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Sunday in Most

31. August 2008Most - In the morning it was rather cool – no more than 10 °C (50 °F) – but later on the crowd of 55,000 could enjoy a cloudless sky and temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F) and more. And yet again the Buggyra Freightliners demonstrated their present domination. Right at the start of the timed practice David Vrsecky and Markus Bösiger took the lead. Jochen Hahn and his MAN colleague, Antonio Albacete, secured second row on the grid. During a pit stop the Spaniard had the mechanics make some alterations regarding the setup, in vain – he was still on third on the grid. Bösiger, however, succeeded in the penultimate lap to take the pole from Vrsecky.
At the start of the Qualy race the Swiss immediately took the lead, followed by Vrsecky, Albacete and Hahn. In the third bend the Spaniard got the better inner track and dashed past Vrsecky. But his pleasure in being on 2nd place was short-lived. After only some hundred metres the Czech overtook Albacete again. And at this very moment there was a big bang and the left front tyre of Hahn’s MAN burst. And when in Albacete’s RaceTruck a sensor cable came loose and he slowed down and eventually took to the pit, the field behind the two Buggyras looked quite different. Markus Altenstrasser (Renault) was suddenly on third position, followed by Chris Levett (MAN) and Frankie Vojtisek (Renault) with Jean-Philippe Belloc breathing down his neck all the time. The French MAN pilot often seemed to be a bit faster than the local hero, but not fast enough to overtake. Eventually Vojtisek crossed the finish line on 5th with an advantage of merely 2 tenths. Stuart Oliver was on 7th, and Egon Allgäuer, Balasz Szobi and Mikhail Konovalov (all of them MAN) completed the top ten.
In the final Championship race Belloc could not participate due to problems with his engine; Hahn and Albacete had to start from the back of the grid. As expected, Bösiger and Vrsecky took the lead right from the start and very soon could gain ground. Albacete and Hahn stormed vehemently through the back of the field, but for the German the race was over after less than 1 kilometre. While trying to overhaul some of the considerably slower RaceTrucks the MAN pilot was forced off the track. He skidded over the grass and crashed into Konovalov. The Russian was able to continue the race in his heavily damaged truck, but Hahn came to a standstill in the safety zone of a right turn – an extremely dangerous spot. Everybody expected that the race would be stopped and re-started later on, but the stewards rated the situation as much less risky, and so the race continued. Bösiger and Vrsecky had meanwhile gained even more ground and were heading for another sure double win. Albacete had left 12 opponents behind after only one lap and was now behind Allgäuer on 6th position. It took the Spaniard only one more lap and then he was at the rear bumper of Levett. The young Brit fought tooth and nail, but after four more laps Albacete overhauled him, too. And then there started the duel of this race with Altenstrasser, which lasted for seven long laps. Of course Albacete – who marked fastest lap time with 2:02.672 min – was a bit faster, but the Austrian fought off every attack. And finally, to the delight of the crowd – Altenstrasser drives for the Czech Team Frankie – he took the chequered flag on 3rd with an advantage of no more than 1 second, cheered by his fans. Behind Levett, Allgäuer was on 6th, ahead of Anthony Janiec (Renault), Vojtisek, Szobi and Steve Horne (Mercedes-Benz). Later Vojtisek incurred a 20 second penalty for overspeeding and had to switch places with Szobi.
In the overall ranking Vrsecky could defend his leading position with 286 points. Titleholder Bösiger (264), however, could catch up considerably and is now ahead of Albacete (246). On fourth is still Hahn (184), followed by Belloc (150) and Altenstrasser (104), who is now ahead of Stuart Oliver (102) who was forced to retire during the last race due to a technical failure.
The team ranking was, of course, again won by Buggyra (Bösiger/Vrsecky) ahead of Team Frankie (Vojtisek/Altenstrasser) and Team Horne/Bermejo.