Saturday at the Hungaroring Part 2 – Hahn walks to victory

27. August 2016Hungaroring - The first race at the Hungaroring was actually a far more facile undertaking for Jochen Hahn than his two-second advantage at the finish might suggest.
The sun continued to beat down, driving the temperature in the shade above 30°C. The asphalt was measured at 48° in places. But Hahn was the personification of cool, deciding the sprint to the first corner against Smith in his own favour and then pulling out such a wide gap that there never was any danger of his getting entangled with another truck.
Janiec followed in third place, which he was able to defend against Kiss. Then came Lacko and Halm, who’d been able to shoot up the field. But the young German lady racer dropped back to the end of the field in the first lap itself, her truck having picked up some damage during her early surge. However, she bravely overcame this handicap over the length of the race, making up place after place.
Her WOW! Women On Wheels teammate Ellen Lohr was worse-hit and had to retire with tyre damage.
While Hahn continued on his merry way to victory, Kiss first managed to pull up on, and then past, Janiec. He now had Smith ahead of him, the British championship leader who drives for the OXXO team that Kiss won his two European titles with.
Here were two trucks and two pilots equally matched, and it didn’t at any time look like the Hungarian would be able to break Smith’s resistance. That said, Kiss being the champion he is, was in attack mode throughout, seeking a chance to overtake till the last second.
When Smith left the door ajar only a couple of hundred metres before the finish, Kiss already had his foot – and truck in – and, in a couple of ticks, was ahead and away. The British MAN pilot couldn’t respond if he’d wanted to - he was simply out of track.
Fourth place went to Janiec. He was followed home by Lacko and Körber.
Steffi Halm finished seventh, ahead of Czech Frankie Vojtíšek (MAN), who gets to start the second race on pole.
The second tankpool24 pilot André Kursim (GER) was 9th, earning him his first championship point of the season. Britisher Brereton followed him in 10th for the final point available.
Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert) was the top team, followed by tankpool24 (Kiss / Kursim) and Lion Truck Racing-Lenz (Janiec / Lenz).

Impressions: