Sunday in Most Part 3 - Bernau strikes back

31. August 2014Most - While the pilots in the supporting series had to struggle on a slippery track in streaming rain, the going was relatively easy for the truck contingent in both races in front of a crowd of 50,000 that had turned up despite the miserable weather. The first heavy shower came only at the end of the podium ceremony. Even so, parts of the track afforded almost no traction, and heaps of caution were called for.
Rodrigues was on pole, the first in his long FIA ETRC career. Alongside was Kiss, one of the best starters in truck racing, so nobody really expected the Portuguese Renault pilot to have half a chance. Kiss predictably won the duel, albeit only in the approach to the third corner. Rodrigues meanwhile was able to hold the rest of the field in check. But then the steering gear on Kiss’s MAN failed, or so the Hungarian indicated, in the hairpin at the far end of the circuit, landing him in the gravel. Rodrigues was suddenly back in front, but he wasn’t going to enjoy the lead for long. At first it was Bösiger who latched on, but a little later Albacete, Lacko, Vršecký, and Hahn ganged up on him, sweeping ahead in one fell swoop. Rodrigues was in for more anxious moments later, when Körber crept up on him and then tried to overtake. As the German drew alongside, the Portuguese seemed to lose control on the still slippery track and his Renault rammed Körber’s Iveco broadside, spinning him around and dropping him down a few places. Rodrigues somehow managed to keep going, his truck bearing prominent scars from the collision. Two laps later, however, the Renault pilot surrendered to the charge of Vojtíšek, Janiec, and Reinert in short order and finished in ninth, ahead of Halm.
In the leading cluster, meanwhile, the positions seemed to have crystallised — Bösiger ahead of Albacete and Vršecký, with Lacko and Hahn in fourth and fifth. But then Albacete made his move on Bösiger in the final curve to snatch victory from his Swiss teammate.
Truck Sport Bernau was obviously the top-scoring team, ahead of Buggyra and Reinert Adventure.
Albacete has now extended his lead in the standings with 261 points, followed by Hahn (249), Kiss (246), Lacko (205), Vršecký (178), and Bösiger (169).

Impressions: