Christian Merli takes victory in Poland

Christian Merli conquers the top step of the podium at the 12th edition of the Hill Climb Limanowa, fifth of the seven rounds of the European Hill Climb Championship. In his Osella FA 30 Zytek LRM he clearly dominates in practice as well as in the two race heats, establishing a new track record at 1’49”841. So far, he has won in Spain, the Czech Republic and Poland this season.

Christian’s enthusiastic comments
“I’m very happy. Overall victory and a new track record. I got on well with the Osella right from the first few practice runs. The setup was perfect, and everything went smoothly. A few moments of worry before each of the two race heats because of a few drops of rain. It was over very quickly. I’m happy for the team and for the friends who support me. Now there are just two events left, Slovenia at end-August and Croatia in September.”

Practice
The first free practice run on the 5.493 km track on Saturday. The sky is cloudy. Merli tops the timesheet with 1’58”468, followed by Faggioli. In the first official practice session the Trentino driver leads with 1’54”462. Faggioli in his Norma M20 FC is 3”421 behind. The second official practice run is held in the afternoon. Merli is first, Faggioli 4”553 behind.

The day of the race
In the warm-up run, Christian comes in 3”737 ahead of Faggioli. In the first race heat Merli wins and breaks the track record in 1’50”412. Faggioli is second, 2”591 behind. In the second race heat in the afternoon, Merli sets yet another record in 1’49”841. Faggioli is second, 4”171 behind, and the Czech driver Petr Trnka in his Norma M20 FC is third.

The podium on accumulated times
1st Merli (Osella FA 30 Zytek LRM), 2nd Faggioli (Norma M20 FC) 6”762 behind, 3rd Trnka (Norma M20 FC) 12”618 behind, 4th Degasperi (Osella Gea FA 30) 14”448 behind.

The European Hill Climb Championship calendar
9 May: 54th Rampa de Boticas (Portugal), 16 May: 49th Subida al Fito (Spain), 30 May: 40th Ecce Homo Sternberk (Czech Republic), 27 June: 60th Coppa Paolino Teodori (Italy), 25 July: 12th Hill Climb Limanowa (Poland), 29 August: 27th GHD Ilirska Bistrica (Slovenia), 19 September: 40th Buzetski Dani (Croatia).

Ruth Scheithauer