Oskar Merz

Weisstannen, Switzerland

**Oskar Christian Bösch Merz** is a Swiss rally driver. He competed in the Swiss national rally championship from 1991 to 1994 and will be competing in the World Rally Championship from 1995.

## Rally Career

### **Swiss National Rally Championship (1991 - 1993)**

#### **1991**

Oskar would make his rally debut in the 1991 Swiss rally, entering as a private entry for the last two rounds of the Swiss national rally. Oskar drove a Opel Manta GT/E alongside his Austrian co-driver Johannes Scherz (Brother of Stefan Scherz) in the A3 class.

**Round 7: Rallye de Court**

Despite stages 4 and 11 being cancelled, the rally would go ahead anyway and began on 12th October in cold but dry conditions with ice forming on some of the more elevated stages.

Oskar would complete the rally with a time of 1:38:54, placing him 24th out of 30th drivers and 3rd in class, completing a successful debut.

**Round 8: International du Valais**

Oskar's form shown in round seven would not continue after he faced reliability issues in the early rounds before eventually being forced to retire with problems surrounding the airfilter after 150km of driving in stage 13.

#### **1992**

For 1992 he would take more of a committed approach to the season. He would take part in five of the nine rallies; rounds 1, 4, 6, 7 and 9. He excluded rallies outside Switzerland, claiming "I don't even have a passport. How could I rally in Italy or France anyway?"

This season he signed with the Lugano Racing Team who were running Lancia Delta Integrales and were mainly competing at the front of the grid in the A5 class against the Ecurie Basilisk team as well as the Lugano Racing Team who were running Mitsubishi Galant's and Toyota Celica's respectively. His teammates would be Karl Valts and Nico Büchi, who were both running full time schedules while Leonardo Camenisch filled in for Oskar in the rounds he didn't take part in.

For his first round with LRT, Oskar would struggle to get used to the handling characteristics and the speed of the Lancia, primarily struggling in the wet conditions in the 100km of the first leg. However, by the end of the rally he would work his way back up to 6th overall and 4th in the A5 class with a full time of 2:36:42 and taking two stage wins in the process.

The following rounds would improve for the Swiss driver. Despite struggles with reliability leaving him out of rounds 4 and 7, Oskar would secure several stage wins and would even come 2nd in the final round.

#### **1993**

For 1993 Oskar would take part in all nine rallies and take his most successful season yet despite being involved in a major crash in the first event where he would be left unconscious nearing the end of the second leg after missing the braking point for a hairpin. The crash sent his car flying off the edge. Despite the perceived danger of his crash Merz, alongside his co-driver Johannes Scherz, would escape with minimal injuries. Despite their lucky escape, the car was ruined and the pair were forced to retire from the rally.

Following this however, the pairing would be very successful in the coming events, winning four of the rounds outright and finishing in the top 8 for all the rest. They did not often win individual stages but stayed around the top of the timing sheets to keep in contention for victory after others made errors.

Oskar was set to take second place until at the final round in Disentis when his main championship rival would suffer a huge crash and would be unable to continue due to car damage. Following this Merz would take, in a turn of events which at first seemed quite unlikely, the lead of the championship and would go on to win.

### **FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup**

#### **1994**

Following his successes in Switzerland, Oskar had gathered enough attention to move up to the 2-Litre World Rally Cup, He was signed to race with the Škoda team alongside his co-driver Johannes Scherz. The pair would be piloting a Škoda Favorit 136L, a car very different to the Intergrales he had been driving before. He described it as "A major shock to the system, going from so much power to so little, but its worth it to be competing at this level."

The pair's season would progress well, taking several podiums across the season, including a shock comeback victory in Finland where Merz would win despite being a whole two minutes down from the leaders after the first day. Overall they would do well enough to secure enough points for 3rd place in the final championship standings.

### **World Rally Championship**

#### **1995**

For 1995 Merz would move up to the Subaru Team in the World Rally championship, He would be signed to drive alongside De Mevius and O'Gallagher. Preceding his debut pundits were concerned about Merz's lack of experience, Claiming he may not be really for the WRC A8 class yet.

##### **Rallye Monte Carlo**

Merz's season would start poorly after facing electrical problems early on. After major repairs following the first leg, Merz would be forced to fight his way back into the points eventually finishing 8th overall after hitting even more problems in the final stages leading to him being forced to run with only two wheel drive in the final stages.

## Racing Record

**Swiss National Rally Championship:**

 **1992** | 5
 **1993** | 9