The seventh victory for Christian Merli in Poland
Christian Merli in his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM scores overall victory at a rainy 15th edition of the Hill Climb Limanowa, southeast of Krakow in Poland, the seventh of ten rounds of the European hill climb championship. The champion from Trentino has now won seven times on this track, which is 5.493 km long and where two race runs are held.
Christian’s comment at the finish
“This victory makes me very happy. I wasn’t expecting it. In the first race run I was racing with intermediate tyres, while Schatz was on slicks. It’s too important for us to win Group E2-SS, the single-seaters, because I already used one joker when I had to skip the race in the Czech Republic due to Pikes Peak. The rain had been forecast, and we had asked the organisers to move the first race run to Saturday and the second to Sunday morning. But it wasn’t possible. I like this race a lot. My opponent is fast, but we caught up in the second run. Everything worked perfectly, so that I was able to conquer the top step of the podium.”
The weekend in Poland
In the first free practice run on Saturday, on a dry surface, Merli is immediately first, ahead of Petr Trnka from the Czech Republic (Norma M20 FC) and his own team colleague Alexander Hin (Osella FA 30). When the official practice starts, Christian leads ahead of Hin. In the second run the reigning European champion again clocks the best time in 1’54”720, with Geoffrey Schatz from France (Nova Proto NP 01) 3”375 behind. On Sunday morning there is another free practice run, and the ranking is the same. The first race run is badly impacted by the rain, and there are many interruptions due to drivers running off the track. Merli takes the start on a humid surface. The winner is Schatz, 0”680 ahead of Christian. Before the second race run there is a thunderstorm. After a long wait it stops raining. The surface is humid and the race is started again. Merli attacks and tops the timesheet. On accumulated times he wins the Polish race 1”237 ahead of the Frenchman.
The podium on accumulated times
1st Merli (Osella FA 30), 2nd Schatz (Nova Proto NP 01) 1”237 behind, 3rd Hin (Osella FA 30) 7”786 behind.
The 2024 European Hill Climb Championship calendar
28 April: Rechbergrennen (Austria), 12 May: 52nd Subida al Fito (Spain), 19 May: 43rd Rampa Internacional da Falperra (Portugal), 2 June: 43rd Ecce Homo Sternberk (Czech Republic), 16 June: 26th Int. ADAC Glasbachrennen (Germany) 14 July: 53rd Trofeo Vallecamonica (Italy), 28 July: 15th Hill Climb Limanowa (Poland), 18 August: 79th Course de Côte de Saint-Ursanne (Switzerland), 1 September: 30th GHD Ilirska Bistrica (Slovenia), 15 September: 43rd Buzetski dani (Croatia).
Translation by Ruth Scheithauer