Friday at the Ring
08. July 2011Nürburgring - After two days of discussions about the question of how to improve the allocation of the – admittedly – rather limited space in the paddock, today at long last truck racing was the focus of interest. As is already known, there is no longer a so-called media day which used to exist since the early years of truck racing events at the Nürburgring. Not only representatives of the media were allowed to sit in the passenger seat while the pilot did some laps on the track, but the teams could also take the chance to get potential sponsors interested in truck racing and to express their gratitude to some of their loyal fans, too.
Most of the teams would have liked to use that time for additional practice sessions, however, now they had to wait for the free practice in order to learn whether the recent setup changes would also result in faster lap times.
Under a constantly cloudy sky and rather cool temperatures Jochen Hahn (GER) in his MAN showed that he is evidently willing to set the tone on his “home” circuit, too. However, one of the MKR Renault trucks, piloted by another German driver, Markus Oestreich, was hard on his heels. But then, probably no other truck racer has done as many laps on that circuit as the lanky man from Fulda, who takes part in the most different race series almost every weekend. But in the second free practice Oese geared down a bit, while several of his opponents were able to better their times considerably. Again Hahn took the lead, followed by his MAN colleague Uwe Nittel (GER), Antonio Albacete (ESP) and the Swiss Renault pilot Markus Bösiger. But in the timed practice, where it really matters, Nittel clearly took the lead. The former World Rally Vice-champion improved his lap time by almost eight tenths. The top-ten for the SuperPole were completed by Oestreich, Hahn, Albacete, Renault pilot Adam Lacko (CZE), Bösiger, the Czech driver David Vrsecky (Buggyra-Freightliner), the German pilot Gerd Körber (Iveco), MAN pilot Alex Lvov (RUS) and the Frenchman Anthony Janiec (Renault).
During the 10-minute SuperPole it’s “neck or nothing” and there is no chance to drive more than two fast laps. For a long time Oestreich was regarded as pole setter, nobody seemed to be able to set a faster lap time than the Renault pilot (1:56,201m), but in the very last second he was beaten by Hahn who was just 26 thousandths quicker. Tomorrow Nittel will line up on the second row alongside Albacete, followed by Lacko and Bösiger, Vrsecky and Körber, as well as Lvov and Janiec. Once more the performances of the top pilots were almost level; the seven top-finishers lay within a mere second of each other.
Once again the media focussed on Stephanie Halm and her tankpool24 Mercedes. After the first free practice Markus Bauer’s Motorsport team had made several modifications and this seemed to pay off. The young Swabian set a much better pace and in the timed practice she was able to improve her best lap time by almost 5 seconds. Finally she was only about 3 seconds short of making it into the top ten (Halm’s near-term objective) – and short of about 150 HP, an advantage her nearest rivals have over her.
Several competitors in the FIA races even put themselves through the ordeal of participating in the races of the Mittelrhein-Cup as well, where the results count towards the British Championship, too. And there were quite some surprising things. Pole position for tomorrow’s race fell to MAN pilot Mathew Summerfield (GBR) ahead of Gerd Körber, British driver David Jenkins (MAN) and „The King of the Ring“, Heinz-Werner Lenz (Mercedes-Benz), as well as Allgäuer’s guest pilot Johannes Stuck (GER) on MAN. The two Buggyra pilots Chris Levett (GBR) and Vrsecky had posted second best and fourth best lap times, respectively, but later were relegated several positions for reasons which were not explained in detail.
Impressions:
