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Saturday in Le Mans

Saturday in Le Mans

28. October 2006Le Mans - With the current general weather situation and the relatively high temperatures we could be sure that this time there wouldn’t be an icy track, but you can’t do anything to prevent fog. And so there was the same situation as last year. So the first official item on the agenda was the drivers’ briefing at 11:15 hrs. There it was announced that there will be only one free practice. Until the start at 13:00 hrs the pilots had ample time to sign autographs for the great number of fans in the overcrowded paddock. Although the track was still rather damp and slippery during the free practice, there were no problems at all. And this year’s truck racing protagonists were domineering here, as well.
At the timed practice – with the track still a bit wet – Gerd Körber’s performance in his Freightliner (2:09.530 min.) was in a class of its own. The first one of the chasing field (with a difference of 1.2 seconds) was Niko Pulic (Mercedes-Benz), followed by Antonio Albacete (MAN), Markus Oestreich and Jochen Hahn. But in this group, the time difference was less than two tenths of a second.
In the Qualification race Körber could hold his pole without difficulties, followed by Niko Pulic and Antonio Albacete. At the end of the Dunlop chicane Markus Oestreich and Jose Rodrigues, who had progressed up the field from 8th position, got under each other’s feet. The German spun round and Adam Lacko, too. Heinz-Werner Lenz had no chance to avoid Oese’s truck and hit the Mercedes with full force. Lenz had to take his Iveco to the pit, while Oestreich started an impressive chase with his damaged truck. The leading pilots Körber and Pulic managed to put some more distance between themselves and the chasing pack and in the end crossed the finish line relatively unchallenged. Albacete’s motto certainly was: Safety first. And so the Spaniard tried to avoid any danger. Hahn passed first the Spaniard and then David Vrsecky. But for Albacete the 6 points he would get for the 5th position, were much more important than any risky fight for a better position. Oestreich, working his way up from the end of the grid, managed to gain 9th position behind Markus Bösiger, Lacko and Markus Altenstrasser.
According to the new schedule the Cup race was to begin at 17:00 hrs, but the organizers had been a bit too optimistic with their planning. Then something occurred that shouldn’t have happened, which upset the schedule for a further 45 minutes. Right on the same spot where the accident happened in the previous race, fate hit Markus Oestreich again. This time, all three pilots bearing the first name ‘Markus’ were involved. Altenstrasser touched Bösiger, the Swiss spun round and the Austrian crashed into the front axle of his team mate. Oese barely managed to avoid the other truck, but as a result took to the gravel. The Bösiger MAN stood there, unable to move and obstructing the track. So the immediate stop of the race was inevitable. While Markus Bösiger went back to the paddock on a motorbike, it took a long time till the truck of the Swiss was towed away. The stop of the race turned out to be a stroke of luck for Körber, for right at the start the Buggyra pilot had clashed violently with Pulic. While the trucks went to the grid taking the positions they started from at the first race, the German and the Croatian were allowed to have the damaged tires change. Now it was a quarter to six and it was beginning to get dark in Le Mans, when the Cup race started for the second time. For Niko Pulic the re-start was a disadvantage. At the first start the Croatian had attacked Körber, but now Vrsecky attacked Pulic, with the Czech coming off the winner, and Körber sped away on first position with Hahn glued to his rear bumper. Albacete could take advantage of the fight between Pulic and Vrsecky and passed the Buggyra pilot, now lying on 4th position. Hahn started to attack Körber vigorously. Again and again it looked as if the man from Altensteig would pass, but the man from Rheinau fought off every attack. Three laps before the finish an air pipe of Hahn’s truck burst and now he even had to let Albacete and Vrsecky pass, and in the final lap Oestreich as well. The man from Petersberg wasn’t discouraged by his misfortune at the first start and fought his way up from 9th to 4th position. While Pulic had to take to the pit after only one lap, the third Euroline pilot, Jochen Mass, was in the points with Oese’s old truck for a long time. But in the final lap the German fell back on 11th position.
At the end of the penultimate day of this year’s racing season, Albacete has now 23 points more than Körber. Even if tomorrow the man from Rheinau would continue his superb races, thus gaining the maximum of points, for the Spaniard it would be enough to gain positions lying in the middle field of the point ranking, to successfully defend his title. Third position of the Championship is claimed by the two Mercedes pilots, Hahn and Oestreich, with a difference of only 13 points, with the man from Swabia having the better chances.