Saturday in Misano

23. May 2009Misano - The hot summer weather held out, so that the thin cloud layer that covered the sky all day did everybody good. And evidently it also did the Buggyra Team good that in both free practices as well as the following timed practice they could defy Antonio Albacete’s Cepsa MAN. They were overflowing with self-confidence. After the spectacular performances at the start of the season in Assen, many people had already feared that the Spaniard would make a clean sweep. But on the starting grid Albacete had to line up not only behind the two Buggyra Freightliners with of David Vrsecky and Markus Bösiger, but also behind Jochen Hahn’s MAN. In the first Championship race pole setter Vrsecky – on the left track – made a good start and took first position immediately. But coming out of the right turn in the easy chicane there is a left turn, and there Bösiger took the lead. And it was exactly the same with the fight for 3rd place, where, in the left bend, Hahn lost his 3rd position on the grid to Albacete. However, when entering the double 90 degrees turn combination “Rio”, the German was again on the inner track. Then there was a shunt involving Hahn’s black MAN and Albacete’s red one. One side of the Spaniard’s truck went through the gravel bed and he lost two more places. Hahn was now in 3rd, but in the second lap his truck started emitting smoke. Initial diagnosis: turbo damage.
After only a few laps – while the two front runners Bösiger and Vrsecky established a good lead – Albacete had regained some positions and was now in 3rd place. But he did not manage to close in on the leading duo. Vrsecky stuck firmly to the rear bumper of his team mate’s truck, but only a serious mistake of Bösiger or a technical damage could have enabled the Czech to pass the Swiss – these two vehicles were simply on a par –. With superior ease the Swiss held the lead throughout the race and brought his truck home in 1st place. Behind Vrsecky, Albacete unchallenged crossed the finish line in 3rd position. There was a constant fight between Markus Altenstrasser and Chris Levett. Eventually the Austrian finished in 4th, with Levett close behind. The field of the eight fastest trucks – which, as is well known by now, have to line up on the grid in reverse order for the second race – was completed by Egon Allgäuer, Stuart Oliver and Balazs Szobi (all of them MAN drivers). The last two positions within the points went to the two Renault pilots Frankie Vojtisek and Anthony Janiec.
This meant that for the start of the second race Szobi was now on pole, alongside Oliver. But already in the second bend, the “Variante del Parco” – the chicane near the starting line, where very often the outcome of a race was already determined, there was again a kind of preliminary decision.
The MAN of the Hungarian got a hefty push from behind, causing its rear tyres to part company with the track, and then was spinning around, which caused mayhem, with all the other trucks passing the black MAN left and right.
The pilot who benefitted the most from this incident, was certainly Jochen Hahn, who was no. 15 on the grid – Dominique Orsini had to start from the pit lane – and now the man from Altensteig was already in 7th, after only one lap. Oliver was now leading, ahead of Allgäuer, Altenstrasser and Bösiger. But after one more lap the Englishman took to the grass, the Austrian overtook Oliver and then gained the lead. In the chasing field there was some fierce battle with the result that the two team mates Altenstrasser and Vojtisek dropped back, and Bösiger, Albacete, Vrsecky and Hahn managed to close in on front runner Allgäuer. Oliver had slowed down, dropped back even further and eventually came to a halt in the pit lane. For several laps Allgäuer had to fend off the constant attacks from his chasers. Although Bösiger, Albacete, Vrsecky and Hahn appeared to be faster, it took them quite some time to pass the Austrian who knows all the tricks in truck racing. While passing Allgäuer, Vrsecky also succeeded in leaving Albacete behind, so that the trio finished in exactly the same order as in the first race. Behind Hahn and Allgäuer, Levett was in 6th place, ahead of Szobi – who, after his spin had regained 7th position – and Vojtisek. Pascal Robineau and Orsini secured the rest of the points; their first points of the season.
After the race Szobi got a 10 seconds penalty and dropped down to 9th position, Vojtisek and Robineau gained one position each.
Five pilots had to take an early retirement.
The team ranking for both races was clearly won by Buggyra (Vrsecky/Bösiger). In the first race the Renault Team Frankie Truck Racing (Altenstrasser/Vojtisek) was in second place ahead of Team HahnOxxo Racing (Hahn/Szobi). In the second race the two teams switched places.
Albacete still holds his points lead in the overall ranking with a total of 78 points. Bösiger moved closer to the Spaniard and is now 9 points behind. Vrsecky (55) is 3rd in the ranking, followed by Hahn and Allgäuer (34 each).
In the team ranking Buggyra (140) is leading, followed by Frankie (91) and Team HahnOxxo (81).