Christian Merli 2nd in Sardinia

Christian Merli in his Osella FA 30 Zytek LRM finishes 2nd overall at the 59th Alghero – Scala Piccada, the 4th round of the Italian hill climb championship CIVM. Simone Faggioli takes the win in his Norma M20 FC, and now the two hill climb protagonists, Merli and Faggioli, are jointly leading the championship standings at 70 points each. The two race heats at each event count separately.

Christian’s comments
“There was a big gap to the leader in Race 1 today. Of course we’re disappointed. Race 2 went better and we improved, but we’re not happy. At least we have won our group E2-SS, the single-seaters, in all races. The championship? We have taken the victory at Nevegal and Gubbio, while Faggioli has been ahead of us in Popoli and here. Three more races to go: Cividale, Monte Erice and Luzzi.”

The 59th Alghero – Scala Piccada
The event this weekend was the 59th Alghero – Scala Piccada in Sardinia, the 4th round of the Italian hill climb championship CIVM. Two race heats of 5.100 km each, instead of the 6.285 km foreseen in the programme.

Practice
In the first practice session on Saturday Christian Merli tops the timesheet in 2’20”19 in his Osella FA 30 Zytek LRM. Simone Faggioli in his Norma M20 FC is 1”69 behind. The second session is a photocopy of the first in terms of ranking, but the Team Blue City Motorsport leader stops the clock 3” sooner, while Faggioli narrows the gap to 0”74.

The race
In Race 1 Faggioli overturns the predictions from practice, taking the lead in 2’14”44, 3”26 ahead of Merli. In Race 2 in the afternoon Faggioli is again first. Christian narrows the gap to 1”49.

The podium of Race 1
1st Faggioli (Norma M20 FC), 2nd Merli (Osella FA 30 Zytek LRM) 3”26 behind, 3rd Degasperi (Osella FA 30) 7”01 behind.

The podium of Race 2
1st Faggioli (Norma M20 FC), 2nd Merli (Osella FA 30 Zytek LRM) 1”49 behind, 3rd Degasperi (Osella FA 30) 5”73 behind.

The calendar of the 2020 Italian hill climb championship CIVM
13 Sep: 59th Alghero – Scala Piccada (Sardinia), 4 Oct: 43rd Cividale – Castelmonte (Friuli–Venezia Giulia), 25 Oct: 62nd Monte Erice (Sicily), 15 Nov: 25th Luzzi – Sambucina (Calabria)

Ruth Scheithauer