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Sunday in Jarama

Sunday in Jarama

02. October 2011Jarama - On the second day of the jubilee weekend in Jarama we again enjoyed fabulous summer conditions, and an enthusiastic crowd of 40,000 witnessed the races. And in the timed practice it seemed as if the MKR Renaults would again be on course for further success, just like the day before. The Swiss pilot Markus Bösiger clocked by far the fastest lap time, and his two colleagues Markus Oestreich (GER) and Adam Lacko (CZE) found themselves in 5th and 6th position, resp., in the field of ten for the SuperPole. The top ten were completed by the Hungarian driver Norbert Kiss (MAN), Buggyra Freightliner pilot David Vrsecky (CZE), local hero Antonio Albacete (MAN), the British pilot Chris Levett (Freightliner) and the three MAN pilots Jochen Hahn (GER), José Bermejo (ESP) and Uwe Nittel (GER).
But in the SuperPole the fast lap time Bösiger had claimed in the timed practice were of no use to him. Pole position fell to Vrsecky, followed by Albacete, Oestreich, Lacko, Nittel, Bösiger, Hahn, Kiss, Levett and Bermejo.
The following race turned out to be a bit confusing – to put it mildly – with lots of collisions and, consequently, highly cost-intensive. Pole setter Vrsecky made a good getaway and took the lead, closely followed by a chasing pack headed by Albacete. And in the first bend, the “Fangio”, there was the first crash, a bit later there was another collision in the “Varzi” turn; and in the “Le Mans” bend – the entrance to the most spectacular track section of the Circuito del Jarama – Albacete got stuck in the gravel bed. And shortly afterwards the race was stopped; one of the reasons given for the stoppage was that they had to absorb some oil spillages on the track in the “Fangio”. In the meantime the stranded Cepsa MAN had been retrieved and after a 20 minute delay the trucks lined up on the grid in their original positions for the restart. But the Renault of Jean-Pierre Blaise was so heavily damaged that the Belgian driver didn’t have any choice but to return to the pit. And in the very first lap Oestreich’s Renault decided that it had enough. After one more lap Bösiger’s truck suffered turbo failure and he had to retire – which meant that all the points for the MKR Technology Team went down the drain. Only Lacko in the Junior Team limited the damage for team boss Mario Kress and his crew a bit. The Czech pilot eventually finished in 4th.
Meanwhile Albacete had taken the lead, followed by Vrsecky and Hahn. The three pilots pulled away quickly and were en route to a podium place for each one. They were trailed by a chasing pack headed by Lacko and Nittel, but in mid-race the MAN of the German pilot packed up so that Lacko finished the race rather unchallenged in 4th, followed by Oliver, Bermejo, Lvov and Kiss, who with his eighth-place finish qualified for pole position in the final race. The top-ten were completed by the Spanish driver Javier Mariezcurrena (MAN) and Levett.
Stephanie Halm – the only lady in the ETRC – was again a very determined driver. In the timed practice her Mercedes RaceTruck suffered turbo damage, but in the very nick of time the mechanics got the truck ready for the race. That’s why for the tankpool24 Team the lengthy delay to the restart came in handy. Already in the first lap Halm had made up 5 places, moving up to 13th. But then she was overtaken by her fiercest opponent in the Saturday race, Mariezcurrena, and a bit later the Frenchman Anthony Janiec (Renault) and the Finn Mika Mäkinnen (MAN) passed her, too. But Steffi did not surrender and again worked her way up to 14th, the position she finally finished in. But after the race the team suffered an unpleasant surprise. As on Saturday, again several pilots incurred penalties for overspeed, and this time Steffi Halm was one of them. She was disqualified which meant she had to start the final race from the back of the field.
Those who had thought that the previous race could not be topped with regard to the demolishment of valuable vehicle parts were proven wrong. But when you come to think of it, it did not come as a complete surprise. After all, some of the fastest pilots who had been forced to retire in the previous race, now had to start from the back of the field, so that in the packed starter field these top pilots lined up behind quite a few of the drivers participating in the Spanish championship – and they were considerably slower.
In the second race, where the top eight finishers from race 1 start in reverse order, Lvov lined up alongside pole setter Kiss; Albacete found himself in 8th position. Under these circumstances many observers already expected the young man from Hungary to win. Although Kiss is not very experienced in truck racing, he knows the Jarama circuit quite well as he used to take part in the Spanish Touring Car Championship several times.
Kiss led away from the start, followed by Lvov and Hahn. And again there was plenty of action in the “Farina” bend, which is rather popular not least because of the many collisions happening there. Finally Oestreich’s Renault and the Mercedes of Florian Orsini (FRA) stood there wedged together – and again a race was red flagged.
After about 30 minutes the race was re-started – with Oestreich, but without Orsini. But also the restart was ill-omened for the lanky man from Fulda. In the “Le Mans” bend – not far from the position where he had his fateful encounter with Orsini – his truck packed up due to turbo failure.
Again Kiss took the lead immediately, followed by Lvov and Hahn, but obviously the MAN of the Russian lost momentum, and eventually he brought his truck home in 20th. Kiss and Hahn pulled away quickly and maintained these positions to the chequered flag. Behind them Vrsecky, Albacete and Lacko were locked in combat, fighting for 3rd place. Lacko swiftly passed the Spaniard and a bit later he overhauled Vrsecky, too. Now the Czech came under even more pressure from Albacete, and at the end of the “Farina” curve the Cepsa MAN crashed head-on into the rear of Vrsecky’s Freightliner. For some seconds Vrsecky dragged the MAN on hooked up on the back of his truck, before the front-wheels of Albacete’s MAN touched the ground again. Shortly afterwards Albacete sped past his opponent and finished the race in 4th. Behind Vrsecky Bermejo crossed the finish line in 6th, followed by Janiec and Nittel, who had started the race in 22nd position, two places ahead of Bösiger. Those two pilots fought a race-long battle which often was a bit questionable. But why only Bösiger incurred a drive-through penalty, which dropped him back to 14th, wasn’t easily comprehensible for the observers. Now Mariezcurrena and Levett completed the positions within the points.
Because of the disqualification in the previous race Steffi Halm had to start from the back of the field. Blaise’s Renault was no longer manoeuvrable after the crash in the first race of the day, so that there were now 29 trucks competing. After only one lap Halm had fought her way up to 19th place, but from that position it became more difficult to overtake her opponent. Gradually she passed two more trucks but finally she had to settle for 17th.
After the race the stewards had a lengthy discussion with the result that Albacete incurred a 5-second penalty, so that the Spaniard and Vrsecky swapped places.
In the championship Hahn is still leading the overall ranking with 362 points, followed by Albacete (345), Lacko (283), Vrsecky (260), Oestreich (257), Bösiger (240) and Nittel (194).
In the team championship the first race was won by Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau (Albacete / Nittel) ahead of Buggyra (Vrsecky / Levett) and MKR Team 14 Juniors (Lacko / Janiec). The winner of the second race was MKR Team 14 Juniors, followed by OXXO-Mäkinen (Kiss / Mäkinen) and Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau.

Impressions:

Sunday in Jarama
Sunday in Jarama
Sunday in Jarama
Sunday in Jarama
Sunday in Jarama
Sunday in Jarama