Sunday in Le Mans

20. September 2009Le Mans - Yesterday night was a very long and very loud one, and many people celebrated until the early morning hours, and for them the night was rather short. The morning fog and overcast sky – and the weather conditions did not change during the day – came in useful for those who were having difficulty in opening their eyes. But certainly this did not apply to the RaceTruck pilots, because they had to be ready for the warm up at 9:00 a.m. And again Markus Bösiger (Buggyra), Antonio Albacete (MAN), David Vrsecky (Buggyra) und Jochen Hahn (MAN) were the dominant drivers. The G4 finished within 5 tenths of each other, so that a narrow margin could be anticipated for the timed practice. And the time practice proceeded true to the expectations of the 48,000 spectators, although not necessarily in view of the times posted.
And once again – contrary to the ‘rules’ – the top lap times were clocked towards the end of the practice session. At first Bösiger was ahead of Hahn, but then the tarmac started to get more grip and the circuit dried out considerably, and the drivers constantly bettered their lap times. And also the Swiss and the German managed to improve their lap times once more, but they both were slower than Albacete and Vrsecky. And finally Chris Levett (MAN) posted a lap time that was good enough to secure a spot ahead of Hahn.
But at the start of the race everything changed rapidly. Vrsecky outgunned pole setter Albacete and managed to pull away quickly. Hahn sped past Levett and Bösiger to slot into 3rd place. But soon the Spaniard was attached to the rear end of Vrsecky’s truck; however a little later the Czech succeeded again in easing away from the red MAN, and from then on he held the lead throughout the race. And the fight for third place was similar. Hahn had established a good lead, but Bösiger and Levett managed to close in on the German. However, a bit later Hahn pulled away quickly and eventually crossed the finishing line unchallenged in 3rd. In the remaining laps Bösiger and Levett settled peacefully in their respective positions, so that the attention was turned to two ‘sideshows’. There was a fierce battle for 6th place, featuring the two MAN pilots Egon Allgäuer (AUT) and Balazs Szobi (HUN). The Hungarian was close behind the Austrian all the time, but it was evident that Szobi was no match for the experienced ex-champion. But the fight for 8th position – which meant the pole position for the second race – was in another league. However, the experienced Renault pilot Frankie Vojtisek (CZE) could fend off every attack from Alexander Lvov (RUS) and Stuart Oliver (GBR).
In the final race of the weekend the Czech at first made good use of his pole position and fended off a challenge from Allgäuer who, just as Hahn, had outpaced Szobi at once. Behind them were Vrsecky and Bösiger, ahead of Albacete. Now everybody expected to watch another Hahn / Allgäuer duel as spectacular as the one in Most – with the leading Vojtisek having some say, too – but in the second lap, at the end of the long back straight, the German put an end to all speculations. Almost effortlessly he passed the two drivers in front of him, while they braked before entering the 90 degree bend.
Vrsecky had meanwhile established himself in 4th, Bösiger was still in 6th, behind Szobi but ahead of Albacete. But the third lap was rather problematic for Bösiger, as he dropped back 5 places. A bit later he managed to work his way up again, but in the 7th lap was forced to retire because of mechanical troubles. Hahn was meanwhile leading by a margin of 2 seconds, and the Circuit Bugatti is one of his favourite tracks. But now he began to weaken slightly while Vrsecky went full steam ahead. He shot past Vojtisek and Allgäuer and in the 6th lap he swiftly overtook the German, too.
Albacete was by now in 4th, behind Allgäuer, and the two MAN pilots fought a battle at its finest. In the 7th lap the Spaniard had already passed the Austrian while entering the finish straight, but apparently he left his braking too late and went wide. He emerged back on the track behind Allgäuer, but after one more lap he made a successful passing move and was now in 3rd position. But Vrsecky and Hahn were already too far ahead for Albacete to reel them in.
Allgäuer came home 4th, with Levett breathing down his neck. Mid-race Vojtisek had dropped down to 12th with no opportunity to regain some more places in the remaining laps. Szobi crossed the finishing line in 6th, ahead of the French Renault pilot Anthony Janiec. The remaining points-scoring places were taken by Oliver, Lvov and Dominique Lachèze (FRA), all of them MAN drivers.
In the overall ranking Vrsecky – with 441 points – is now 10 points clear of Albacete (431). And also the winner of the 3rd place – Hahn (319) or Bösiger (295) is not yet determined.
In the team ranking the first race was won by Buggyra (Vrsecky / Bösiger) ahead of Team HahnOxxo (Hahn / Szobi) and Team Birds-Bernau (Levett / Lachèze). In the second race Team HahnOxxo took top place honours, ahead of Birds-Bernau and Buggyra.
In the evening we received bad news – it was said that FIA chief technician Fabien Calvet resigned his position with immediate effect. In fact it was already an open secret that the former racing driver was weary of office. Added to that, there was talk about disagreements regarding an examination of an overspeed report, so that the Frenchman allegedly decided to resign immediately.