Saturday in Le Mans

20. September 2008Le Mans - It looks like there will be a fantastic weekend in Le Mans – at least with regard to the weather. The sky was clear and during the night it was again biting cold. During the first free practice – at 8.30 a.m. – wafts of mist were still arising. But the truck racers did not care about that, much less the Buggyra Freightliner pilots David Vrsecky and Markus Bösiger. Their chief competitors, Jochen Hahn, Antonio Albacete, Chris Levett and Jean-Philippe Belloc, were about 1 – 2 seconds slower.
And in the timed practice it did not look much different, although the domination of the Freightliners seemed to be not that significant any more. In the end Vrsecky secured pole (2:06.078), with team mate Bösiger 3 tenths behind. Already in the first lap Hahn secured third spot on the grid alongside Belloc. And only then followed Albacete, who is actually the chief opponent of the two Buggyras in the struggle for the title. On sixth was Levett who evidently had made a full recovery from his shoulder injury he suffered in Zolder. However, the young Brit was afterwards disqualified for overspeeding. And so Markus Altenstrasser (Renault) found himself promoted up to sixth on the grid.
The start of the Qualy race was a bit chaotic. Apparently the light at the starting line did not work properly. About the manner of the malfunction the statements from the pilots differed a bit. While some stated that the light stayed black all the time while the trucks approached the starting line, and then quite suddenly turned red, before there was the clearance, others told that the light was red, then changed to green briefly and back to red again before the start. Anyway, there were the first clashes before the race had even begun, because some pilots accelerated while others were still waiting for the definite clearance. Shortly afterwards there was again contact between some of the trucks, and in no time there was bedlam. At the Dunlop chicane, driving behind the two Buggyras, there were Altenstrasser – almost neck and neck with Vrsecky – Egon Allgäuer (MAN), Albacete, Belloc and Hahn. But before completing the first lap, the German was already on third position. While Bösiger, Vrsecky and Hahn now managed to gain ground, behind them quite a lot went wrong. Shortcuts through chicanes, somewhat violent attacks – and soon the first drive-through penalties were imposed. Allgäuer ignored his drive-through penalty and was promptly disqualified afterwards.
In the end the list with the results was revised three times, before it was definitely accepted. Behind the top trio, Frankie Vojtisek (Renault) was on fourth, ahead of the MAN phalanx – Belloc, Levett and Dominique Lachèze. Altenstrasser finished on 8th followed by Anthony Janiec (Renault) and Stuart Oliver (MAN). Albacete, the only title contender besides Vrsecky and Bösiger, had to retire already in the second lap because of a burst rail pipe.
The Championship race, scheduled for 17:45, which is rather late anyway, was further delayed for another half hour. But that’s nothing a Swiss ‘Confederate’ would get worked up about. With his usual aplomb Bösiger took the lead. His team mate Vrsecky was not that fortunate – right at the start he was passed not only by Hahn, but Vojtisek overtook him, too. But after only one lap the two Czechs had changed places again, and soon Vrsecky was glued to Hahn’s MAN – while Bösiger gained ground all the time. But the second Buggyra Freightliner did not succeed in overtaking the black MAN – on the contrary. Hahn continued to pull clear of his rival, and eventually he even put some strain on the Swiss front-runner in the last few laps. Eventually Bösiger crossed the finish line only one second ahead of Hahn. Belloc gained 4th, followed by Levett who was 3 tenths quicker than Vojtisek. But the Brit later incurred a 1-second penalty for ‘Dangerous Driving’ (at the expense of the Czech). This meant he had again to swap places with Vojtisek. On 7th finished Lachèze who came up with a coup de main right on the finish straight. Because of his retirement in the first race, Albacete was forced to start from the back of the grid. Step-by-step he passed his opponents one after another, and during the last few laps, after a long struggle, he managed to overtake Altenstrasser and Pascal Robineau (MAN), too, who finished in ninth and tenth position, resp. And in the final bend the Spaniard passed Lachèze as well, who shortly before had ‘cleared’ a stack of tyres at this very spot. But only a few metres before the finish line the Frenchman turned the tables again und, cheered by the audience, passed by.
Vrsecky is still leading the overall standing with 356 points, followed by Bösiger (334), Albacete (302), Hahn (238) and Belloc (195).
The team ranking was once again won by Buggyra, ahead of Team Koller + Schwemmer and Team Frankie.