First podium finish in the USA

At the IMSA race at Road America, Fabio Scherer secured a podium finish in the USA for the first time in his career. And with a little luck, even more would have been possible.

Firstly, things don’t happen and secondly, things don’t happen as you think. Fabio Scherer was enjoying his well-deserved holiday last week when he received a call from his team High Class Racing on Wednesday asking him to step in for Anders Fjordbach (DK), who had injured his back, at the seventh round of the IMSA Wheater Tech Sprint Cup.

Without any knowledge of the track, Scherer jumped in on Friday morning, but immediately felt at home on the track in Elkhart Lake in the state of Wisconsin and also set competitive times very quickly. “The track is typical US style,” says Scherer. “It goes up and down. It’s fast and varied – just the way I like it.”

At midday on Saturday, Scherer and his Danish teammate Dennis Andersen created a good starting position for the race over 2 hours and 40 minutes by qualifying 4^th. “Dennis drove a super lap,” Scherer says. “That gave us a starting position on the second row in our class, the LMP2.”

In the race, the Oreca LMP2 with the #20 was always within striking distance of the top. In the end, it was enough for third place. The joy for Scherer, who is supported by STOBAG, ATS Banding System and Wexler, was accordingly great. “It feels good when you get into the cockpit straight from your holidays and then stand on the podium for the first time in the USA. I could get used to that feeling.”

With a bit of luck, it could have been even more than “just” third place for Scherer and Andersen. “It was a pretty chaotic race,” says the 23-year-old from Engelberg. “At the end, the teams ahead of me had to save fuel. If there hadn’t been a safety car five minutes before the end of the race, I probably would have caught them.”

For Scherer, the season in the USA comes to an end on October 1^st with the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Before he will contest the 4h races in Barcelona (E) at the end of August and Spa-Francorchamps (B) at the end of September as part of the European Le Mans Series for his team Inter Europol Competition.