Christian Merli 1st among the E2-SC 2000 in Croatia

Behind the wheel of the Osella PA 21 4C Turbo LRM Christian Merli finishes second overall at the 17th Nagrada Grada Skradina hill climb in Croatia. He is first among the E2-SC with the 500 kg two-seater open sports car with a 1170 cm3 Peugeot turbo engine which produces 400 hp. The 3.385 km track is situated between Zadar and Split, about 400 km from Trieste/Italy.

Practice
In the first practice run on Saturday Robin Faustini from Switzerland scores the best time in his Osella FA 30, 1”80 ahead of Christian. The ranking remains the same in the second run, whereas in the third, free practice run the driver from Trentino is 0”56 ahead of the Swiss.
There are three race runs scheduled, with the slowest time to be discarded.

The race
In the first race run Faustini is 0”76 faster than Merli. In the second race run the roles are again reversed, with the Scuderia Vimotorsport driver ahead of Hin from Germany and Faustini. The third run is cancelled because of the rain.

Christian’s comments
“It’s a pity that it began to rain. In the first session we went for a medium tyre compound, but the surface was cold and the car didn’t have enough grip in the back. The second session went very well, even though a slide towards the end cost us precious time. So we’re second overall and first among the two litres. We also established a new group record. I’m happy, since the Osella PA 21 4C Turbo LRM is beginning to show good results.”

A very good test
“Definitely. This is a beautiful place, the organisers are very hospitable, and friends and fans had also asked us to be there. There were going to be three practice runs and three race runs. The track has a number of medium-slow bends, with straights to be taken in sixth gear.”

The podium on accumulated times of both runs
1st Faustini (Osella FA 30), 2nd Merli (Osella PA 21 4C Turbo LRM) 0”67 behind, 3rd Hin (Osella FA 30) 8”02 behind.

Translation by Ruth Scheithauer