Saturday in Le Mans Part 3 – Reinert rallies to first win of the season

10. October 2015Le Mans - Small clouds had started to gather at the start of Saturday’s second race, but there was no rain in prospect. Just like the weathermen had predicted. But René Reinert winning his first race this season here in Le Mans - that nobody could have predicted.
On pole was the second Reinert Racing truck with Steffi Halm at the wheel. But the young pilot just didn’t seem to gain traction at the start, dropping to fourth by the first corner.
The field was now led by Reinert, with Hahn and Kiss hard on his heels. A short distance behind lay Halm, and she was hard put holding Vršecký and his Freightliner off.
Reinert just kept on trucking, though he surely must have felt Hahn’s hot breath down his neck at times. The bantam from Altensteig, for his part, didn’t dare risk too much lest Kiss in his wake pounce on any error the two Germans ahead of him might force each other into. And so Hahn had to drive with one eye fixed on his rear-view mirror - a good thing for Reinert, allowing him a breather every now and again.
This three continued in close formation lap after lap that it looked certain something would give. But nothing did, and they crossed the line within a seven-tenths window.
Halm followed them after a brief interval in fourth, which she defended bravely and with all she could against Vršecký’s unrelenting onslaught, ultimately forcing the Czech into a miserably misjudged braking manoeuvre shortly before the finish that allowed his teammate Lacko to overtake him. This ended the Czech challenge and Steffi was safely home in fourth.
For a long while Lacko and Janiec had gone at each other hammer and tongs, and the two subsequently had to report to race control. In the event they escaped with warnings, but there was no change in the finishing order.
Janiec crossed the line in 7th behind Vršecký but ahead of Albacete, Körber, and Lohr, who collected the single point for 10th place.
Even if Hahn was denied the pleasure of winning, it must have been extremely gratifying for the Swabian and his team that the top four trucks had all originated in the Hahn Racing workshops.
With first- and second-place finishes in the individual classification, Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert) was the obvious winner in the team category. The two other podium honours went to Oxxo-Lion (Kiss / Janiec) and Buggyra (Vršecký / Lacko).
The fight for runner-up remains tense. Champion Kiss has 584 points, but behind him there’s still just one point that separates Hahn (428) and Lacko (427). They are followed by Vršecký (385), Albacete (359), and Reinert (254).

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