Saturday in Zolder

11. September 2010Zolder - Today the weather gods had mercy at last, which has not always been the case in Zolder. The first free practice began at 9:05, but a little later it was over – at least for the moment, for about a quarter of an hour. The Renault of the Frenchman Anthony Janiec had packed up in the bend at the end of the start-finish straight after suffering a mechanical defect. The second free practice went smoothly, all the more as the track had dried out completely which resulted in lap time improvements of up to 4 seconds. The two MKR Renault drivers Markus Bösiger (SUI) and Markus Oestreich (GER) claimed fastest times, followed by the two MAN pilots Jochen Hahn (GER) and Antonio Albacete (ESP) who both had clocked significantly slower times.
Concerning the top pilots – in the timed practice you never know who goes flat out and who has still an ace up his sleeve. After all, the important thing is to be among the top ten for the SuperPole. As was very often the case recently, Chris Levett (GBR) in his blue MAN was again the fastest pilot with an advantage of more than a second. Oestreich, Albacete, Hahn and Bösiger were close together; fractionally slower were the two BuggyraFreightliner pilots David Vrsecky (CZE) and Uwe Nittel (GER), followed by Adam Lacko (CZE), Alex Lvov (RUS) and Javier Mariezcurrena (ESP) – all of them MAN drivers.
But what really counts in the end are the times achieved in the SuperPole, very often the first time where the top pilots lay their cards on the table. And, believe it or not, here Bösiger managed to better his time by more than one and a half seconds (1:57,843), while Levett was just fractionally faster than before and had to settle for 2nd place on the grid. Hahn and Oestreich lined up on the second row, followed by Albacete and Nittel who for the first time lined up ahead of his team mate Vrsecky. Lvov, Lacko and Mariezcurrena were the other pilots on the top-ten spots on the starting grid.
After the start Levett and Bösiger entered the first bend side by side with the Englishman just a fraction ahead. Apparently the Brit had underestimated his truck’s momentum, because he swerved wide with the truck even touching the trackside gravel and suddenly found himself in 5th position behind Bösiger, Hahn, Oestreich and Albacete, ahead of Vrsecky. Hahn was hard on the heels of Bösiger, putting the Swiss under a lot of pressure, but never found any opportunity to pass the Renault pilot. The duo managed to ease away from the chasing group of four who were now fighting among themselves. In lap 5 Vrsecky, too, succeeded in overtaking Levett. In the meantime Oestreich and Albacete had made up some ground, and the leading 4 drivers crossed the finish line within 2 seconds of each other, but there was no change in the order. 3 seconds later Vrsecky and Levett saw the chequered flag, followed, at some distance, by Nittel, Lacko, and Lvov, with Mariezcurrena being the last one to finish in the points. A bit later Levett was disqualified for multiple overspeeding and Vrsecky incurred a 20-second overspeed penalty, dropping him to 8th. His team colleague Nittel was promoted to 5th, Lacko and Lvov were upgraded to 6th and 7th, respectively. Mariezcurena collected 2 points in 9th, and the Portuguese driver José Rodrigues (MAN) gained the last point.
Apart from that Levett lodged a protest because he felt that he had been impeded by Bösiger.
As in the second race the top 8 finishers from race 1 line up on the grid in reverse order, pole position fell to Vrsecky. But they waited in vain for the Buggyra pilot, because the work necessary to fix the mechanical problems on the Freightliner could not be completed in time for the race.
This allowed Lvov to make a good getaway, followed by Nittel, Lacko, Albacete, Oestreich, Hahn, Bösiger and Mariezcurrena. Levett, who had to line up on the back of the grid, outgunned already 5 opponents out of the field of 20 trucks and was now charging his way through the pack. In lap 2 the Brit was already in 9th position, and after overtaking Mariezcurrena he mounted an attack on Bösiger. A little later the two drivers stood on the track almost at right angle, and Mariezcurrena seized the opportunity to pass both ‘fighting cocks’. In the same lap – after his umpteenth attack – Albacete succeeded in overtaking Nittel and started to reel in the leading Lvov. Bösiger and Levett were stuck behind Mariezcurrena, while their nearest rivals in the overall ranking were able to pull away. Particularly Albacete made considerable progress with every lap, and the trio Lacko, Oestreich and Hahn were chasing Lvov and Nittel. Eventually Hahn found a chance to pass Oese, but Lacko again proved to be an immensely tough opponent. Mariezcurrena, who actually was constantly 2 – 3 seconds slower than his chasers, fended off every attack, although sometimes you got the impression that Bösiger didn’t intend to pass by hook or crook, because all he could have gained was one more point, as the other opponents were so far ahead that the Swiss would never have reeled them in.
When all the positions seemed already determined, Lvov suddenly had problems with the brakes; the front brake discs were virtually glowing.
He immediately dropped to 10th, then had to go through the gravel bed and was out of the points. In the final stage of the race Levett collected a drive-through penalty and eventually crossed the finish line in 10th. Cheered by the audience Albacete, Nittel and Lacko took the podium spots. Behind Hahn, Oestreich, Mariezcurrena, and Bösiger, Jeremy Robineau (FRA) and Jean-Pierre Blaise (BEL) – both of them MAN drivers – came home in 8th und 9th, respectively.
But it got even more exciting after the victory ceremony, because suddenly there was a ‘flood’ of overspeed penalties. Albacete and Hahn incurred 10 seconds and Levett even 20 seconds. For the Spaniard this was of no consequence, because he had finished the race by such a wide margin that he was still in the lead. However, Hahn was relegated to 7th behind Bösiger, and Levett was even out of the points. This meant that the Finn Mika Mäkinen (MAN) was promoted to 10th, thus securing his first point.
In the overall ranking Albacete is still leading with 283 points, ahead of Bösiger and Hahn who are even on points (246), Oestreich (190), Vrsecky (170) and Levett (143).
In the team ranking the winner in the first race was MKR Technology (Bösiger / Oestreich), followed by Team Hahn Oxxo Racing (Hahn / Birnbauer) and Truck Sport Bernau (Albacete / Levett). The second race was won by Truck Sport Bernau ahead of MKR Technology and Team Hahn Oxxo Racing.