Sunday at the Ring – part 1

15. July 2012Nürburgring - In the morning the temperatures were in the single digits. Even though it had not rained as much as on the previous day, it was said that the “Truck–Korso” had to be cancelled, which is usually one of the greatest events during a Truck-Grand-Prix. Many show-trucks that were parked in the Müllenbachschleife were stuck in the mud.
During the first race there were also already two stops and restarts, meaning the agenda was somewhat mixed up.
The warm-up session for the drivers of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship already started later than planned. The leader of the overall ranking, the Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN), drove on a relatively dry race track the fastest time, while his rival and teammate Jochen Hahn (GER) drove into the pit after only one warmup-lap. The three Renault drivers Markus Oestreich (GER), Adam Lacko (CZE) and Markus Bösiger (SUI) placed the following places behind the Spaniard in the warm-up session. Shortly before the timed practice it started to rain again and that made it extremely exciting, meaning that even the ones that had not as many power had a chance to show what they could do. Ellen Lohr (GER), who received the first points of the FIA for her team yesterday, placed 7th at one point with her tankpool24-Mercedes. Then the race track dried up and the rivals used their stronger engines in order to push Lohr out of the top ten of the Super Pole. In the end, Lacko drove the fastest time, but was still 15 seconds slower than his best times on the previous day. Hahn, Albacete, Iveco-driver Gerd Körber (GER), Bösiger, the Czech David Vsrecky (Freightliner), Oestreich, the Frenchman Anthony Janiec (FRA) and both MAN drivers Mika Mäkinen (FIN) und Dominique Lacheze (FRA) qualified for the Super Pole. Only in the last second the Frenchman was able to push the Belgian Jean-Pierre Blaise (Renault) off the 10th position.
Also the best drivers remained on the track as long as possible – the changes in conditions of the race track caused the order to constantly change. In the Super Pole the decision was made over the starting grid and Albacete was eventually the first one, followed by Vrsecky, Hahn, Lacko, Janiec, Bösiger, Körber, Mäkinen, Lacheze and Oestreich. Right before the start of the first race of the day, it was announced that Albacete had been disqualified due to overspeeding, instead of the Pole position that meant starting position number 10 for him.

Impressions: