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Sunday on the Ring

Sunday on the Ring

26. July 2009Nürburgring - Sunday lived up to its name with an almost cloudless sky and bright sunshine, although early this morning the temperatures were only about 10 °C (50 °F), but most of the 177,000 fans didn’t notice that, because yesterday evening there was again the legendary splendid fireworks display, and before and after the fireworks there was live music in great profusion, and the festivity went on until late at night – or, to be exact, early in the morning.
After the warm-up at 8:30 a.m., which was extremely early under these circumstances, with the timed practice the truck racers were back to the serious side of life. And again it became a war of nerves, as the old truck racers’ saying ‘if you don’t clock a fast time right at the beginning – forget about making one of the first grid positions’ was proven wrong a second time this weekend. Pole setter David Vrsecky and also his Buggyra team mate Markus Bösiger claimed their top times when the 20 minutes were almost over, with the Swiss less than 3 hundredths behind the Czech. Behind the Buggyra Freightliners there was a MAN row with Antonio Albacete and Jochen Hahn – actually the starting slots 3 to 9 were all occupied by MAN trucks, followed by two Renaults.
Once again the race started off in a very civilized manner. Vrsecky put his pole to good use and took the lead with Bösiger half a length behind, followed by Albacete and Hahn driving neck and neck. But at the exit of the Mercedes Arena the German managed to pass the Spaniard, cheered by his fans on the fully occupied T4 and T4a. Soon the leading foursome pulled away from the chasing pack. Separated by only a few metres the top quartet did their laps.
Particularly Bösiger and Hahn were all the time getting in each others way. But try as he might, the MAN pilot had no chance to overtake the grey Buggyra. Only one second behind the winner Vrsecky the two ‘fighting cocks’ crossed the finishing line, with Bösiger a mere 3 tenths ahead of the German.
Behind them, at a respectful distance, the two MAN pilots Egon Allgäuer and Chris Levett fought their ‘private war’ for 5th position. But even more experienced drivers often had a tough time of it with the former European Champion from Austria, and the young Englishman had to be content taking the chequered flag in the 6th position. Then there was a cluster of 5 trucks in close combat for 7th position, four MAN drivers and 1 Renault pilot, Markus Altenstrasser. At the finishing line the Austrian lost 7th position to the Russian Alexander Lvov by a margin of less than 1 second, but crossed the finishing line ahead of the remaining MAN force, consisting of Stuart Oliver, Dominique Lachèze and Balazs Szobi. The Hungarian finished in 11th, an unrewarding position since it is the first position outside the points.
In the final race Altenstrasser, who finished the first race in 8th, was on pole, alongside Lvov. The G4 started the race on fifth to eighth position in the following order: Albacete, Hahn, Bösiger and Vrsecky. Again the race started off in a gentlemanlike manner, only a few nudges and no obstructions. However, already in the opening lap there was a serious accident at the back of the field. . Erwin Kleinnagelvoort in his Scania and Eduardo Rodrigues (MAN) passed the NGK chicane neck to neck. The Portuguese was drifting more and more to the right side of the track and there was no room left for the Dutch Scania. But there is no run-off area, but only a tyre barrier. That’s were Kleinnagelvoort’s truck crashed into and then rolled over: the race was stopped. The pilot was retrieved from the damaged cockpit through the shattered windscreen, and then the truck was towed away. About half an hour later the race was re-started.
Altenstrasser led the race in the opening lap, but soon Hahn passed the Austrian, cheered by the delighted audience. After only a few laps Albacete had moved up the 2nd place, and also Vrsecky and Bösiger were too fast to stay behind for a long time. In the end the G 4 – Hahn, Albacete, Vrsecky and Bösiger – were again the front-runners. And, same as in the race before, Allgäuer and Levett fought for 5th position, and again the Austrian came out the winner – by a margin of only half a second. Altenstrasser, Lvov, Stuart Oliver and Frankie Vojtisek completed the top ten.
The final event of the day was the second Mittelrhein Cup race. Of course the fans had set their hope on Heinz-Werner Lenz and his team mates Sascha Lenz and Uwe Nittel, and also on the winner of yesterday’s Mittelrhein Cup race, Hans-Joachim Stuck. But Chris Levett put a spoke in their wheels. He and his fellow Brit Stuart Oliver took part in two contests, as the points gained in the Mittelrhein Cup count also towards the British Championship. In the first race they had eliminated each other in the heat of the moment, so that they had to start the second race from the back of the field. But for Levett it was the race of his life. He made a great charge through the pack and after only a few laps he was among the leading pilots; next he passed Philippe Arlaud and eventually managed to overtake MAN team colleague and front-runner Stuck. But for Sascha Lenz it wasn’t running smoothly, after 4 laps he had to park his Mercedes Hauber on the grass. Far better fared his father, Heinz-Werner Lenz, and the Lenz guest driver, Uwe Nittel. Same as yesterday, the former rally world vice champion finished in 7th, and Lenz senior – in his Mercedes he drove for the first time on the Ring – came home 8th.
In the team ranking both races were won by Buggyra (Vrsecky / Bösiger). In the first race Team HahnOxxo (Hahn / Szobi) was second, ahead of Team Birds-Bernau (Levett / Lachèze). In the final race Team Frankie (Altenstrasser / Vojtisek) was ahead of Team HahnOxxo.
But that’s not all – at the TGP there is an additional treat: Jochen Hahn was elected ‘most popular driver of the TGP’ and Hans-Joachim Stuck won the title ‘Truck Master Germany’.
In the FIA overall ranking Albacete is still leading with 291 points, followed by Vrsecky (277), Bösiger (229), and Hahn (212)