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Saturday in Most

Saturday in Most

26. August 2006Most - In the morning it was only partly cloudy with a snatch of sunshine now and then, but around midday there was a heavy thunderstorm going down on the Autodrom and soon the track was several centimetres under water. The pilots of the Skoda Octavia Cups had to stop their timed practice; it wouldn’t have been possible to obtain faster rounds anyway. Just in time for the race trucks’ Qualification race the rain stopped, however, the tarmac did not get dry till the end of the race. Previously, there was a very exciting timed practice, where a lot of the pilots could mark their respective fastest times already after the first few rounds; to name but a few: both pole setters – Antonio Albacete (MAN) with 2:04.571 and Markus Oestreich (Mercedes Benz) with 2:04.750. The rest of the pack was chasing after them. David Vrsecky (Freightliner) and Jochen Hahn (Mercedes Axor) were the ones who got nearest to these times, but the fastest time of the man from Altensteig was cancelled, so that Hahn had to contend with starting from 7th position. In the end, there were 11 pilots who beat the official lap record of 2:08.299, meaning that people cherished great expectations for the Qualifying race. But after the one hour lunch break (where eager fans took the opportunity to collect autographs) the aforementioned rain started to fall. Already on the way to the starting grid Avelino da Silva Reis’ truck spun around at the 180 degrees turn. But the pilots, with the incidents of the Nürburgring race still fresh on their minds, reacted rather cautiously. The only precarious situation involved both the Buggyra pilots, Gerd Körber and David Vrsecky, when they emerged from the first chicane in the first lap. The Czech crashed so heavily into the rear of the German’s truck that the left front tyre dangled in the air, thus affecting the wheel suspension. Vrsecky had great difficulties to steer his truck, and after four more laps the blue Buggyra had to take to the box. The leading pilots Albacete and Oestreich pulled clear of the pack. Niko Pulic on the second Euroline Mercedes managed to pass Körber and could secure his third position while Hahn kept challenging the man from Rheinau for the fourth position. Oestreich was lurking directly behind Albacete, waiting for the Spaniard to somehow loose control over his truck on the – by now rather dry – circuit, but shortly before the finish of the race the man from Fulda started to attack in earnest. Albacete, however, parried every attack and finished in first position with an advantage of two tenth.
While the pilots drove rather cautiously during the Qualifying race, later on, at the Cup race they “played hardball”. Right after the start in the first chicane arose some confusing situation. Oestreich and Albacete entered the first corner side by side, with Oestreich just a bit in the lead. The Spaniard pulled over to the inner track just at the moment when Pulic arrived there. The Croatian collided with the Cepsa MAN causing the truck to bump into Oese’s Axor which took to the gravel. He re-emerged right in front of Albacete and it looked as if he even had a slight advantage. But then Frankie Vojtisek spun off the track and across the gravel bed, settled in alongside Oese and kept pushing Oese’s Mercedes towards the red MAN of Albacete. Oestreich saw no way out. Then Körber emerged, having gone across the gravel as well, probably due to some pushing from behind. Now the leading pilots, Albacete and Vojtisek, followed by Oestreich and Körber, entered the next chicane. And here the two Germans got under each other’s feet. The man from Rheinau steered his truck over the inner track and Oese slid from the outer track. Bumping across the gravel and over the grass, the Mercedes pilot managed to rejoin the track shortly before the 180 degrees hairpin, gaining even 2nd position. Then Vojtisek and Körber, too, passed the Mercedes, and right in the centre of the curve Oese and Körber got into trouble for the second time. The Buggyra spun round and blocked the track for some moments, but could then continue the race. The Euroliner Mercedes, however, gave up the ghost just on the spot where the trucks accelerate when emerging from the bend. The race should have been stopped immediately, cause there couldn’t have been an obstacle more dangerously than on that very spot. But instead the stewards ordered the head technician of the FIA Truck Racing, Fabian Calvet, to go to the bend to examine Oese’s truck to see whether it could go on or not. And then all hell broke loose. There was pushing and shoving, and shortcuts were taken. And when a tyre of Körber’s Buggyra burst and some other parts failed, too, the man from Rheinau had to give up, as well, and parked his truck alongside the Euroline Axor. In perfect harmony the two opponents were sitting on the crash barrier, waiting for the race to finish and for the tow trucks to arrive. In the end Albacete was ahead of Adam Lacko, Jochen Hahn, and David Vrsecky. Later on, however, Vrsecky was disqualified because of dangerous driving, so that Markus Bösiger was promoted up to 4th position. Next was Niko Pulic. The winners of this chaotic race were Albacete (175 points), whose chances of defending his title rose substantially, as well as the leading pilot of the overall standing, Jochen Hahn, who, with 201 points, is 21 points ahead of Gerd Körber.