Sunday in Most – Part 1, Hahn once again on pole
01. September 2013Most - The dark clouds that collected late afternoon yesterday finally unloaded in the night over Autodrom Most. A slight drizzle at first developed into intermittent heavy showers accompanied later by strong squalls. It was in these conditions that the tankpool24 team had to install a new engine in its Mercedes-Benz race truck — out in the open. The team’s tent wasn’t tall enough for the MAN crew to get their loader crane inside, and without that it was no go. And as we’ve seen time and again, the entire paddock came together to help, regardless of team or marque. The supply of the engine itself from Germany to the circuit on Saturday afternoon had been a logistical tour de force, and since most teams did not have any major jobs to complete on their trucks in the evening, there was no shortage of helping hands who gladly put their might to the effort. At around 4 am, drenched to the bone, they finally managed to get the engine to crank. It ran like clockwork — but only for a few minutes, before it abruptly stalled and could not be started up again no matter what anybody tried. An initial examination pointed to gear damage, but whatever the cause, this seventh round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship was finished for the tankpool24 Mercedes. It was a severe blow for the small team around Markus Bauer, but an even more bitter disappointment for Ellen Lohr, who had been able to do nothing more a couple of training laps over the weekend. In resignation these busied themselves packing up while the rest went about preparing themselves for the second race day in Most. As usual, this began with the morning warm-up, in which Antonio Albacete (ESP) in the red Cepsa MAN promptly stunned the competition with a lap of 2:01.834s in suboptimal conditions — a time that would have won him the SuperPole yesterday. German Jochen Hahn (MAN), the Spaniard’s closest rival for the championship, was in second on the timesheet a whole second behind. Speeds in this session are of no consequence really, but Albacete’s time nevertheless made an impression.
In the timed practice that followed nobody went faster than 2:02s, and all the top drivers returned to the pits after a single flying lap. All they needed, of course, was to qualify for the SuperPole, and here Hahn was considerably quicker than Albacete. Their Hungarian MAN colleague Norbert Kiss, who had struggled with a defective steering system throughout yesterday, was able to split the two championship leaders, the rest of the top 10 places going to David Vršecký (CZE) in a Freightliner, the Hungarian Benedek Major (MAN), Adam Lacko (CZE) in a Renault, the two Germans Markus Oestreich and René Reinert, Mika Mäkinen (FIN) – all MAN – and the Swiss Markus Bösiger (Renault).
In the decisive shootout for the top 10 positions on the starting grid, the top five – Kiss, Albacete, Hahn, Oestreich, and Vršecký – all lay within three-tenths of a second after the first lap, very close indeed. Did any of them have it in him to go any faster? Hahn gave us the answer. At the very close of the session the defending champ clocked 2:01.831s, the fastest lap of the weekend so far, the others following in the order of their positions in the timed practice. Positions six to 10 on the grid went to Lacko, Bösiger, Mäkinen, Major, and Reinert.
Impressions:
