Silver for Christian Merli in Austria

Christian Merli in his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM has finished second at the first round of the European Hill Climb Championship, the 50th Rechbergrennen at Tulwitz north of Graz in Austria on Sunday. He is first among the single-seaters. There were three official practice runs on the shortened track of 4.440 km on Saturday and two race runs on Sunday, with the two Sunday times added up for the final classification.

The comment of the Scuderia Vimotorsport driver
“First of all, congratulations to Schatz with his Nova Proto NP 01-2 C Honda Turbo. He had a great race. We’re close behind him, second overall and first among the E2-SS, the single-seaters. It all went as I had expected. We knew that Schatz would be strong. Pushing to the limit in the first race run I took a spin before a very fast left-hand bend and my wheels ended up on the gravel. In the second run we narrowed the gap to only 0”218.”

Practice
In the first practice run on Saturday Geoffrey Schatz from France behind the wheel of the Nova Proto NP 01-2 C Honda Turbo is first, 0”333 ahead of Merli with the Osella FA 30 Judd LRM. In the second run the Frenchmen wins again; with his powerful supercharged engine he is 0”725 ahead of the reigning European champion. The third run sees Geoffrey 0”501 ahead of Christian.

Race
In the first race run, Schatz posts the fastest time and is still 1”356 ahead of Merli. In the second race run, Christian narrows the gap to only 218 thousandths of a second.

The classification on accumulated times
1st Schatz (Nova Proto NP 01-2 C Honda Turbo), 2nd Merli (Osella FA 30 Judd LRM) 1”574 behind, 3rd Iraola Lanzagorta (Nova NP01) 2”692 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 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