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Sunday in Jarama

Sunday in Jarama

04. October 2009Jarama - Again the night was quite cold, around 12 °C (54 °F), but same as yesterday bright sunshine made the temperatures again rise up to 25 °C (77 °F) and above. The 41,000 enthusiastic spectators were probably not aware of the dramas behind the scenes yesterday afternoon and evening, and even if they noticed it, they wouldn’t have cared about it very much. They were in high spirits, especially when in the morning their hero Antonio Albacete secured pole position in the timed practice. David Vrsecky (CZE), the former and the new European Champion, was placed on the second spot of the front row; behind the blue Buggyra was Jochen Hahn in his jet black MAN on 3rd, and lined up alongside the German was his British MAN colleague Chris Levett. At the start of the first race many observers certainly had a déjà-vu feeling – although with the tables turned. Just like Buggyra pilot Markus Bösiger (SUI) the day before, today’s pole setter Albacete was considerably slower than his opponents when they entered the first bend, causing an obstruction for Jochen Hahn, who was directly behind him. Both Vrsecky and Levett passed the Spaniard on the outer track. But when they exited the long-stretched bend the Cepsa pilots had already made up 1 position and was now in 2nd, chasing the leading pilot Vrsecky. Hahn, however, was behind Levett and was unable to find a way past the young Brit in the remaining laps. Far better fared the local hero; when entering the Le Mans / Farina curves where most of his fans were watching the race and where yesterday the Spaniard took to the gravel together with Bösiger, he managed to pass Vrsecky on the inner track and took a lead he was never to lose. MAN pilot Egon Allgäuer (AUT) started the race in 5th position, but already in the first lap at the exit of the Le Mans bend there was some skirmish. The Austrian’s truck went spinning and he skidded backwards into the gravel, where he could do nothing but watch all the other pilots speed past. Eventually he managed to rejoin the track in 25th position or whereabouts, but in the remaining laps he worked his way up to 10th, the last place in the points ranking. The other places in the points were no less fiercely contested. The Hungarian Balazs Szobi had his hands full defending his 5th position against his hard charging MAN colleagues Alexander Lvov (RUS) and Stuart Oliver (GBR), who later succeeded in overtaking the Russian. Markus Altenstrasser (AUT) in his Renault truck came home 8th – which meant he would start from pole position in the final race of this season – followed by the Portuguese José Rodrigues (MAN).
Altenstrasser on pole, Vrsecky and Albacete side by side on the 4th row of the grid – this promised to be an exciting final race, because this season many drivers had had a tough time with the Austrian Renault pilot. But Albacete really ‘went wild’. Right at the start he outpaced Vrsecky, after 3 more laps he was already in 2nd position and then started chasing the leading driver Altenstrasser. It took him only 1 more lap to pass the Austrian, and then – cheered by the crowd – he was on his way to an unchallenged victory. Others had to overcome greater difficulties. Little by little Levett and Hahn progressed up the field, with the German again trying in vain to pass the Englishman. After about two-third of the race the duo overtook Altenstrasser, too, and secured 2nd and 3rd podium place, respectively. Vrsecky, who had dropped back to 9th for a while, had fought his way back up the order and eventually even snatched 4th place away from Altenstrasser. The other pilots in the points ranking were Anthony Janiec (FRA) in his Renault, Oliver, MAN pilot Dominique Lachèze (FRA), Lvov and Allgäuer. Later the Austrian collected a 25 second penalty, dropping him to 13th, and consequently promoting the Spaniard Javier Mariezcurrena (MAN) to 10th. But later on the Spaniard was disqualified, so that finally the Belgian MAN pilot Jean-Pierre Blaise gained the last point of the season.
With a total of 490 points Vrsecky secured again the title, followed by Albacete (467), Hahn (361) and Bösiger (295). Levett (253) was in 5th, ahead of Allgäuer (218), Altenstrasser (139), Oliver (119), Vojtisek (101) and Szobi (94) in 10th.
In the team ranking the first race was won by Team HahnOxxo (Hahn / Szobi) ahead of Buggyra (Vrsecky / Bösiger) and Team Bird’s-Bernau (Levett / Lachèze). In the second race Team Bird’s-Bernau took top place honours, followed by Team HahnOxxo and Buggyra. Here the winner of the title was already determined before the final round – the Team Champion is again Buggyra, ahead of Team HahnOxxo, Team Frankie and Team Bird’s-Bernau.