Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Sunday in Barcelona

Sunday in Barcelona

01. April 2007Barcelona - Although the weather in Barcelona remained cold and damp, an audience of about 24,000 people came to the Circuit de Catalunya. On Saturday evening there was the annual selection of the FIA Truck Racing Committee. The teams’ representative is Lutz Bernau and Pascal Robineau will represent the pilots at the meetings of the Committee.
The warm-up in the morning saw once more yesterday’s protagonists in the lead, and Markus Bösiger marked outstanding best times. And the superiority of the Swiss showed at the timed practice, too, although not as clearly as on Saturday. With a difference of only one tenth of a second followed Jochen Hahn, who – working deep into the night together with his team and the Mercedes crew - had equipped his truck with a new engine. Third was David Vrsecky, followed by Antonio Albacete. Between the results of the first and the fourth of the a.m. drivers there was not more than some 3 tenths of a second.
At the Qualifying race Bösiger made it quite clear that he meant business. He made good use of his pole position and stayed on 1st position right from the start. He drove like a Swiss clockwork, following the course of the circuit in exactly the same way lap after lap, so that, jokingly, people already talk about the Bösiger clone laps. In the course of the race the Swiss made some more ground with an advantage of a comfortable 2 seconds. Same with Hahn; his second position was never really in jeopardize. When crossing the finish line, his advantage to Albacete, on third, was also more than 2 seconds. On 4th position was Vrsecky. The most exciting fight was, however, between the two team mates, Egon Allgäuer and Gerd Körber. Lap after lap the two yellow MAN trucks were either nose to tail or driving side by side, with Allgäuer always being a little bit ahead. Only 3 laps before the finish the German eventually managed to overtake his team boss.
But the most dramatic event of the race took actually place behind the leading drivers – right in the first bend. With his new MAN, Chris Levett crashed into the truck of his compatriot, Stuart Oliver, which sent both MAN trucks spinning. Jean-Philippe Belloc tried to pass on the outer track, but hit Levett’s truck, too, which kept on spinning. There were four trucks altogether now, sitting right on the track. Oliver emerged back at the end of the field, but in the end he could not proceed further up than to 15th position.
At the Cup race the most exciting events happened before the start. Already on his way to the grid there arose some major problems for Jochen Hahn. The Mercedes technicians came to the conclusion that there was a massive damage to the engine and the truck was manoeuvred to the pit lane. So the spot alongside pole setter Bösiger remained vacant, which suited David Vrsecky just fine. Right at the start he passed Albacete. When Bösiger took to the gravel behind the first series of curves, the Czech sped also by his team mate and was now in top position. Again and again the Swiss was closing up on the bumper of David Vrsecky’s truck, but never had a good chance to pass. In the end there was a sure double victory for the Buggyra duo. And there was a tough fight for the 3rd position to the end. At the start Allgäuer could take away the 4th position from his team mate, Körber, and close in on Albacete. But later on the Spaniard could make ground, while Allgäuer and Körber again had a fight no less exciting than the one during the previous race. After ten laps the German eventually managed to speed past Allgäuer on the inner track of the La Caixa bend. Now he started to chase Albacete, and much to the chagrin of the Spanish fans, the German was able to overtake the local hero and secured a podium on 3rd position. Now Allgäuer, too, started to attack the Spaniard for the 4th position, but with a slight advantage the Cepsa pilot managed to cross the finish line on fourth. But there was yet another setback in store for Albacete – because of overspeeding he was disqualified. Now Frankie Vojtisek was on 5th position, followed by Stuart Oliver and Jean-Philippe Belloc.
Markus Bösiger is still leading the overall ranking with 55 points. Next are David Vrsecky (42), Gerd Körber (36), Antonio Albacete (31), Egon Allgäuer (29) and Jochen Hahn (24).
The team ranking was won – same as yesterday – by Buggyra, followed by Team Allgäuer and Team Frankie Vojtisek.