Sunday in Jarama

03. October 2010Jarama - Again the fans flocked to the Circuito del Jarama in the early morning, and again the temperatures were in the lower 10’s, but today it stayed quite cold and windy, and the sun didn’t stand a chance against the gathering clouds. But this could not prevent the 32,000 crowd from celebrating. And it turned out to be also a festive day for the two MKR Renault pilots Markus Bösiger (SUI) and Markus Oestreich (GER) – at least in regard to the SuperPole (and the first race). In the qualification for the SuperPole the top pilots evidently did not put all their cards on the table. MAN pilot Chris Levett (GBR) clocked fastest time ahead of his brand colleague Adam Lacko. Oestreich posted 3rd fastest lap time, followed by the Czech pilot David Vrsecky (Freightliner) and two other MAN drivers, Alex Lvov (RUS) and Jochen Hahn (GER). Bösiger and the new European Champion, MAN pilot Antonio Albacete (ESP), only qualified 7th and 8th, respectively. The top ten were completed by Renault driver Anthony Janiec (FRA) and the Spanish pilot Javier Mariezcurrena (MAN).
But in the SuperPole it got down to brass tacks and the times were again tumbling. Same as yesterday, Oestreich clocked again fastest time (1:59,206m), closely followed by Bösiger ahead of Levett and Albacete. Lacko and Vrsecky shared third row on the grid, followed by Hahn with Lvov beside him. In the following race the German needed to collect 5 points more than Bösiger in order to still have a theoretical chance on the vice title. 5th row on the grid was occupied by Janiec and Mariezcurrena.
So far the top pilots almost seemed to handle each other with kid gloves in the final event, but the start of the first Sunday race resembled the Jarama races of previous years. Right at the start there was a frantic scrabble between Albacete, Bösiger and Oestreich, and Oese’s truck got a hefty push from behind, but the incident had no consequences. Oestreich pulled out a lead, followed by the Spaniard and the Swiss. While the German held his leading position unchallenged, Bösiger was firmly attached to the rear end of Albacete’s MAN. And, as could be observed all weekend, Bösiger’s Renault seemed again to be a bit faster. But being faster is one thing, but getting a chance to overtake is a different kettle of fish. Time and again it looked as if Bösiger would have an opportunity to pass the MAN, but to the delight of his fans the local hero resisted all passing attempts until in lap 9 the Renault pilot sliced past the Spaniard to take second place close behind Oestreich – another double victory for MKR Technology, and Bösiger had wrapped up the vice champion title. Behind Levett who was unchallenged in 4th position, Lacko, Hahn, Vrsecky and Lvov fought tooth and nail, and finally the “combat” quartet crossed the finishing line within less than 3 seconds of each other. The two MAN pilots Mika Mäkinen (FIN) and Zoltan Birnbauer (HUN) claimed 9th and 10th position, respectively.
The last race on Sunday, which was also the final race of the season, was quite chaotic. The race started accompanied by light rain which, however, was heavy enough to turn the track into a slippery ground in spite of a second formation lap. “That could have been our race” Bösiger said later, but it wasn’t meant to be. Whenever the track had been wet this season, the two Renaults proved to be vastly superior, and now everybody expected that Oestreich, whose middle name is “rain man”, would also win the second race by a clear margin. But already in the second lap – lying in a promising position – Oese’s truck suffered engine failure.
Prior to that Vrsecky had managed to take the lead, followed by Lacko, Hahn, Lvov, Albacete and the two MKR Renaults. But a bit later the Czech dropped back on 4th, and now Lacko led the field followed by Lvov. Vrsecky and Hahn were locked in constant combat until both trucks spun off the track, and when Vrsecky rejoined the field, he fully hit Bösiger’s Renault. The truck suffered a heavily damaged axle and the Swiss driver was forced to retire. Now the MKR Renault team was completely eliminated. By then there were almost more trucks off-track than on the tarmac, and many of the spectators were a bit confused, but they weren’t the only ones.
In mid-race Vrsecky and Albacete passed Hahn and Lvov, and finally the Russian was overtaken by the Swabian, too. Vrsecky quickly pulled away from his chasers and in the penultimate lap he reeled in Lacko who had gained an impressive lead and even managed to overtake him. But the other pilots weren’t willing to take risks anymore; and in several sections the RaceTrucks were almost sliding over the tarmac, so that suddenly pilots were leading the field you wouldn’t really have expected to become front-runners. Behind Hahn, Janiec finished in 6th ahead of a MAN trio – Eduardo Rodrigues and his son José (both from Portugal) and Jean-Pierre Blaise (BEL). And the last one in the points was Freightliner pilot Uwe Nittel (GER) in 10th.
As the outcome of the championship was already clear prior to the final race, the results were calmly accepted without any discussions – only the one or other sigh: “Thank heavens all this didn’t happen sooner but only now”.
In the final ranking Albacete, the new Champion, has got 387 points, runner-up Bösiger collected 335 points, followed by Hahn (318), Oestreich (293), Vrsecky (226), Levett (210), Lacko (186), Lvov (135), Nittel (82) and Janiec (81).
In the team ranking the first race was won by MKR Technology (Bösiger / Oestreich) followed by Truck Sport Bernau (Albacete / Levett) and Team Hahn Oxxo Racing (Hahn / Birnbauer). The winner of the final race was Team Hahn Oxxo Racing ahead of Truck Sport Bernau and MKR Technology.
The European Championship title was won by MKR Technology (712 points), followed by Truck Sport Bernau (685) and Team Hahn Oxxo Racing (541).