In front of 20,000 spectators

Race of records! Times tumbled on the Rechberg

PS spectacle thrilled around 20,000 fans at the track for the 50th anniversary of the Rechberg race. Several records were broken and Christian Merli's winning streak came to an end.

Thousands of fans witnessed the fastest Rechberg race in history yesterday. Frenchman Geoffrey Schatz beat the record set last year in both races and won the "Grand Prix of Austria" for the first time.

Serial winner dethroned
Schatz had already been fastest in the training runs on Saturday in his more than 600 hp "Nova NP 01-2 C Honda Turbo" prototype. Yesterday, he set the track record in the first run in 1:43.424 minutes and was only 0.126 seconds slower in the second attempt. In the end, that was enough for overall victory.

I didn't even have time to set up the car properly. I just wanted to get up the hill somehow.

Rechberg-Sieger Geoffrey Schatz

"This was my first time driving this new car and I didn't even have time to set it up properly. I just wanted to get up the hill somehow," Schatz expressed his surprise. Italian Christian Merli, who had won every Rechberg race since 2016, was beaten by 1.574 seconds.

Schagerl also sets a record
Christoph Lampert from Vorarlberg was the best-placed Austrian in eighth place in the internationally strong competition, which also marks the start of the European Mountain Championships.

The second-best Austrian driver was Karl Schagerl, who had every reason to be happy: in his 800 hp VW Golf, he not only defended his class victory, but also improved his own track record for touring cars by over two seconds to 1:54.177 minutes.

The best Styrian participant was once again Rupert Schwaiger (76), who placed 20th in his 25-year-old Porsche 911. A total of 197 of the 247 drivers entered made it into the rankings. All accidents were minor, so that all drivers were able to leave the Rechberg in good health. And hopefully they will return next year...