Christian Merli 3rd in Slovenia

Christian Merli in his Nova Proto NP01 powered by a naturally aspirated Cosworth engine finishes third in the 31st edition of the Ilirska Bistrica hill climb in Slovenia, the penultimate round of the European hill climb championship.

Christian's comment

"Unfortunately it went as I’d predicted. The turbo cars had an advantage here. I knew right away that it was going to be difficult. On Saturday, in the first practice run it started raining when I was about to line up for the start. In this morning's practice run, the accelerator got stuck after the start. So I faced the race without any real testing and here I had to be at my best to aim for at least second place. Maybe nothing would have changed, but things are now more complicated. Mathematically I’m still in contention for the final victory, but it will be very, very difficult.”

The weekend in Slovenia

Overcast skies on Saturday in the first practice heat, and then rain turns the rankings upside down. Christian is 4th in Category 2, the sports racers, while Kevin Petit is 8th and his brother Sébastien 11th. The second session initiates with overcast skies and patches of damp on the track. The race management decides to postpone the run to the Sunday morning. Today the sports racers start for their practice in sunny weather with Seb and Kevin Petit in the lead, while Christian is seventh due to accelerator problems. In the first race run Sébastien Petit wins, 0"321 ahead of his brother Kevin and 0"884 ahead of Merli. The overall victory is by the sum of the times of the two race heats. In the second race heat in the afternoon, Kevin Petit with the Nova Proto Turbo wins, 0"803 ahead of his brother Sébastien, while Christian is third.

The final round

The final race of the 2025 European championship, the 43rd Buzetski dani in Croatia, is scheduled for 21 September.

The podium on accumulated times

1st Kevin Petit (Nova Proto NP01), 2nd Sébastien Petit (Nova Proto NP01-2) 0”482 behind, 3rd Merli (Nova Proto NP01 Cosworth) 1”778 behind.

Translation by Ruth Scheithauer