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Sunday in Barcelona

Sunday in Barcelona

09. April 2006Barcelona - Under a clear sky with sunshine at a pleasant 22 degrees C (72 degrees F) an audience of 33.000 was enjoying the opening of the truck racing season in Barcelona. Some teams had been working far into the night, trying the utmost to improve their trucks for the crucial one hundredth of a second. And, as the time practice showed, very often these efforts were crowned with success, which meant that all the trucks increased their speed, so that the grid was almost the same as on Saturday.
Same as on Saturday, David Vrsecke with his Buggyra Freightliner made full use of his pole and took the lead, and he successfully defended this position to the finish. There were, however, no real challenges from behind for the Czech, cause with his super start, team mate Gerd Körber managed to pass the red Cepsa MAN of Antonio Albacete in the first corner which put him on 2nd position. Once more the start influenced the results of the race. Behind Albacete, Jochen Hahn with his Mercedes Axor could defend his 4th position, but Markus Oestreich was overtaken at the entrance of the first corner - at the outside of the track – by a vehemently attacking Adam Lacko (MAN). This left Markus Bösiger (MAN) on 7th. At the next lap Oese grasped the first chance to pass Lacko, and thereafter the positions remained that way until the finish: Double win for Buggyra, 3rd was Antonio Albacete. The most exciting thing that happened was the burst of Markus Altenstrasser's turbo.
Having 2 trucks in the front row at the CupRace, to win the race should have been child's play to Buggyra, but both drivers threw away their victory. From the start they got into each other's way, and this confusion suited Albecete, who made a successful dash for 1st position. And again the first corner was the scene of eventful actions. Vrsecky forced Körber to the far outside of the track, Hahn had to take to the gravel to avoid crashing into Körber's Freightliner. This gave Oestreich and Lacko the opportunity to pass. While the Spaniard with his MAN and the German with his Mercedes could gain ground, there were some gripping events to be seen, starring Lacko and both the the Buggyra pilots. Considering the superiority the Freightliner had shown at the previous races, you would have thought that the Lacko MAN had no chance of a podium. But whatever Vrsecky and Körber tried, there was no way to overtake Lacko; his MAN got ''broader and broader''.
Jochen Hahn fell back on 12th or 13th position after his trip through the gravel, but he did not give up, and you could imagine what he would have accomplished otherwise. Lap after lap he managed to overtake his opponents, then he was driving behind Bösiger for some time, but you could see that the Swiss MAN was not really a match for the Mercedes. When there were 4 laps to go, Hahn passed Bösiger, as well and could pocket the points for 6th position. Markus Bösiger was a bit disappointed, he had hoped to be more successful.
There are two leaders now in the overall standing, Albacete and Vrsecky both got 48 points, next come Körber (40) and Hahn (32), followed by Oestreich (24) on 5th – although Saturday was not the luckiest day for him. Behind Lacko (23), Bösiger and Rodrigues share 7th position of the overall standing with 13 points.
There will be a TV report about the Barcelona race broadcast by Eurosport on Tuesday, April 11, at 11 p.m (23.00 hrs).