Saturday in Zolder Part 3 - First win for Kursim and a one-two for tankpool24

16. September 2017Zolder - Even if the sky had now grown overcast, the temperature at 18°C was still perfect for racing. At the end of the heat the tankpool24 team’s outlook was positively all sunshine.
At the start polesitter Körber ceded position to José Rodrigues, who’d started alongside. André Kursim, coming up from third, followed the Portuguese past the Schwabentruck Iveco. Rodrigues headed for a runaway lead, leaving behind a pack whose infighting posed him no threat – were we going to see him reprise his win from the first round of the season in Spielberg? Not here, not now.
In a daring manoeuvre midway through Lap 2, Kursim darted ahead of the Portuguese on the inside of the chicane at the end of the back straight. At this point nobody could have imagined that this move would lay the foundation for the young Mercedes pilot’s first career win.
Rodrigues now had to focus his attention on his rear, although he still had Körber’s Iveco as a buffer to the closing-in pack. Kursim used his headway to put a couple of metres more between himself and the Portuguese. The manifestly stronger Albacete, Kiss, and Hahn had, meanwhile, beset Körber and were joined anon by Lacko, who after his failure to finish the earlier race had been relegated to the end of the 17-strong start grid – just as Steffi Halm, – Lenz, and Halm herself, who like Lacko had had to plough her way up the entire field.
One-third into the race Körber and his Iveco weakened somewhat, affording his pursuers an opportunity they did not hesitate to exploit. Over the space of just two laps they dumped the thrice champion from 3rd to 9th place.
It didn’t go much better with José Rodrigues either; the Portuguese lost six places at one go. With the race not quite halfway through, the two front-row starters had already been consigned to midfield. But those who thought Kursim would now suffer the same fate were sadly mistaken. It’s true the tankpool24 pilot’s small advantage soon evaporated peu à peu, but Albacete was only able to latch on, not overtake. The Spaniard, for his part, had to keep an eye out for Kursim’s champion teammate Kiss. As Albacete finally mounted his assault on the leading Mercedes, Kiss smartly slotted into the gap the Spaniard had inadvertently left open. When Albacete’s attempt to overtake didn’t succeed, the only place his MAN could fall back to was third, behind the Hungarian’s Mercedes. Kursim, on the other hand, stayed put in the lead. On the same lap the engine on Frenchman Dominique Orsini’s Mercedes blew up at the beginning of the main straight, depositing a streak of oil along one side of the track. That brought out all the caution flags one could think of, and the trucks were waved onto the other side. The race was as good as over. The three drivers on the podium – Kursim, Kiss, and Albacete – were followed home by Hahn, Lacko, Lenz, and Halm in close succession. Not even five seconds separated Kursim from Halm in 7th.
Finishing in 8th and 9th were the front-starters José Rodrigues and Körber. Vršecký collected the final point on offer.
Tankpool24 was the clear winner, followed on the team podium by Truck Sport Bernau – Reboconort (Albacete / José Rodrigues) and „Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus“ (Hahn / Körber).
Kursim won the Promoter’s Cup trophy for the second time today, ahead of José Rodrigues and Thomas Robineau.
Lacko continues to lead the overall standings with 284 points, followed by Hahn (240), Kiss (230), Halm (213), Albacete (175), Lenz (130), and Körber (99).

Impressions: