Sunday at the Ring – part 2

15. July 2012Nürburgring - The delays in the program did not have any impacts on the first race of the day for the truck racers. Right on time at two o` clock the formation lap started with 180.000 spectators. Only a few minutes later, after a few hundred meters, Bösiger and Lacheze crashed into each other and into the barrier – red flags and the race was stopped.
After the recovery the race continued at 2:30 pm. At this time the race would actually have been over, and that’s when a short rainstorm hit us. The Marshalls starting betting how many restart there would be this time. But after a few minutes everything was over and the race continued without any further recesses. Due to a broken radiator Bösiger had to quit, but Lacheze was able to take his old starting position, because the restart went according to the results of the Super Pole. Like at the first start Hahn took over the lead ahead of Polesetter Vrsecky and did not release it until he drove over the finish line. With more than 6 seconds advantage he had an impressive start-finish-victory. Especially at the end of the race, Vrsecky had Albacete chasing behind him. The Spaniard drove straight up to the front, starting from the 10th position. Within the first lap he already drove up to the 5th position, and then he attacked Janiec and struggled with Lacko for several laps until he was able to pass him as well. He could not compete with Vrsecky though and had to be satisfied with the 3rd rank. The places that followed belonged to Lacko, Körber, Janiec, Oestreich and Lacheze, who placed 8th and won the Pole position for the last race. Mäkinen and the German Steffi Halm ( both MAN) completed the top ten.
Just like yesterday the section 4.1 of the 2012 Sporting Regulations FIA ETRC came into effect regarding the distribution of points. This applied to Halm, as well as, both Frenchmen Lionel Montagne (Renault) and Ludovic Faure (MAN) so that the Spanish MAN driver Jose Bermejo was happy to receive the last point. This was only true for one hour, though, because then there was a new result. The Spaniard had passed Ellen Lohr, while the yellow flag was being waved, a Drive Through would have been necessary and now alternatively he received 30 penalty seconds. This put Bermejo back on the 23rd place and Lohr took over the 13th place of the Spaniard and also his point. In the last race – almost unbelievable, because there was no rain, no stops or restarts – Polesetter Lacheze won the start ahead of Oestreich. After the first lap the order was rather clear, Lacko, Körber, Albacete, Vrsecky and Hahn formed the chase group. Janiec fell back from the 3rd to the 8th position, but was closely following Hahn. And when he attacked Albacete, which did not work out, Janiec took advantage of the situation and passed the Castrol-MAN.
Unfortunately the Frenchman was not able to enjoy his new position very long, because only one lap later Hahn had passed him again and started attacking the leading group. To the surprise of all spectators, he easily passed Albacete, while Körber and Vrsecky passed Lacko almost easily too. Soon Hahn was also attacking him. The Czech seemed to have severe problems, because he fell back on the 11th rank in the course of the last laps. Hahn was close behind the leading group on the 5th rank but Vrsecky was able to defend his position, until the last lap, that when the Swabian and the Czech changed places. Shortly before this, Oestreich had easily passed Lacheze, who did not try to defend his position, and drove toward a safe victory. Körber placed 3rd and even had an advantage of 4 tenth when he finished over Hahn who was constantly pushing forward. Vrsecky and Albacete placed on the next two ranks. Janiec fell back significantly and had to quit in the end. Bösiger, who had to start into the race from the back due to a failure in the previous race, placed 7th in the end. Ahead of Steffi Halm and Faure, Mäkinen placed 8th. But according to section 4.1 the last points went to Lacko and the Frenchman Thomas Robineau (MAN).Mäkinen received a 30-seconds penalty (“Stewards Decision”) who was put back on the 11th place. This meant that Lacko would receive 2 points. Ellen Lohr did not receive any points this time. Her Mercedes had trouble with the power strains and that is why the tankpool24-Team was happy with the 14th place. In the FIA ranking Hahn is having the lead with 281 points ahead of Albacete (274), Oestreich and Lacko (183 each), Vrsecky (159) and Bösiger (132).Early in the morning the second race of the Mittelrhein-Cup had taken place. After it had been stopped twice it was finally brought to an end. The Englishman Mathew Summerfield (MAN) won ahead of the two German drivers Sascha Lenz (Mercedes) and René Reinert (MAN).

Impressions: