Saturday in Misano

21. May 2011Misano - The weather at the Italian Adriatic coast with temperatures of almost 30 degrees makes everybody feel like being on holiday rather than on duty, but for the truck racers the “serious side of life” started with the first free practice at the Misano World Circuit. And we were already in for a surprise. The fastest times were clocked by three of the MAN pilots – Jochen Hahn (GER), Antonio Albacete (ESP) and Uwe Nittel (GER) – and only then followed the Renault drivers of MKR Technology – Markus Bösiger (SUI), Markus Oestreich (GER) and Adam Lacko (CZE) – a team that had been unbeatable last year in Misano. And that was no coincidence, because in the second free practice the three MAN pilots again claimed the fastest lap times, and now the two Buggyra Freightliner pilots David Vsrecky (CZE) and Chris Levett (GBR) joined in, too, challenging the times of the three MKR Renaults.
For Gerd Körber (GER) his working day was already over in the morning; after only 6 laps with remarkable times good enough to nourish hope to find himself among the top-ten, Körber’s Iveco suddenly suffered turbo failure. And, that’s how life goes, the team did not have the spare part they needed at hand. A replacement was due to arrive in Misano in the evening. His fellow countrywoman Steffi Halm in her – admittedly not really very capable – Mercedes Benz RaceTruck was a bit more fortunate. Right from the start the young Swabian was able to keep pace with some of her much more experienced colleagues, some of them piloting trucks that have got more powerful engines.
Eventually, in the timed practice the racers had to lay their cards on the table. But there was such a narrow margin – the lap times of the first eight drivers were within a mere eight tenths of each other. And nobody knew for sure whether by then the pilots had really extracted the full power from their engines. In the SuperPole of the top-ten they got down to business, but only Hahn, Lacko and Oestreich succeeded in improving their lap times marginally; most of the others were even a bit slower than before. Hahn secured pole position ahead of Lacko, Oestreich, Albacete and Nittel. A somewhat disappointed Bösiger had to be content with sixth spot on the grid, followed by Vrsecky and Levett. The two MAN pilots Alex Lvov (RUS) und Mika Mäkinen (FIN) found themselves on the fifth row of the grid.
Pole setter Hahn made a good getaway and was on his way to an unchallenged start-finish victory. Already in the first lap Oestreich and Albacete managed to overhaul Lacko, and in lap 3 the German had to let the Spanish MAN pilot pass. Those were the positions the front-runners maintained to the chequered flag. Lacko finished in 4th close behind the leading trio, followed by Nickel who had a rather lonely race. Bösiger crossed the finish line in 6th position, ahead of Lvov, Vrsecky and Anthony Janiec (FRA). Levett had been lying in 6th position for most of the race, but incurred a drive-through penalty and eventually brought his truck home in 10th, the last position within the points.
However, more remarkable was the fastest lap of this race – claimed by Levett. With 2:02.782m the Englishman was more than 2 seconds quicker than the winner, Hahn. This meant an improvement of more than 5 seconds over his second-fastest lap. And – according to the recording – Levett gained this super time not before the last third of the track lap. Everybody was flabbergasted, but it had no effect whatsoever on the positions.
Bad luck for Steffi Halm, her truck suffered a defective accelerator and she dropped out in the 6th lap. But Stuart Oliver (GBR) was even worse off. A first-turn skirmish left him with a totally ragged front tyre and he “hobbled” in his MAN off the track.
As is well known, in the second race the top 8 finishers from race 1 line up in reverse order, which meant that Vrsecky took pole position with Lvov alongside him, the fourth row on the grid was occupied by the winner, Hahn, and Albacete.
We know from experience that meanwhile these races often result in an over-proportional car body damage, and lots of material remains scattered on the track. And this time it happened again. Already in the first series of corners there was again a heavy crash involving several trucks and two of the Renault pilots, Bösiger and Lacko, skidded off the track. While the Czech was able to continue the race, the truck of the Swiss driver suffered a burst air tube and was put out of action.
The one who profited most from this incident was Nittel, who suddenly found himself in 2nd position behind Vrsecky. And the German was under the impression that he was definitely faster than his former team colleague. While entering the Rio bend which actually consists of two sharp 90 degree curves – nos. 4 and 5 – Nittel tried to pass the Buggyra on the inside track. But Vrsecky, too, wanted to enter the bend on the actual racing line and that’s when the two trucks collided – and it was far from a harmless push. At that moment many observers were afraid the MAN might even roll over; but Vrsecky drove on a few hundred metres, while Nittel’s MAN didn’t move anymore. But both vehicles looked a total loss – at least to the eye of non-professional people. However, very often the teams – by doing an arduous late-night job – succeeded in turning a veritable wreck into a winning vehicle for the next day.
Now Oestreich was heading the field, but both Hahn and Albacete were constantly glued to his rear bumper. Eventually Hahn managed to pass Oese with Albacete in tow. But allegedly the Spaniard had gained an advantage by leaving the track – which led to quite some irritation in the evening.
But initially the outcome of the second race was the same as in the first one with Hahn as the winner, followed by Albacete and Oestreich. Lacko crossed the line again in the unrewarding 4th position with Lvov finishing close behind. Janiec came home a strong 6th, honking in full blast. For the remaining points there was a tough fight going on to the end of the race. Eventually a beaming Jean-Pierre Blaise (BEL) finished in 7th, thereby gaining his first points this season, followed by his MAN colleague Oliver. The remaining positions within the points were taken by Mika Mäkinen (FIN) and the Frenchman Jeremy Robineau (MAN) who gained his first point of the season, too.
Around 20:00 hours the new results already discussed beforehand were announced.
Albacete had to swap positions with Oestreich – because of the above mentioned incident; and Blaise changed places with Oliver – because of repeated changing of lanes.
In the team ranking the first race was won by Cepsa Truck Sport Lutz Bernau (Albacete / Nittel) followed by MKR Technology (Bösiger / Oestreich) and MKR Team 14 Juniors (Lacko / Janiec). The winner of the second race was MKR Team 14 Juniors ahead of MKR Technology and Cepsa Truck Sport Lutz Bernau.
The current leader in the championship ranking is still Oestreich with 72 points, followed by Hahn and Albacete (both 60), Nittel (47), Lacko (34), Vrsecky (28) and Bösiger (25).

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