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Saturday in Misano Part 1 – Hahn seizes pole for first race of the season

Saturday in Misano Part 1 – Hahn seizes pole for first race of the season

26. May 2018Misano - The Misano World Circuit is basking in glorious sunshine on this first race day of the new FIA European Truck Racing Championship season. Iveco pilot Jochen Hahn set the pace in first free practice, just as he did yesterday. Next after the German quadruple champ was compatriot Sascha Lenz (MAN). Englishman Ryan Smith (MAN) was again a surprise third, only three tenths slower than Hahn and just two hundredths ahead of Hungarian Norbert Kiss in his tankpool24 Mercedes.
In the second free practice session Lenz topped the leaderboard on a (by now) much warmer track. His MAN colleagues Antonio Albacete (ESP) and René Reinert (GER), then Hahn and Smith, all trailed massively, albeit in a tight cluster spread just three tenths apart.
It was 30° by noon, and every slightest wisp of breeze was welcome when the truck racers finally got down to business. Qualifying was upon us, there was no question of anybody holding back now.
The earlier results were all rewritten. Kiss now drove the fastest lap, followed by Hahn and Smith just four hundredths behind. Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN), Adam Lacko (CZE) in the Buggyra Freightliner, the two Germans André Kursim (Iveco) and Lenz, the two MAN pilots Anthony Janiec (FRA) and Reinert, and Gerd Körber (Iveco) made up the rest of the Top 10 – all spread a tick over a second apart. The unusual performance parity across the field had its first victim in Steffi Halm, the German Iveco pilotess having to make do with 11th.
After a five-minute interval they were out again for the Super Pole. Hahn streaked around the circuit like greased lightning, setting a simply unbeatable 2:02.982. Albacete set the next best time, more than three tenths slower, and Kiss in third was more than six tenths off.
Reinert, Smith, Lacko, Körber, Janiec, Kursim, and Lenz took the remaining positions. Lenz was 7th in the actual classification but had his Super Pole times cancelled.

Impressions:

Saturday in Misano Part 1 – Hahn seizes pole for first race of the season
Saturday in Misano Part 1 – Hahn seizes pole for first race of the season
Saturday in Misano Part 1 – Hahn seizes pole for first race of the season