Stefan Langer is SGP World Champion
Stefan Langer from Germany won the SGP world Series XI. Erik Borgmann from Netherlands took 2nd place and Hermann Leucker from Germany took 3rd place after a gripping final race at SGP Final Pavullo.
To see the full results go to https://sgpfinal23.sgp.aero/results
The fleet launched on the final race with cumulus popping above Pavullo airport. Nine pilots were very close in the scoring and any one of them could win the world champion title if they won the day and gained the 11 points that the first pilot would be awarded on this day.
The task was 248km in good mountain soaring conditions.
Sebastian Kawa had a strong start and climbed high, which enabled him to take the further side of the ridge from the rest of the fleet and push into the lead.
As they headed into the first turnpoint, Kawa was in the lead at 2000m followed by Alberto Sironi, while the main group were 600m below at around 1300-1500m.
Stefan Langer was low and appeared to be struggling, probably because he tried a different track. Tilo Holighaus was also lower and towards the rear of the fleet. But commentator Stefano said, 'The critical point on this task is the second turnpoint.'
As Kawa reached the first turnpoint, Langer and Gilles Navas had also climbed up to above 2100m. Kawa had flown a convergence line, without turning since his initial climb, and was in a strong leading position, but closely followed by Alberto Sironi.
On the second leg, Kawa flew east of track following the ridge line. This leg was only 11km and it looked as if he had made a mistake and was flying to the wrong turnpoint, leaving Sironi in the lead. He soon changed direction but lost his lead position.
Sironi turned the second turnpoint well ahead of Luka Z and Maximillian Seis. The remainder of the fleet were strung out with Mike Young at the back with Tilo.
The third leg was 117km and Sironi was over 1700m followed by Dirk Windmüller, who had yet to score any points in the contest.
Half way down the leg, Sironi held on to his lead followed by Seis and was now closely followed by Langer and Thomas Gostner. But Sironi eventually got lower down to 1600mm while Gostner found a strong climb to over 2200m in the company of Hermann Leucker, putting them in a good position to catch Sironi.
Sironi made the third turnpoint first and soon stopped to climb. Gostner was in a very good position, higher with no need to climb as they started down the 48km fourth leg with a 6km dash to the finish.
Gostner stopped to gain even more height to over 2200m while Sironi was now in a bad position at 1000m, although he was still in the lead.
A large group of pilots were behind Gostner with good altitude as well as he went into the turnpoint.
Sironi eventually found a climb with about 55km to go. With 40km left in the race, Sironi had managed to keep his lead by following a good line of energy, and Gostner no longer had an altitude advantage. Hermann Leucker reached final climb altitude, which enabled him to head straight for the finish.
Sironi and Gostner were 3km apart as Sironi approached final glide altitude. As these two pilots searched for good energy lines to get enough altitude to get home, the next group of pilots had final glide and were able to fly faster, and quickly gained on the leaders.
Gostner found better energy as they approached the final turnpoint. But Sironi climbed on the final ridge before the final turn as Gostner quickly caught up with him. Gostner ended up a bit higher and half a kilometer ahead and the dash to the finish between these two pilots was on. Gostner reached the final turn first with just 6km left to go.
Thomas Gostner crossed the line first, but due to penalties incurred in this fast and highly competitive race, the final results for the day and the championship were subject to change.
Hermann Leucker finished in 1st place for the day with Thomas Gostner taking 2nd place and Marek Sawczuk 3rd place on the final race of the series.
To see the full results go to https://sgpfinal23.sgp.aero/results
Sean Young
