Saturday in Zolder

13. September 2008Zolder - After the ‚highlight’ of Friday evening, a short table tennis tournament in the marquee of Team-Hahn-Racing, this morning it was back to business for the truck racers at an unusually early time. For 8:00 o’clock – it was still a bit dusky with almost wintery temperatures of 10 °C (50 °F) – the briefing for the pilots was scheduled. But at least it was not raining, although one hour later in the first free practice, the morning dew made the track rather damp and slippery in some parts, and according to that many a RaceTruck was skidding over the track. When the second free practice started the situation had improved a lot, and as a result the pilots were 2 – 3 seconds faster. As is almost customary this season, the two Buggyra Freightliners with David Vrsecky and Markus Bösiger were again leading, followed by a MAN pack, consisting of Antonio Albacete, Jochen Hahn and Jean-Philippe Belloc, and behind them Renault pilot Markus Altenstrasser.
And the same people were also leading in the following timed practice. Right at the time when the trucks entered the track it began to drizzle. Bösiger secured pole position ahead of Albacete, Vrsecky and Altenstrasser. Belloc and Hahn achieved third row on the grid. Surprisingly there were rather wide time intervals – the pole setter was almost two and a half seconds faster than the sixth placed.
In the Qualy race, however, the pilots drove again close together. Bösiger, who was leading, had not a good getaway this time. Already before entering the first left turn, Albacete had a chance to overtake him, Altenstrasser drove side by side with the Swiss, and Vrsecky was glued to the bumper of his team mate. Now Albacete was leading the field, followed by Bösiger, Altenstrasser, Vrsecky, Hahn, and Belloc. For two laps the Austrian could fend off the fierce attacks of Vrsecky, but then he had to let the Czech pass. And also Bösiger tried to reclaim his leading position, but Albacete, who knows all the tricks of the trade, defended his lead until he crossed the finish line. Behind Vrsecky, Hahn tried constantly to overtake Altenstrasser’s red Renault, but to no avail. So the German had to settle for 5th position ahead of Belloc. On 7th was Anthony Janiec (Renault) who also profited from the fact that, behind him, the two British MAN pilots Stuart Oliver and Chris Levett fought tooth and nail. The 2004 European Champion had to use all his experience to keep the young Levett at bay and to secure his advantage of merely 3 tenths. The positions for the points were completed by Balazs Szobi (MAN) on 10th.
In the following Championship race Bösiger intended to turn the tables on Albacete and snatch away his leading position. But the Spaniard did not show any weakness and gave the Swiss a hard time. Eventually Bösiger had to be content with 2nd position – about 2 seconds behind Albacete. In the course of the race David Vrsecky fell a bit behind the leading duo as he had problems with his tyres. He was glad when the 12 laps were over, because the chasing trio, Altenstrasser, Belloc and Hahn, threatened to overhaul the Czech, too, towards the finish. At the start Altenstrasser came out the winner against Hahn. But time and again it looked as if the German had a chance to pass the Austrian. But Belloc benefitted from an opportunity to overhaul his MAN colleague, and now he was the one who chased the red Renault. Eventually Altenstrasser crossed the finish line with a paper-thin advantage of 3 tenths. Behind Hahn, Levett finished in 7th position, after having his usual fight with Oliver. The latter had done some ‘pirouettes’ which caused him to fall behind, but he managed to make up ground and finished in 9th behind Dominique Lachèze. The top ten were completed by Janiec on 10th.
Once again the team ranking was won by Buggyra (Bösiger/Vrsecky), followed by Team Frankie (Vojtisek/Altenstrasser) and Team Koller + Schwemmer (Hahn/Belloc).
In the overall ranking Vrsecky defended his lead with now 306 points, ahead of Bösiger (288), Albacete (276), Hahn (196) and Belloc (163).