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Sunday in Zolder

Sunday in Zolder

12. September 2010Zolder - In Zolder the racing activities always start a bit later on Sunday – at 10:00 – as there is always a Holy Mass being celebrated in a chapel on the grounds of the circuit. In spite of the lousy weather the event attracted an audience of more than 12,000. The rain came just when the truck racers had taken to the track, so that it was no surprise that the lap times the pilots clocked in the warm-up were about 15 to 20 seconds slower than yesterday. The two MKR Renault pilots have the reputation of being no slouch when it comes to driving on a wet track. But an advantage of more than 5 to 6 seconds was really astounding. You could almost believe that their opponents were not yet willing to put their cards on the table. When the timed practice began the driving conditions on the track had gone from bad to worse. The two Renaults again claimed fastest times, but the margin wasn’t that wide anymore. Particularly Bösiger kept us in suspense by taking it slow. Moreover, he did a ‘lap of honour’ in the pit lane before he stepped on the accelerator. In the final lap the Swiss clocked his fastest time which put him into 2nd place behind Oestreich. MAN pilot Antonio Albacete (ESP) claimed 3rd, and the Portuguese José Rodrigues (MAN) sprang a surprise by posting 4th fastest time. Title holder David Vrsecky (CZE) in his Buggyra Freighliner claimed 5th, followed by a MAN armada consisting of Chris Levett (GBR), Adam Lacko (CZE), Javier Mariezcurrena (ESP), Alex Lvov (RUS) and the Finn Mika Mäkinen, who secured a place in the top ten for the first time.
The second Buggyra pilot Uwe Nittel (GER), who yesterday took a podium spot, had to settle in the unrewarding 11th place. And his fellow German Jochen Hahn fared even worse. The second MAN ‘flagship’ was 15 seconds slower which was only good enough for 18th. Wrong wax applied to the ski, a skier would say – the tyres on his truck had no traction to speak of. The trucks remained on the track until the very last minute, the 10-minute break in Parc Fermé before the SuperPole seemed to be extremely short. Actually, the pilots should have taken to the circuit in the order they did in the timed practice, but apparently they had lost track a bit. However, Bösiger couldn’t have cared less, he clocked overall fastest time (2:11,602); his team mate Oestreich was about 3 tenths slower. This was a decrease of more than 13 seconds compared to yesterday; but what these times are worth became apparent only a few minutes later. Albacete who qualified 3rd fastest time, was – believe it or not – 5 seconds slower – in truck racing this means poles apart. Lacko lined up alongside the Spaniard, ahead of Levett, Lvov, Vrsecky, Mariezcurrena, Rodrigues and Mäkinen.
But all predominance aside, the races follow their own laws, and very often the gremlins work overtime which Bösiger learned right at the start. At the entrance to the first bend his truck suffered brake disc damage so that he could only apply the brake on one side of the Renault and he dropped back 5 places. Now it was the leading Oestreich who set the pace with aplomb; and there was actually never any real doubt about his win, and at the chequered flag his winning margin was 32 seconds over Albacete. The 3rd place on the podium was hotly contested. Lvov took advantage of the frantic start and passed not only Bösiger, but also team colleague Lacko and Levett and defended his 3rd position by all available means against the chasing group led by Vrsecky. But suddenly not only the Czech but also Levett sliced past the Russian. The Brit was now in 3rd, but later he incurred a drive-through penalty, relegating him to 7th. Vrsecky was now rather unchallenged in 3rd and maintained this position to the chequered flag. Bösiger chased hard after Lacko and eventually managed to overtake not only the Czech but also Lvov, and succeeded even in easing away from the two MAN pilots. But before the Swiss could mount an attack on Vrsecky, his plan was again upset by the brakes and he took to the gravel. Bösiger had to let the two MAN trucks pass before rejoining the track and had to settle for 6th. The remaining places in the points were taken by Levett, Nittel, Mariezcurrena and Rodrigues. Hahn, who had started from the back of the grid, made a great charge through the pack and was already in the points ranking, but at the entrance to the chicane he was a bit too fast. He had to plough through the gravel and reemerged way back on the track. Finally he crossed the finish line in 12th.
With his 8th place finish Nittel secured pole for the second race with Levett alongside, ahead of Bösiger. Albacete and Oestreich lined up in 4th row.
Already in the first bend Nittel and Levett made contact and the Englishman took to the gravel bed. For this incident the German later incurred a drive-through penalty. In the second lap Nittel braked too hard and he, too, swerved into the gravel, barely missing the wall. This could have become a field day for Lacko and Lvov, but the tarmac was still rather slippery and the two MKR Renault trucks proved to be vastly superior under these conditions. After only 3 laps Oestreich and Bösiger were the unchallenged front-runners and permanently pulled away. It looked as if the trucks were running on rails. Towards the end of the race Bösiger managed to overtake Oestreich and he crossed the finish line just 3 tenths ahead of his team colleague.
Then it took some time until – more than 50 seconds later – Lacko came home 3rd. The Czech had been chased by Albacete lap after lap, but he fought tooth and nail. Finally the Spaniard let prudence gain the upper hand, because there would have only one more point to be gained. Vrsecky finished in 5th, ahead of Lvov, Hahn, Rodrigues, and the two Spaniards José Bermejo (MAN) and Mariezcurrena.
In the overall ranking Albacete is still leading with 305 points, ahead of Bösiger (262), Hahn (250), Oestreich (219), Vrsecky (188) and Levett (147).
In the team ranking both races were won by MKR Technology (Bösiger / Oestreich). In the first race Truck Sport Bernau (Albacete / Levett) was in second position, followed by Team Hahn Oxxo Racing (Hahn / Birnbauer). In the second race the two teams swapped places.