3rd Annual Pan Car Masters – Report
The 3rd annual Pan Car Masters was held at the iconic MRTM Lostallo track in Switzerland. More than 50 racers from seven countries attended the race that saw the running of 1/8th Electric Stock, 1/8th Electric 4S Modified, Formula, Classic Formula as well as three Pro10 classes. As usual for Lostallo the weather was constantly changing with Thursday having mixed conditions, Friday being sunny and Sunday being very mixed again. The fastest class of the weekend was Pro10 Modified with about 120km/h top speed. Tobias Weist (VIP Performance) from Germany took the TQ from fellow countryman and teammate, Timo Schad. Schad and Roger Eiffler (Team Associated) shared a TQ round but Timo hold the upper hand in the tie-breaker.
The opening A-main started wet but the track dried up quickly. Tobias made a clever tyre choice and took an undefeated win with a lap margin on 2nd placed Patrick Vannieuwenhyse (VIP Performance) from Belgium. Markus Schneider (VIP Performance) from Switzerland in turn made a good tyre choice in A2 for the win from Tobias – again on a rapidly drying track. With Patrick A3 brought the third individual winner – this time in the rain. Thanks to the faster A1 it was Tobias with the overall from Patrik as Markus came in 3rd to round out the podium.
In Pro10 10.5T it was Timo Schad (VIP Performance) with the TQ thanks to three rounds wins. Roger Eiffler, piloting a Team Associated DIY car, came in 2nd thanks to a single round win. Timo’s dad Rainer (VIP Performance) came in 3rd after the qualifiers. The opening A-main would be held in dry conditions, however rain in A2 and A3 made things challenging for the fastest Pro10 Stock class. Timo would win A1, however Roger came out on top in the wet A2 and A3 for the overall from Timo and Rainer.
Pro10 13.5T saw the running of 235mm and 200mm cars. Swiss racer Roland Wild with a 235mm converted Team Associated car took the overall TQ from Germany’s Kai Asmer (Xray). Pascal Fässler (DRC) came in 3rd with him and Kai sharing a round TQ. The opening two A-mains would be held in dry conditions and Roland took quite easy wins for the overall from Pascal Fässler and Andi Frattaroli (Fenix).
The Formula class saw Dutch racer Martijn van der Heijden taking two round TQs for the overall with Leo Bottinelli and Roman Pichler coming in 2nd and 3rd with a round TQ each. In the mixed A-mains it was Leo with the smoothest throttle finger for wins in A1 and A3 with his Xray. Fenix’s Giacomo Moretti snatched A2 for the runner-up spot from Fenix teammate, Roman Pichler.
The slowest but probably the most beautiful class was Classic Formula that was held with Fenix Racing’s 1970’s Formula 1 cars. Wingless and equipped with rubber tyres the class proved to be a bit of a challenge on the huge track. Roman Pichler snatched the TQ with three round wins from his fellow countrymen Patrick Kölliker und Giacomo Moretti. In the dry opening main and the following wet mains it was Roman Pichler who proved to be unbeatable, taking the overall from Giacomo in 2nd and class inventor, Giorgio Favaretto in 3rd.
In the 1/8th Electric Modified class it was Andi Frattaroli (Serpent) with the win in A1, coming from 5th on the grid, however TQ Adrian Schafroth (Serpent) came in 1st in A2 and A3 for the overall. Andi had to settle for 2nd and in front of Germany’s Kai Asmer (Xray).
In the rigid suspension 1/8th Stock class it was Sascha Heuberger with the win from the 3rd spot on the grid. Manfred Ebener came in 2nd from Non-Merens Haupt who completed an all-Swiss and all-Buri podium.
The 4th annual Pan Car Masters will be held from the 29th to 31st of May 2020, again at the MRTM Lostallo track.
Thanks to Tobias Weist for the report.
