The third round of the Swiss Championship was held in Gland near Geneva. This is also the venue for the 2009 Euro B so we were anxious to find a good setup not only for this race but for the coming Euro next year. There were about 40 Expert drivers and 70 Amateur drivers. The track was very interesting, with all kinds of corners and a huge table/bridge, another steep jump and a whoops section with 11 jumps. The weather was great all weekend, almost too hot though as engine tuning was a bit tricky at times and we used more sunscreen than fuel.
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At the first practice session the car already seemed very fast and stable so I did not change a lot on the setup. I played around with the roll center a bit and ended up with the lowest roll center settings front and rear. Since this was a grass track there was a lot of grip to begin with.
I had some difficulties in the first qualifying round, making some mistakes and even having a flameout. I still ended up 4th as others made mistakes too and my flameout was luckily in the outlap. I couldn't improve much and fell back to 5th and then to 6th position.
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During the qualifying sessions the track changed a lot. The grass started to disappear and the setup could be made a bit softer meaning softer springs. The track did not get slower though, and the last heat was also my fastest heat, putting me back into 4th position for Sunday. The car handled very well and I was very confident for the next day.
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Sunday afternoon was my semi-final. I started in 2nd place and held it until the first pit stop. But then after the pit stop my engine flamed out; it was a bit too rich in the bottom end. I lost about half a lap and dropped back some places but soon I was in 3rd place again. The second pit stop went without problem; my mechanic Etienne held the car a bit longer to clear the engine out with a few throttle bursts. I finished the semi-final in 3rd place and got the 6th starting position for the final.
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The start to the final went great. I tried really hard to not get into a crash this time, took a wide line here and there and it paid off. After the first few corners I went from 6th up to 2nd place. Then for a few laps I followed the leader, Philippe Lachat, but then I made a mistake and landed on the roof. I dropped back to 4th or 5th but made my way back to 3rd place. I was in 3rd for some time and came ever closer to my teammate Marc Heim in 2nd. Soon I was behind Marc and we duelled for 2nd place. It was very interesting, even more so because he somehow managed to run for 10 minutes while I could only go 7? minutes. I knew I needed to pass him and make up one pit stop and this motivated me a lot. After a few laps together I passed him and started to make up ground. I knew I could not afford any mistakes so I didn't make any more until the end of the final. After the final pit stop I had a comfortable lead and could drive my second place home. Philippe Lachat won the race by only two thirds of a lap ahead of me.
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It was great to finish 2nd in a Swiss Championship round again, after back in 2006 when I had two 2nd places. One day I hope to win a Swiss championship race. Until then I'll keep trying! I'm also very confident that this year's end result will be very positive if the season continues like that. I'm now in 2nd place and hope to continue to collect points in every race.
Last but not least I'd like to thank my pit crew Etienne and Robin, and Stefan for the great pictures!
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The race from Marc Heim's perspective:
This week-end was great. Great weather, great track with jumps that had it all. Since it wasn't a permanent track, it changed all the time. At the beginning the car could be driven with very hard springs and anti-roll bars because of the huge grip the grass offers. After the qualifying heats I was
in 8th place. For the semi-final I changed the setup a bit, softer anti-roll bars and springs because the dirt and some holes already showed on the racing line. My car handled very well in the semi-final and it was a huge surprise for me to drive to a 2nd starting place for the final. The final started badly though with a first corner crash. After that I worked my way to the front. The car was so fast that after the first pit stop I was in 2nd place again. Then followed the duel with my teammate Robin. In the end I came in 3rd. It was a great racing weekend and my XB808 adapted very well to the
ever-changing track conditions and was very easy to drive. I would like to thank my pit crew for the great job with the 10 minute runs. I'm looking forward to the next race!"
1. Philippe Lachat 2. Robin Frischkopf - XRAY XB808
3. Marc Heim - XRAY XB808
4. Patrick Hofer
5. Michael Kallen
6. Patrick Hess
7. Gregory Jakob
8. Jeremy Pittet
9. Joachim Kallen
10. Roman Kummer
11. Thomas Hofer
12. Christophe Plancherel
