Christian Merli racing in Poland

Christian Merli has arrived at Limanowa, southeast of Krakow in Poland. On Sunday he will race his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM at the 13th edition of the Hill Climb Limanowa, the sixth of the nine rounds of the FIA European Hill Climb Championship. So far he has won all the championship rounds – in France, Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic and Italy –, and he is leading the provisional Category 2 classification with maximum points (125), followed by the Czech driver Trnka (95) and the German Hin (66).

The race programme at Limanowa
“Saturday starts with a free practice run to try out the car and the track. Then two official practice sessions and another free practice run. One more optional practice session on Sunday morning, then two race heats.”

The track
“It is 5.493 km long and starts with a slippery right-hand bend. In fact, the surface is slippery for almost half of the track. The rest of the surface has been redone and the bumps have been eliminated. The track is fast with a couple of hairpins and a series of double bends to be taken in high gears. It’s a great event and we hope for good weather. We won here in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and in 2021 we took the victory establishing the new record of 1’49”841.”

The European Hill Climb Championship calendar
31 July: 13th Hill Climb Limanowa (Poland), 21 August: 77th Course de Côte de Saint Ursanne (Switzerland), 4 September: 28th GHD Ilirska Bistrica (Slovenia), 18 September: 41st Buzetski Dani (Croatia).

Ruth Scheithauer