Simonhöhe Hillclimb (AUT) – Hermann Waldy wins home race

 

 

It was a thriller race and finally Hermann Waldy sen. pulled a 0.2 sec advantage over his strongest competitors Alexander and Patrick Zajelsnik (SLO). The 3 runs were overshadowed by several crashes and incidents which caused the race to be red flaged again and again. Hot and sunny weather (30°C) and a massive spectator crowd followed the extremely close battle between the top 5 drivers. in heat 1 Alexander Zajelsnik was fastest in his Osella PA20S BMW closely followed by Hermann Waldy sen. and his younger brother Patrick Zajelsnik driving a Norma Mugen V8. Also Marjan smrdelj and Nic Brebsom weren´t far off the best times although both could not pull close enough to be a realistic podium contender.

In race 2 Waldy managed to pull a gap big enough to remain on top after the third heat. On his last attempt to better the time misfortune struck for Alexander Zajelsnik, who went off at turn11 and crashed his Osella heavily. Luckily the driver escaped unhurt.

Marjan Smrdelj had a perfect third run to finish 5th over all and second in class. Nic Brebsom finished 13th over all and 4th in class.

Misfortune for Antoine Lombardo, who had an electric gremlin in his car all weekend. He retired his car after warmup on sunday.