Christian Merli at the 14th Hill Climb Limanowa in Poland
After a 1200 km trip Christian Merli has arrived at Limanowa, southeast of Krakow in Poland. On Sunday he will race his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM at the 14th edition of the Hill Climb Limanowa, the seventh of the ten rounds of the FIA European Hill Climb Championship. The Scuderia Vimotorsport driver recently won at Ascoli/Italy, establishing a new track record, thus continuing his winning streak which began in France. In between came the victories in Austria, Spain, Portugal and Czechia. Merli is currently leading the Category 2 ranking of the European championship (sport racing cars) with maximum points (150), followed by Joseba Iraola Lanzagorta from Spain (129) and Petr Trnka from Czechia (111).
The race programme at Limanowa
“Saturday starts with a free practice run to check 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 there are two race heats. It starts with a slippery right-hand bend. In fact, the surface is slippery for almost half of the track. 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. Last year we raced in the wet and won. For now the weather forecast is mixed, but we’ll do our best as always.”
The 2023 European Hill Climb Championship calendar
16 April: Col Saint-Pierre (France), 30 April: Rechbergrennen (Austria), 7 May: 51st Subida al Fito (Spain), 21 May: 42nd Rampa Internacional da Falperra (Portugal), 4 June: 42nd Ecce Homo Sternberk (Czech Republic), 18 June: 62nd Coppa Paolino Teodori (Italy), 2 July: 14th Hill Climb Limanowa (Poland), 20 August: 78th Course de Côte de Saint-Ursanne (Switzerland), 3 September: 29th GHD Ilirska Bistrica (Slovenia), 17 September: 42nd Buzetski Dani (Croatia).
Translation by Ruth Scheithauer