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Saturday in Albacete

Saturday in Albacete

07. June 2008Albacete - A mostly cloudless sky and temperatures exceeding 30 °C (86 °F) again made the day a scorcher for the truck racers and the audience. Already during the first free practice some of the mechanics broke out in a sweat. While the two Buggyra pilots, Markus Bösiger and David Vrsecky, effortlessly set the pace again, Chris Levett returned to the pit immediately, Antonio Albacete, too, did only some laps; ditto Jochen Hahn and Jean-Philipp Belloc (all MAN pilots). Hahn was only dissatisfied with the setup of the springs, but for Belloc it got pretty badly with a broken clutch disc. In record time and watched by a great number of spectators the Bernau team together with the MAN mechanics removed engine and gear box, replaced the defective parts, and the repair work on the RaceTruck, painted in the national colours of France, was completed in time for the practice. And then the battle for pole position was actually over after only two laps, although during the remaining 8 laps Vrsecky tried to snatch away second position on the grid from Albacete, who was just 7 hundredths ahead of him, but in vain. Bösiger secured pole with 1:54.581 minutes. Fourth on the grid was Hahn, ahead of Belloc and Dominique Lacheze on the third Bernau truck.
The start of the Qualification Race evoked unpleasant memories of last year’s race. Again Albacete dashed forward from his second position, but this time did not corner so early, so that Bösiger could easily defend his lead on the inner line. Then the Spaniard went even wider and Vrsecky had the opportunity to get in front of the red Cepsa MAN. While the Swiss pulled gradually away, Albacete went on attacking the Czech. But the second Freightliner pilot fended off all the attacks, so that in the end there was a double win for Buggyra which brought about loud cheers from the team. Behind the local hero, Belloc finished on 4th, ahead of “Koller + Schwemmer” team mate Hahn. On sixth and seventh resp. were the two Renault pilots, Markus Altenstrasser and Frankie Vojtisek, followed by another MAN ‚Armada’ with Stuart Oliver, Egon Allgäuer, and Dominique Lacheze in the ranking.
The start of the Championship Race was promising for the Buggyra duo. Bösiger pulled away a bit, but Vrsecky had Albacete’s red RaceTruck hard on his heels all the time. In the second lap the Spaniard knocked the left rear side of the Czech’s truck, the Buggyra careened a bit on the track and was now handicapped by a flat back tyre, and, within one lap, Vrsecky had dropped back three places, when first Albacete and eventually Belloc and Hahn passed him. Up to the 10th lap Bösiger had a rather comfortable advantage, but now the Spaniard was closing gradually on the back of his truck, until he was glued to the bumper of the Swiss’ truck. In the end Bösiger crossed the finishing line with an advantage of not more than 2 tenths. And it seemed that there had been some knocks, too – at least the Freightliner of the Swiss looked rather wrecked.
And the battles for the remaining positions in the points were not less tough. Belloc gained an unchallenged third place, ahead of Hahn and Vrsecky, but for the other positions there was a fight to the finish. Eventually Altenstrasser, Allgäuer, Oliver, Lacheze and Vijtisek got the remainder of the points.
In the end Race Director Tony Iddon summoned 10 of the drivers. Especially the incident involving Albacete and Vrsecky was scrutinized closely, although nobody had been entering a protest. Apparently the FIA now wants to counteract, at an early stage, proceedings like the ones that happened last year. The team ranking was again won by Buggyra, ahead of Team Koller + Schwemmer and Team Frankie. In the overall ranking Bösiger now took the lead with 120 points, followed by Vrsecky (113), Albacete (101), Belloc (84), and Hahn (69).