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Saturday in Le Mans

Saturday in Le Mans

19. September 2009Le Mans - Last night heavy rain showers hit Le Mans, but by the time the free practices started in the morning the sun broke through the clouds, and fortunately it stayed dry all day with temperatures of up to 22 °C (72 °F). During the free practice sessions the pilots still kept their cards close to their chests. In addition a sword of Damocles hangs over the Rigdon tyres – the stewards will have an eye on these tyres most of the teams have got on the rear axles of their trucks, and should there be another tyre disintegrating during the races, a ban of Rigdon tyres can be expected at short notice. That’s why several pilots tested different tyres during the two free practices, or teams participating with several trucks had the rear axles of their vehicles fitted with different tyre brands – one with Rigdon and the other with Goodyear – in order to be prepared for all eventualities. During the first free practice the track was still quite damp, so that the pilots drove a bit carefully. But one hour later the drivers stepped on the gas, and there was an improvement of their lap times of 6 – 10 seconds, and also the lap times of the individual pilots did not differ considerably; the leading pilot Markus Bösiger (Buggyra) from Switzerland and the two MAN pilots Jochen Hahn (GER) and Antonio Albacete (ESP) were separated by less than 4 hundredths of a second.
Later it got really serious in the timed practice, and the second Buggyra pilot David Vrsecky (CZE) took the gloves off. In the free practice he was more than a second behind the leading trio, but now, in the second timed lap, he clocked 2:06.810 m – an improvement of about 5 sec – a lap time none of his opponents could match. Albacete managed to better his times considerably in his final lap, but was 2 tenths slower than the Czech. Third place on the grid fell to Bösiger, ahead of Chris Levett who was about 2 tenths faster than Hahn. But the German had had to deal with a significant handicap right from the start. His truck had lost some slightly oily liquid which dropped onto one of the front tyres and left a greasy film, but the few laps he drove in the timed practice were not enough to erase the substance.
The story of the following first race is quickly told. Vrsecky led away from the start, followed by Albacete who, although close behind, kept a respectful distance. Behind the Spaniard was Bösiger who was primarily occupied with holding Hahn at bay, because the man from Altensteig had already left Levett behind at the start and held his 4th position without being attacked. Now this quintet ran lap after lap unchallenged with everyone holding these positions until the finish. Stuart Oliver (GBR) was a lone fighter on 6th place, as Balazs Szobi (HUN) and Egon Allgäuer (AUT) followed at some distance and posed no threat to the Englishman. Alexander Lvov (RUS) claimed 9th and the top 10 were completed by race-by-race pilot Dominique Lachèze (FRA) – all of them MAN drivers.
But later the race officials went into action, and Oliver was disqualified for multiple overspeeding, and Szobi, Allgäuer and Lvov were promoted by one position. Frankie Vojtisek (CZE) moved into 10th, as Vojtisek’s fellow Renault driver Anthony Janiec (FRA) who finished the race in 11th, incurred a time penalty for overspeeding.
During the victory ceremony the winner of the race, Vrsecky, had to fight harder against the Czech flag than against his rival Albacete during the race. While the flags were set up, the Czech flag – contrary to the Spanish and the Swiss one – got caught halfway up and was constantly flapping in the winner’s face. But the Buggyra pilot shrugged off this incident; after all, he had now a 5 points lead over his fiercest opponent Albacete.
In the second race of the day, where the eight top finishers of the first race start in reverse order, there was an all-yellow first row on the grid – with Lvov on pole, and his team boss Allgäuer alongside him, followed by three more MAN pilots, Szobi, Levett and Hahn. Behind them were Bösiger, Albacete and Vrsecky, the three pilots who won a podium place in the first race. This season all the top pilots already learnt the hard way how difficult it is to pass Allgäuer. The former European champion is up to every trick and also knows how to keep those pilots at bay who are definitely faster. So everyone was prepared for a long and exhausting fight at the top – but it turned out quite differently. At the start Hahn outgunned three opponents ahead of him to slot into 2nd behind pole setter Lvov. But soon he passed the Russian, too, and pulled away clearly. Albacete also made a great start and after only one lap was already in 2nd position. Lvov had meanwhile dropped back to 7th, because also Allgäuer, Levett, Vrsecky and Bösiger had managed to pass the Russian relatively effortlessly. A bit later Vrsecky left Levett behind, and after one more lap the Czech overtook the ‘tough nut’ Allgäuer, too, but he was the last one who succeeded in passing the Austrian.
Then there was the same scenario we already witnessed several times this season, and this time Levett and Bösiger had a tough time of it with the Austrian. At the top of the field Albacete started closing in on Hahn and after about 5 more laps he managed to pass the German and crossed the finishing line one and a half seconds ahead of Hahn. Vrsecky came home third close behind Hahn. Allgäuer indeed finished in 4th, with both Levett and Bösiger glued to his rear bumper. Lvov had to worry about his 7th place right until the chequered flag, because Szobi was only a few tenths behind. Lachèze and the Austrian Markus Altenstrasser (Renault) gained the remaining points-scoring positions.
After the dead heat in the overall ranking in Zolder there is now again a ‘real’ leader, Vrsecky, with 411 points, followed by Albacete (408), Hahn (298), Bösiger (285), Levett (198) and Allgäuer (186).
In the team ranking Team Birds-Bernau (Levett / Lachèze) was third in both races. The first race was won by Buggyra (Vrsecky / Bösiger) ahead of Team HahnOxxo (Hahn / Szobi). In the second race the two teams switched places.