Reto Elias Grütter (17 July 1984) is a Swiss sidecarcross passenger and the 2007 and 2008 Sidecarcross World Champion.

Reto Grütter
NationalitySwitzerland Switzerland
Born (1984-07-17) July 17, 1984 (age 40)
Bike number1
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Sidecarcross World Championship
Active years2003 - 2008
Championships(2) 2007, 2008
2008 championship position1st
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
102 34 35 1055

Reto Grütter's name can sometimes be found to be, wrongfully, spelled Reto Grutter.

Sidecarcross world championship results

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Reto Grütter entered the sidecarcross world championship in 2003 as a nineteen-year-old in the French GP in Pernes Les Fontains, 27 April 2003, becoming the passenger for his countryman Ueli Müller. They raced together in the world championship for four seasons from 2003 to 2006, a 15th place overall in 2005 being their best result but never finishing better than eighth in a race. After the 2006 season, Grütter replaced the Belgian Sven Verbrugge as passenger for Daniël Willemsen who had won his fifth world championship this season. The new combination Willemsen / Grütter dominated the 2007 season in clear fashion, winning 15 out of 16 races and retaining Team Willemsens world championship. Grütter won his first GP on 9 April 2007 in the season opener in Oldebroek, Netherlands. On top of the world championship, the combination also took out the Dutch title. In the 2008 season, Grütter continued to race with Willemsen[1] but an injury prevented him from taking part in the first race of the season and Willemsen replaced him with Bruno Kaelin for the first round. In race fourteen of the season, the team was disqualified after winning the race due to Grütter losing a glove, after a protest by Kristers Sergis.[2] The team took out the 2008 world championship with a 97-point margin to second-placed Kristers Sergis.

At the end of the 2008 season, Willemsen and Grütter split and the later was without a ride for the 2009 world championship season. He raced with Andy Bürgler in the 2009 Swiss championship, winning the national title comfortably.[3]

Season by season

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Season Driver Equipment Position Points Races Wins Second Third
2003   Ueli Müller Kawasaki-JHR 44 10 10
2004   Ueli Müller Kawasaki-JHR 29 49 16
2005   Ueli Müller Kawasaki-VMC 15 126 22
2006   Ueli Müller Zabel-VMC 16 100 16
2007   Daniël Willemsen Zabel-VMC 1 375 16 15
2008   Daniël Willemsen Zabel-VMC 1 495 22 19 1
Overall 2003 - 2008 1055 102 34 1

Source:"The John Davey Pages - Reto Grütter". John Davey. Retrieved 2008-04-15.

  • Passengers in italics.

Honours

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World Championship

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  • Champions: (2) 2007, 2008

Belgium

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Netherlands

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Switzerland

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References

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  1. ^ ENTRYLIST WC SIDECAR MX - OSS (NL)
  2. ^ Team Willemsen website - No points in second heat GP Germanie?! Archived 2008-10-10 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch) accessed: 5 August 2008
  3. ^ Motocross - Diverse Meister (in German) Article on sidecarcross championships in 2009, accessed: 7 November 2009
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Sidecarcross World Champion (passenger)
2007 - 2008
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Sven Verbrugge
Dutch national sidecarcross champion (passenger)
2007 - 2008
Succeeded by
Christian Verhagen
Preceded by
Sven Verbrugge
Belgian national sidecarcross champion (passenger)
2007
Succeeded by
Kaspars Liepins
Preceded by
Josua Luscher
Swiss national sidecarcross champion (passenger)
2002
Succeeded by
Meinrad Schelbert
Preceded by
Daniel Heinzer
Swiss national sidecarcross champion (passenger)
2009–present
Incumbent