Friday in Zolder - Hahn dominates free practice

13. September 2019Zolder - The skies were streaky, but the rain stayed away during free practice for Round 6 of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Zolder. Iveco pilot Jochen Hahn set the pace in both sessions, going some way quicker than he did last year. With 1:57.522 in FP1, he was only 66 thousandths faster than Buggyra pilot Adam Lacko and nine hundredths ahead of Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN). Hahn stepped on it a bit in FP2, but this time Albacete was a full four tenths, and Lacko more than a second, slower.
The Czech in turn pipped Hungarian Norbert Kiss (Mercedes-Benz) by barely 34 thousandths, and Germans Steffi Halm (Iveco) and Sascha Lenz (MAN) by 72 and 98 thousandths respectively. It needs to be reiterated here that times in free practice are not necessarily indicative of how drivers will perform in qualifying or in the races. That we will know only tomorrow.
Friday’s highlight was the race truck parade into the heart of Heusden-Zolder. The weather was sublime, and the numerous fans had an excellent opportunity to admire the race trucks from close quarters, get talking to the pilots (and pilotess), and collect autographs. The truck racers and their crews in turn ate and drank their fill of the repast laid on by the organisers, in particular of the pommes frites – of which there were plenty.