Christian Merli out for a positive experience at Vallecamonica

The entire elite of hill climbing will be there, and for Christian Merli it will be an opportunity to regain familiarity with the European hills and with his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM after the long and demanding trip to the United States. In fact, this weekend is dedicated to the 53rd Trofeo Vallecamonica near Brescia in northern Italy, the only race of the season valid for both the European hill climb championship and the Italian Supersalita championship, a really tough test, which none of the protagonists of the two competitions wants to miss.

Christian will be at the start with the number 34, the last of the E2-SS group. The subsequent very large E2-SC group includes Geoffrey Schatz (Nova Proto NP01), who will start with the number 41 and with whom Christian is fighting for the lead in Category 2 of the European championship: the two are separated by 25 points with five rounds to go.
Friday is the day of scrutineering and administrative checking, Saturday sees the practice sessions, starting at 8.00. Sunday is the day of the race, also starting at 8.00. The track is 8591 metres long and goes from Malegno (altitude 350 metres) to Borno (912 metres), passing through Ossimo; there are two race heats. The average gradient is 6.19%.
«The track has a winding first section and a much faster second section," Christian explains, "almost as if they were two different races in one. It’s the longest in the European championship and the competition will be fierce. Hoping that the weather doesn't bring any surprises, I’ll try to do my best and above all to find that positive feeling again that I’ve been missing for a while. The trip to the US was hard and definitely left its mark».