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Saturday in Misano

Saturday in Misano

22. September 2007Misano - A sapphire blue sky and temperatures of about 25 °C (77 °F) – and even up to 36 °C (97 °F on the tarmac) – almost caused a kind of holiday feeling. And as there was only the approval of the trucks on Friday’s agenda, there was ample time to talk about everything under the sun.
Meanwhile it became known that the objection the Buggyra team had raised against the exclusion after Sunday’s Quali race in Most was dismissed; the decision in the case of Cepsa is still pending (see also Most reports). This means that, according to the current calculation, Markus Bösiger’ lead over Antonio Albacete would decrease by 12 points. But as long as this decision wasn’t upheld officially, the present counting will remain valid. Unimpressed by all the quarrels, the three protagonists Bösiger, David Vrsecky (both Buggyra Freightliner), and Albacete (MAN) were again predominant at the free practice. Only Jochen Hahn (Mercedes Benz) could match up to them – at his, possibly, penultimate race in the Mercedes Axor. And also at the timed practice the quad was in a class of its own. Compared to the free practice Bösiger bettered his times by 3 tenths and marked a time of 2:01.056 minutes, thus securing his pole. Vrsecky, on the other hand, had achieved a lap time of 2:00.635 minutes in the free practice. Second on the grid, behind the Swiss, was Albacete with an advantage of merely 3 hundredth to Vrsecky. The top quartet was completed by Hahn; and only a difference of just four tenth split the top four. There was some excitement towards the end of the timed practice, when suddenly and spectacularly, the Swiss skidded off the track and hit a stack of tyres – a rupture of the left front brake disc. Later it was discovered that the disc on the right hand side was on the verge of conking out, too.
The repair was no problem for the Buggyra team. At the start of the Qualy race the Freightliner was in mint condition. And Bösiger himself took the incident philosophically, too. He made good use of his pole position and made a much better getaway than at the previous races. He took the lead ahead of Albacete and held this position relatively unchallenged till he crossed the finish line.
Several times it looked as if the Spaniard would try to pass, but Bösiger managed effortlessly to keep him behind. The fight for 3rd place, however, was a lot more exciting. Hahn had succeeded in passing Vrsecky and was now on third. But naturally the Czech didn’t acknowledge defeat. Over and over he made a move to pass the Mercedes pilot, and soon he succeeded. While the top trio gained some ground, Hahn now had to fight off Gerd Körber’s continuous attacks. The MAN pilot was desperately challenging the Swabion for 4th position – after all, the title ‘Germany’s top pilot’ is at stake. Eventually Hahn crossed the finish line with an advantage of 2 tenths.
The most spectacular battles of the race were fought for 6th place, between Markus Altenstrasser (Renault) and the two MAN drivers Jean-Phillip Belloc and Chris Levett. Eventually the Austrian took the chequered flag on 6th, closely followed by the Frenchman and the Brit. Egon Allgäuer and his guest pilot, Hans-Joachim Stuck (both MAN) completed the top ten.
And also at the Cup race Bösiger left no doubt that he had the intention of winning the title, and Albacete realised right from the beginning that he had no chance to pass the Swiss – unless the Buggyra would pack up. But nothing of the sort happened. The more spectacular were the battles for the other places. Körber, Hahn and Vrsecky fought tooth and nail, and eventually Körber could gain some ground and won a podium placing in third, behind Bösiger and Albacete. Hahn and Vrsecky meanwhile fought so hotly that the Freightliner’s exhaust pipe belched flames. In the end the German came out ahead. Levett took 6th close behind the Czech, but with a comfortable advantage to Belloc. Altenstrasser, Allgäuer and Stuart Oliver gained the remaining positions in the points. Bösiger further extended his advantage to Albacete in the overall standing – leaving out of account the still pending decisions in regard to the Most races. The team ranking was won by Buggary, followed by Allgäuer and Hahn.
This time there were no problems with the tyres, such as in Le Mans. As a consequence of these incidents Rigdon had pulped their entire stock of those tyres and developed a new material and also a new tread. The drivers were highly satisfied and there were evidently no problems.