Sunday in Nogaro

19. June 2011Nogaro - In the morning it was quite chilly with only 12 °C. But the sky was almost cloudless and soon the temperatures rose to 25 °C, and the 32,000 visitors enjoyed sunny conditions as well as a racing day in a relaxed atmosphere. After a relatively early warm-up the timed practice went off rather unagitated. In the following SuperPole the outcome was soon determined. Again Jochen Hahn (GER) secured pole, followed by his two MAN colleagues Antonio Albacete (ESP) and Uwe Nittel (GER). Buggyra-Pilot David Vrsecky (CZE) was in 4th position, ahead of the Renault trio Markus Bösiger (SUI), Markus Oestreich (GER) and Adam Lacko (CZE). The top-ten were completed by the British driver Chris Levett (Buggyra) and the two MAN pilots Javier Mariezcurrena (ESP) and Stuart Oliver (GBR).
And also in the first race of the day everybody seemed to be quite relaxed. Hahn made a good start and held the lead unchallenged from start to finish. The other two pilots on the podium were Albacete and Nittel. Oestreich and Bösiger switched places right from the start and finished the race in that order, followed by Renault colleague Lacko who had Mariezcurrena glued to his rear bumper throughout the race. By finishing in 8th the Spanish race-by-race pilot secured pole position in the second race. The remaining positions within the points were taken by Oliver and Levett.
And naturally the focus of the media was again on Steffi Halm. Already in the timed practice the young German pilot was able to better her lap times compared to Saturday – however, her nearest rivals had improved their times, too. But already at the start the Mercedes driver was squeezed off the track and onto the grass so that she dropped to the back of the field of 23 trucks from were she soon worked her way up to 19th. But as the pilots in front of her were all on a level with her she finally had to be satisfied with that position.
As in the final race the top 8 finishers from race 1 line up in reverse order, Mariezcurrena was now on pole with Lacko alongside him and Hahn and Albacete side by side on 4th row. And again – as was so often the case since the alterations of the regulations – this race turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for the fans. Race-by-race pilot Mariezcurrena was certainly regarded as an underdog among an exquisite group of top-pilots. And it was merely a matter of time before the Spaniard, like almost all the other pole setters in the second races, would be overtaken by the much more powerful chasing pack – at least that’s what everybody thought.
At the start the MAN pilot outpaced Lacko, but the Czech was firmly attached to the rear end of the Spaniard’s truck. Lacko, in turn, was closely followed by his two Renault colleagues Bösiger and Oestreich. And every time you thought that now Mariezcurrena was in for it, he was able to fend his chasers off. Within seconds of each other the leading foursome did lap after lap and everybody was wondering how long the Spaniard would be able to withstand the pressure, or when he would commit his first mistake. But Mariezcurrena didn’t make any mistake at all; he scored a tight, but sure start-finish victory, followed home by the Renault trio Lacko, Bösiger and Oestreich.
And behind them, Albacete also finished by a narrow margin; he crossed the finish line in 5th just 3 tenths ahead of Hahn. At the start the German pilot was a bit unlucky, because after a collision he had to drive through the gravel bed and dropped back several positions. Gradually he worked his way up, but eventually had to settle for 6th place, with Nittel and Vrsecky close behind. The first eight pilots finished the race within less than ten seconds of each other. The last two places in the points were taken by Levett and Renault pilot Anthony Janiec (FRA).
And, just like on Saturday, Stephanie Halm achieved her best result in the second race of the day. At first she was involved in several minor skirmishes, but soon she succeeded in pulling away from the small pack of her nearest rivals and came home in an unchallenged 15th position.
Owing to his win in the first race of the day – where twice as many points can be scored as in the second race – Hahn could further extend his lead in the overall ranking with a total of 200 points, followed by Albacete (151), Oestreich (122), Nittel (112), Lacko (108), Vrsecky (100) and Bösiger (92).
Just like the day before, the team ranking in the first race was won by Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau (Albacete / Nittel) ahead of MKR-Technology (Bösiger / Oestreich) and Buggyra (Vrsecky / Levett). The winner of the second race was MKR-Technology, followed by MKR Team 14 Juniors (Lacko / Janiec) and Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau.

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