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Albacete – This and That

Albacete – This and That

10. June 2010It would have been wonderful – from Renault’s point of view – if, in Albacete, they had been able to extend their Misano winning streak. But Mario Kress and the entire MKR team weren’t that unrealistic to hope that in the Spanish high plateau they could collect as many points as at the Italian Adriatic Sea. And in addition the team was dogged by bad luck. For MKR pilot Markus Oestreich it must have been a sense of déjà vu, when – driving unchallenged in 3rd position – he was getting pushed on the gravel by a Spanish pilot he tried to lap. In 2006, there was a similar incident at the very circuit, when the German was en route to a sure victory with only a few 100 metres to go. And it was also bad luck, when in the second race Oestreich’s team mate Markus Bösiger had to retire due to a burst air pipe; these things happen. Afterwards the Swiss was convinced he would have won the race as, according to Bösiger, he had had winner Antonio Albacete sort of under control.
But basically Albacete is ‘Albacete Country’. Although the MAN pilot comes from Madrid, he knows every stone, every blade of grass on the circuit; he could drive blindfolded. Seeing it from this angle, another title contender, Jochen Hahn, is quite happy with the outcome of the second round of the season. His MAN is not one iota slower than the Cepsa pilot’s truck; in the overall standing he is only 5 points behind the Spanish championship leader.
Title holder David Vrsecky will certainly not be quite satisfied. The Czech Buggyra pilot always seemed to be a wee bit slower than his title rivals. But another driver in a Buggyra Freightliner, guest pilot Uwe Nittel, was quite enthusiastic. He not only collected several points in his first round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, but moved closer to the leading pilots – especially to his team mate Vrsecky – than expected. However, on Sunday morning during the warm up Nittel learnt the hard way how fast downs follow on ups and vice versa in truck racing. Due to serious engine trouble he missed the timed practice, and consequently had to the start the race from the back of the grid – position 24 – but yet the German rally pro managed to work his way up the field and into the points.
Anyway, it seems that the field wasn’t as balanced as this season in a long time. The two MAN pilots of the Allgäuer Team, Alexander Lvov and Adam Lacko, are also among the major points scorers. The Russian Lvov even has a 2 points lead over Oestreich. By the way, after the round in Albacete all the top teams returned to their own repair shops. Everybody seemed to have found something or other they hoped to be able to improve in the extremely short break until the round in Nogaro. Moreover, the MKR Renault Team did test drives at the Circuito de Albacete all day long on Monday, focussing primarily on the tyres with the relevant set up, but they were also testing engine components, and particularly turbo chargers.
It is to be expected that in Nogaro the cards will be completely reshuffled again.