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| Race report by Beat Wälti |
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Saturday morning saw the track fill up with drivers keen to get in some practice. The circuit had been treated with sugar water, which meant it had fantastic grip right from the first lap. It quickly became clear that the lap record from last year would not stand for long. At 4 p.m., practice started in groups, and the lap times were recorded. The first four after these five-minute practice rounds:
1. Beat Wälti
2. Alexandre Amort
3. Traugott Schär
4. Petros Diamantogiannis |
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Afterwards, the circuit was opened again for free practice until 7 p.m.
Sunday began with weather that was equally as good as Saturday â“ brilliant sunshine in a fantastic mountain setting. |
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Practice in group order started at 9.15 a.m. This was followed by the three qualifying rounds before midday. Unfortunately, the full list from the qualifying rounds has gone missing in the meantime. The organisers have also unfortunately placed no ranking list on their website as yet. I can, however, remember the first four.
1. Beat Wälti, XRAY NT1
2. Alexandre Amort
3. Traugott Schär XRAY NT1
4. Petros Diamantogiannis XRAY NT1
New fastest lap: 19.6 seconds - Beat Wälti |
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After lunch came the quarter final followed by the semi final. The semi finals resulted in the following drivers joining the four direct qualifiers for the main final.
Philipp Hagnauer, Markus Bader, Giovanni Bonetti, Marco Reiser, Giacomo Moretti and Paulo Rodrigues.
The final was due to start at 4 p.m. All of the drivers were on the rostrum ready to start, and watching the black clouds rapidly moving in. It was going to rain â“ the only question was when, exactly? Then Philipp had a problem and the start was delayed for 10 minutes. |
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So, the race was set to start at 4.10 p.m., and the weather was holding out.
I got off to an extremely good start, but as I had fitted my car with very big tyres and increased the ride height, I was unable to keep up with the quickest cars in the first 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I was still in sixth place, but after the second fuel stop I was able to start working my way up the field. Each round, the tyre sizes became more suited the track. After 20 minutes, I was able to take the lead from Traugott and only had to hold on until I reached the finish line. |
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It looked like Traugott would take a great second place, with Petros in third. The last fuel stop was anounced and everything was running smoothly. Approx. two minutes later, however, Traugott suddenly had to make a pit stop with his rear right tyre completely worn away. As a result of this, Philipp was able to take third place. Not five minutes after the final finished, it started pouring down!
1. Beat Wälti XRAY NT1
2. Petros Diamantogiannis XRAY NT 1
3. Philipp Hagnauer
4. Traugott Schär XRAY NT 1
5. Alexandre Amort
6. Markus Bader
7. Giovanni Bonetti
8. Marco Reiser XRAY NT 1
9. Giacomo Moretti XRAY NT 1
10.Paulo Rodrigues |
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Lastly, I would like to thank the Aigle Racing Club for the brilliantly organised event. Thanks also to my mechanic Guido for the quick fuel stops and his help over the entire weekend, and of course to Hudy & XRAY and T&M Models for their support.
Cheers and until next time
Beat Wälti |
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