Saturday in Zolder

09. September 2006Zolder - A sapphire blue sky – far better than forecast – delighted the numerous spectators in Zolder on Saturday. The day before the stewards had decided that the maximum number of race trucks would be increased and now up to 28 trucks were allowed at the race. So it was guaranteed that all trucks registered could actually start. Then two of the pilots registered for the FIA Championship, Ross Garrett and Avelino da Silva Reis, could not participate in the timed practice due to technical problems, and because of the above mentioned increase it wasn’t necessary any longer to discuss whether FIA pilots should have preference over the race-by-race starters.
It was the first time that at truck racing lollipops with stop and go signals were used (as known from F1 races). Evidently, many teams had forgotten to produce a signal of professional standard at their workshops, and now had to manage with some makeshift lollipop in Zolder. Then Markus Oestreich had bad luck when, at the beginning of his fastest lap so far, both front brake discs of his Mercedes broke. In spite of that he was on 3rd position for a long time, but on his final lap Antonio Albacete succeeded in marking faster times than Oese. The two first positions were held unchallenged by the Buggyra pilots David Vrsecky and Gerd Körber on their blue Freightliners.
The Qualification race, too, became a triumph for Buggyra. Körber got off a lot better at the start than Vrsecky and immediately took the lead, and he stayed in that position right to the finish. The German knew that behind him was his team mate, and as Albacete tried in vain to pass the Freightliner, although he tried to attack incessantly, the victory was never in jeopardy for Gerd Körber. The next in line, Markus Oestreich, could do nothing but hope that the two “fighting cocks” from the Czech Republic and Spain would get into each other’s way, and then to benefit from it. But his hopes were to no avail, and in the end he had to settle for 4th position. Jochen Hahn completed the leading group on 5th position. At some distance behind was the chasing pack with Frankie Vojtisek in the lead. But only several hundred metres before the finish his car got out of hand at the Jacky-Ickx chicane and he took to the gravel which both MAN pilots, Markus Altenstrasser and Jose Rodrigues, used to their advantage and passed Vojtisek. With just a shade of an advantage to Markus Bösiger (MAN) the Renault pilot finished on 8th position. Adam Lacko was not so lucky. He had a good position in the chasing pack, but then the Czech had to take his MAN to the pit because of some clutch failure.
As we know, Zolder is one of Gerd Körber’s favourite circuits. There is hardly another track where he had so many victories and could score so many points. And so everybody thought that the German wouldn’t allow anybody to take the reins off his hands at the Cup race. But already at the start Körber had to leave the leading position to his team mate Vrsecky. And then one incident followed hot on the heels of the other. While people were still puzzling over the question, whether – in case Vrsecky would still be in front of Körber to the end – there would be some interference from Buggyra, fate took over. The Freightliner with the number 3 lost more and more speed and eventually Körber drove to the pit lane at walking pace – an air tube had burst. Now Markus Oestreich was on 2nd position. In the meantime, Jochen Hahn could oust his “worst” opponent in the championship, Antonio Albacete, from 3rd position, but after only two more laps the man from Altensteig had to give up, too. Oestreich soon realized that he could not stop Vrsecky on his way to the start-finish victory, so he fully concentrated on keeping his 2nd position. Near the end of the race Albacete could close up a bit on the Mercedes, but he was satisfied with the result, cause he knew that both his most dangerous opponents in the championship would not score any points at this race. In the end the fight for the 4th position became the eye catcher in this race. For a long time Vojtisek was at the top of a group of 5 trucks, but soon Ross Garrett, lying on 5th position, dropped out because of a turbo failure. Behind Vojtisek, Altenstrasser and Bösiger changed positions several times, while Alain Buffa with his MAN took pains to hold unto his position. When there were only some more laps to go, both Altenstrasser and Bösiger overtook Vojtisek. Now the experienced driver from Switzerland put so much pressure on the young Austrian that in the penultimate lap, at the Jacky-Ickx chicane, Altenstrasser got off the circuit and in the gravel, so that Bösiger was now on 4th position. Behind Vojtisek, Buffa finished on 7th position, followed by his MAN colleagues, Javier Mariezcurrena and Joseph Adua. For Adua – same as for the Volvo pilot Frank Conti on 10th position – this was the first time they were in the points this season.
Albacete is now leading the overall standing with 225 points, followed by Hahn (223), Körber (202), Oestreich (190), and Vrsecky (168).