Sunday in Istanbul – part 2

13. May 2012Istanbul - Before the start of the third race the sky turned darker and darker and it looked like it was going to rain. However there was only a slight drizzle, but pole setter Hahn did not let this bother him even though his windshield wipers were constantly running. Right after the start he immediately took the lead and expected a clear start-finish victory, remaining totally unchallenged. Right behind Hahn Albacete passed both Renault trucks from Lacko and Oestreich on the inside in the first curve and therefore sealed the second place. Both MKR drivers did not really have a chance to do anything about it. Right behind the leading drivers Reinert and Vrsecky collided. The Czech turned around his own axis and he was not able to continue driving his Buggyra. A little bit later Oestreich passed his team - mate Lacko and after it was clear who was going to be on the podium. In the course of the race Lacheze was able to pass Bösiger and was therefore placed 5th. Other than that the drivers drove behind each other in the normal order. Right after Bösiger Mäkinen placed 7th before Summerfield, who was ranked 8th and therefore the last one to secure the pole for the last race. The two last ranked are Janiec and Reinert. Also during the last race it was drizzling, but that didn’t have any impact on the condition of the race track. Summerfield took the lead right after the start and behind him in the first curve was a huge crash. Lacheze could have passed Bösiger on the start straight, but in the next curve the Swiss was on the convenient inside track. In the end it probably just became too tight. Even though Bösiger already drove on the curbs his Renault and the MAN from Lacheze collided. The MAN spun a little bit it then totally crashed into the side of the Swiss truck. Due to the fact that Lacheze was facing the drivers coming toward him Janiec totally crashed into the front of his truck. However, the MAN driver kept driving while Bösiger slowly rove into the pit lane. Summerfield was not able to keep up with drivers that were ahead of him, because they were simply too fast. In the end Summerfield placed 7th, because little by little Oestreich, Albacete, Hahn, Vrsecky, Mäkinen and also Lacko passed him. For a long time it looked like as if Hahn would not win this race, some people even thought that MKR – Renaults might have their first victory of the season. However, Albacete who was behind Oestreich did not want to accept the second place and attacked the German at any given chance. And then it happened that the Renault and the red Cepsa – MAN got caught up and drove several meters entwined. Hahn immediately took the chance and passed the two wranglers and headed toward his fourth victory of this weekend. Janiec, Reinert and Blaise are ranked behind Summerfield. Two laps before the end the heavily damaged truck from Lacheze had to strike its colors because of an engine failure. With his four victories in the overall ranking he is taking the lead with 60 points before Albacete (47), Lacko (36), Oestreich (34), Bösiger (20), Vrsecky (20) and Mäkinen (18). As on the previous day MKR Technology won in the team ranking in both races against Bösiger – Team 14 and Blaise/Bouzige Truck Racing.

Impressions: