Christian Merli 3rd in Portugal
Scuderia Pintarally Motorsport driver Christian Merli finishes third overall at the 45th Rampa Internacional da Falperra near Braga in Portugal, the third round of the European hill climb championship. In his Nova Proto NP 01 Cosworth he tops the timesheet after the first run, but the second run is dominated by Czech driver Trnka in his Nova Proto NP 01 Turbo. Christian is third, 1”269 behind. The times of the two race runs are added together, and the reigning European champion is third overall, a mere 0”326 behind.
Interview with Christian
“I was sure to have achieved a good time in the second run. Then when I saw the first split I realised that I’d been seven tenths slower. It’s a shame, I did all I could, and when I got to the finish I was sure that I’d done well. You’re not allowed any mistakes at this race, and I’m third, just 6 hundredth of a second behind Trnka. Congrats to Iraola Lanzagorta and to him. The next round in early June is at Ecce Homo, Petr Trnka’s local hill.”
The weekend in Portugal
Sunny and cool weather on the practice day, where Merli took the lead in the first session on the 5.200 km track, 1”949 ahead of Germany’s Alexander Hin. In the second practice session, Christian remained in the lead, 1”611 ahead of Czech driver Petr Trnka in a Nova Proto Turbo NP 01 and 3”267 ahead of Spaniard Iraola Lanzagorta in another Nova Proto Turbo NP 01. The third practice run saw Christian leading again, the Czech driver 2”516 behind, and the Spaniard from Bilbao third, 2”741 behind.
In the first race run on Sunday the driver from Trentino was fastest, closely followed by the Spaniard, 0”366 behind, while the Czech was third, 1”209 behind. In the afternoon, Trnka took the lead in the second session, followed by Iraola Lanzagorta with Merli third, 1”269 behind. On accumulated times, victory went to the driver from Bilbao, with the Czech Trnka second and Merli third, 0”326 behind.
Classification on accumulated times
1st Iraola Lanzagorta (Nova Proto Turbo NP 01), 2nd Trnka (Nova Proto Turbo NP 01) 0”266 behind, 3rd Merli (Nova Proto NP 01 Cosworth) 0”326 behind.
The FIA European Hill Climb Championship programme
26 April: Rechbergrennen (Austria), 10 May: Subida al Fito (Spain), 17 May: Rampa da Falperra (Portugal), 7 June: Ecce Homo (Czech Republic), 14 June: Glasbachrennen (Germany), 28 June: Coppa Paolino Teodori (Italy), 19 July: Limanowa (Poland), 16 August: Saint-Ursanne (Switzerland), 30 August: Ilirska Bistrica (Slovenia), 20 September: Buzetski dani (Croatia).
Translation by Ruth Scheithauer