Christian Merli racing at the Coppa Teodori at Ascoli/Italy
It is the 62nd Coppa Paolino Teodori at Ascoli in the central Italian Marche region on Sunday, the 6th round of the European hill climb championship, which also counts for the Italian hill climb championship CIVM. So far Christian Merli has clearly won all European championship rounds: France, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Czechia. After his one-off appearance in the Trento–Bondone round of the CIVM with the Osella PA 21 4C Turbo, the champion from Trentino is returning to the wheel of his FA 30 Judd LRM.
The track of the race in Marche
“Rather special, with quite a slippery surface. Two runs of 5.031 km each. The first section is mixed with narrow bends, followed by a straight stretch in the middle, a series of hairpins, and then the final stretch with a chicane that doesn’t suit us very well. But we’ll do our best to take home precious points for the European championship.”
Merli 4th at the Trento–Bondone
“I’m not happy with our performance with the Osella PA 21 4C on our local hill. Right from the start of the single race heat the 1170 cm3 supercharged engine didn’t do very well, similar to what we’d seen before. The car has great potential and we’re continuing to develop it. Temperatures went up substantially during the race. The engine went off twice towards the end and I had a hard time making it to the finish. On Saturday I’d caught up to the opponent before me in the three final hairpins and so I was optimistic, but on Sunday I lost twenty seconds compared to the second practice session. I’d hoped to do better.”
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