Christian Merli fourth in Germany

Christian Merli in his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM has placed fourth overall and first among the single-seaters at the 26th Int. ADAC Glasbachrennen, the fifth round of the European hill climb championship, at Bad Liebenstein in Thuringia in central Germany northeast of Frankfurt.

Merli explains
“A difficult weekend because of a crash in the third practice run. A front wheel suspension, the front extractor and the hood were damaged. Fortunately one of the local drivers was so kind to lend

me another hood. We worked until two in the morning. Today I did what I could trying not to make further mistakes, and I obtained victory in my group. My main objective remains Pikes Peak, and tomorrow I’m taking a direct flight from Frankfurt to Denver/Colorado.”

The weekend
In the first practice run Geoffrey Schatz from France in his Nova Proto NP01 finishes first, 1”520 ahead of Corentin Starck from Belgium (Nova Proto NP01-2). Merli, with intermediate tyres on his Osella FA 30 Judd LRM, achieves the third best time, 3”353 behind. In the second practice run Schatz is 1”338 ahead of Merli, who says that the surface is “very slippery”. The driver from Trentino, who has just returned from Colorado where he was doing tests in preparation for the race at Pikes Peak on 23 June, is first among the single-seaters. In the third run, Christian goes straight on a fast track and damages his car. He immediately starts working on fixing the damage to present himself at the start of the race on Sunday. Schatz dominates both the first and the second race heats, Christian finishes fourth overall and first among the single-seaters.

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