The KW Berg-Cup in Eschdorf: The weather takes a turn as well as some of the pilots

The European Hill Race was first of thirteen stages of the KW Berg Cup tour 2015. 64 participants enrolled in the legendary mountain championships and made their way to the Grand Duchy, making up 35% of the entire field.

The weather was chilly, windy and dry during the three training runs on Saturday, but it started to rain late in the evening, and continued for the duration of the event. Several harmless incidents caused the Sunday schedule to be affected so much that time remained for only two races, of which the fastest time in each case was evaluated. The rain leveled the field; wet set-ups had to be found for which the pilots had to find the appropriate sensitivity, a feat managed only by some in the second run which led to some spectacular changes in the ranking.

An example of this was Jörg Davidovic in the NSU mountain competition who, among 11 strong starters, was only able to storm to victory in the second Heat in front of Karsten Steinert and Frank Kleineberg. Or in the 1150 rectified touring car class. Though eventual winner Thomas Stelberg in the Schneider Polo 16V led from the start, Jörg Eberle was able to push Jürgen Hessberger (both in Fiat 127s) back into 3rd, taking 2nd place on his last run.

In order to remain at the front in the 1.4 litre field, Armin Ebenhöh had to drive flat out in his 16V Minichberger Scirocco. Canio Marchione from Luxembourg (Fiat 127) came 2nd and the Belgian Jérémy Doumont 3rd. Rankings changed markedly too in the 1600 class. At the end, Manfred Schulte won in his Nemeth engined Citroen AX Kit-Car, in front of Andre Stelberg in the VW Schneider RSB Corrado and Helmut Maier in his Spiess Golf 16V. The 2 litre class experienced another gala performance from Jörg Weidinger who won undisputedly in the BMW 318i STW. Behind him the places were decided in 100th of a second segments, with Polo G40 pilot Peter Naumann taking 2nd from Egidio Pisano in his Minichberger Golf STW in 3rd. It was similarly tight in the 3 litre class, with Keith Murray taking the field in his Audi 80 Quattro Turbo. Renault Laguna pilot Hans-Peter Wiebe came in 2nd, seven hundredths of a second behind the Englishman. Third was Bernhard Permetinger in the BMW M3 E30. Lancisti Norbert Handa managed a notable 4th from amongst 16 (!) 3 litre starters. In the silhouette racer "big" E2-SH class, Norbert Brenner and his Opel Vectra V8 DTM topped the rankings once again.

The most successful 2015 European Hill Race pilots in the KW 8V-Trophy in the individual classes are Jörg Eberle (1150), Marcel Hellberg (VW Polo / 1400), Benedikt Schulte (Citroen AX / 1600), Christian Auer (BMW 2002 / 2000) and Thomas Ostermann in the BMW E30 Hartge in the 3 litre class.

The start of the 28th KW Berg Cup season went extremely successfully, was exciting and full of promise. The next two tour events will be in Wolsfeld on Whitsun weekend and Saint Anton in Austria from the 29th to the 31st of May. May is also a genuine month of delight from the point of view of the mountain racing fans.