Antonio Albacete took his third podium result of the weekend with a convincing victory in FIA Championship race 3 at Nürburgring – following up his pair of 2nd place finishes on Saturday.
The Spanish driver took an early lead and shook off the threat of local hero Markus Oestreich (MKR Renault) to bring the Cepsa MAN home 2.1 seconds clear at the chequered flag. The final podium spot went to Chris Levett in the Bird’s Motorsport MAN – the British driver holding on for a solid third place despite some clutch problems.
“Once we had safely negotiated the first turn I didn’t feel too much pressure from Markus” said Albacete. “But the closing laps were a bit worrying as we started to lap the backmarkers. It was a bit dangerous getting through the traffic as some of the slower drivers were engaged in their own private battles and were clearly not looking in their mirrors!”
The big interest now is to see if Albacete can continue his winning form in Championship Race 4. He he faces an uphill task as the positions of the top 8 finishers are reversed to give the starting grid for this race – meaning Albacete starts back on the fourth row with all of his major rivals in front of him. Pole position for Race 4 will go to the hard-charging Frenchman Anthony Janiec – who has been performing remarkably well in the Team 14 Renault all weekend. Sharing the front row is the Russian Alexander Lvov (MAN) – who, just like Janiec, is not going to give up any places without a fight!
Texte: © ADAC