Switzerland is one of all championships and has a correspondingly large field of riders. The vacation destination Anzère is also worth a weekend trip because of the ambiance. Around 250 drivers are registered for the 43rd edition of the Ayent-Anzère hill climb. It counts not only as the fourth round of the Swiss mountain championship and [...]
Around 250 drivers are registered for the 43rd staging of the Ayent-Anzère hill climb. It counts not only as the fourth round of the Swiss Hillclimb Championship and the Hillclimb Cup, but also for the Junior-SM, the Renault Clio Classic Cup and the Interswiss Trophy.
Not only the alpine region is unique, but also the infrastructure. The paddock is spread over three widely separated sites in Anzère, the highest destination of the eight Swiss mountain races at 1,500 meters.
So there are returns before the start and not after the end of a run. In changeable weather, as is to be expected next weekend, this is often tantamount to tire poker. At the start in Ayent, the race interruptions sometimes result in long waiting times during which the weather situation can change.
Favorites fire drills
Once a year, the race was dominated by the duel between champion Marcel Steiner and local hero Eric Berguerand. This year, however, both will start under special circumstances.
As reported, the Bernese will have to fall back on his soon-to-be historic Martini Mk77, as the engine damage to the LobArt has not yet been repaired. With the French sports car with the sonorous BMW six-cylinder engine, Steiner achieved his first of four stage victories so far in Anzère in 2010, at that time over the F3000 drivers Riva and Dufaux.
The driving and technical level in the Swiss mountain championship has risen since then. That's why the four-time champion has to stretch to match Eric Berguerand, Thomas Amweg and Robin Faustini in their three-liter V8 race cars.
It's not impossible to beat one or the other. Amweg and Berguerand first have to get their Lolas running properly. Both believe that they will finally achieve this in the fourth SM run.
And Faustini still needs practice with the newly acquired Reynard K01 to match his previous year's performance with the Reynard 92D (third overall), especially in Anzère.
Return of Joël Grand
The race in the two-liter class also promises to be exciting. Having previously only appeared on the entry lists, Joël Grand is also making a comeback on the track.
The man from the Valais contested his last race in mid-September 2017 in Les Paccots, where he surprisingly took the day's win in the rain. At that time, however, with a Tatuus Honda prepared by Bossy Racing. In the meantime, Grand has bought himself an original Formula Master, which Roland Bossy continues to use for him.
Grand familiarized himself with his new car during tests at the Anneau du Rhin this week.
Joel Grand: "I'm practically starting from scratch again. I have to get used to this original car and work out the setup. I hope I can compete with Balmer and Maurer - but I'm not competing to finish third..."
In contrast to Grand, who was already the fastest in the E2 SS-2000 before all three in Anzère (1'36.137 on the way to class victory in 2016), Christian Balmer and Marcel Maurer are already really on fire. Balmer leads the standings (still) tied on points with Steiner, and Maurer celebrated a surprising stage win at Massongex on July 8.
Bratschi or Schnellmann?
With the exception of Reto Meisel and Bruno Ianniello, the entire touring car elite will be at the start in Valais. Significantly, Meisel has held the absolute touring car record with the Mercedes SLK340 since last year and Ianniello with his Lancia Delta S4 since 2001 (!) in the IS group.
Both records could fall. Ronnie Bratschi was already close to Meisel's E1 record two years ago (which he improved again in 2017), and his Mitsubishi Evo VIII has since been significantly optimized. Last year's winner Roger Schnellmann also showed himself to be in good shape with his horsepower monster. One of the two is likely to win in Anzère if the technology holds up.
Due to his gearbox failure in Massongex, the winner in Group IS for the first time in two years was not Frédéric Neff (Josef Koch 2016 in Reitnau), which also meant that the defending champion lost the lead in the standings to Bratschi. If his Porsche GT3-R runs perfectly again, Neff could snatch another IS record.
But as I said - a lot also depends on the external conditions. These can influence a race more than the technology.
