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Sunday in Most

Sunday in Most

28. August 2011Most - After a very cold night, with temperatures in the single-digit range, the sky was only slightly overcast in the morning so that after sunrise the temperatures soon reached 23 °C (73 °F). The warm-up early in the morning was dominated by the MKR-Renault pilots Adam Lacko (CZE) and Markus Bösiger (SUI), although the field was close together. The times clocked by the first seven pilots were within one second. But it would not go down to business before the start of the timed practice. And again Bösiger clocked fastest time, followed by his team mate Markus Oestreich and MAN pilot Uwe Nittel (both from Germany). Lacko and fellow-Czech David Vrsecky (Freightliner), the German Jochen Hahn, the Spaniard Antonio Albacete and the Russian Alex Lvov (all of them MAN pilots), as well as the two Brits Chris Levett (Freightliner) and Stuart Oliver (MAN) completed the field of 10 for the SuperPole.
Contrary to Saturday the track conditions didn’t get worse, quite the opposite. In the 10-minute SuperPole there is only enough time to do 4 laps – including the slow warm-up lap. And if you don’t find the racing line in the first fast lap, it’s often not going to work anymore. Oestreich, Lacko and Bösiger were the three fastest drivers. And after a slow cool-down lap the Swiss surprisingly struck once again: 2:02.198m – absolute fastest time.
Albacete secured 2nd row on the grid alongside Lacko, followed by Vrsecky, Hahn, Nittel, Lvov, Oliver and Levett.
And in the race the three MKR Renault pilots proved that their top performance in the SuperPole had not been a coincidence. True, Most as their permanent test track is the ‘home’ circuit of the team from Roudnice, but as the races on Saturday have shown – it always needs a bit of good luck, too. And today Fortune smiled upon Bösiger, Oestreich and Lacko. At the start they managed to emerge out of the skirmish relatively unscathed and – driving in the same order all through the race – were on their way to a treble victory. Albacete did not make a good getaway; he was outgunned not only by Lacko, but also by Hahn and Vrsecky. But gradually he worked his way up to a seemingly unchallenged 4th place – when in the final lap the turbo of his red Cepsa Truck burst. Enveloped in a cloud of white smoke Albacete brought his truck home with the last of his strength. But before he crossed the finish line he was overtaken by Hahn, Vrsecky and Nittel. The remaining places within the points were taken by Levett, Lvov and Oliver. But after the victory ceremony the Spaniard suffered a nasty surprise; he was disqualified for “dangerous driving”. After his turbo had packed up, there was some oil sheen covering parts of the track. According to the opinion of the stewards the MAN pilot should have immediately stopped his truck on the verge of the track to prevent the tarmac from getting soiled.
This means that Lvov was promoted to 8th position and would start from pole in the second race where the top eight finishers from race 1 line up in reverse order. Oliver was in 9th position, and the Finnish driver Mika Mäkinen collected one point in 10th.
Again the only lady in the field, Steffi Halm (GER), was closely observed by the media and the fans. The Mercedes Benz of the tankpool24 Team has considerably less HP under its bonnet than the trucks of her direct opponents. But the little feud involving the two German drivers – the young pilot Halm and the three-time European Champion Heinz-Werner Lenz – added some additional brisance, because the “old hand” drives the very Mercedes Halm’s team boss Markus Bauer had wanted to buy. Hahn’s truck was no match for the phalanx of MAN and Renault RaceTrucks with up to 200 additional HP, but she managed once more to cross the finish line ahead of the “old truck racing battle axe” from Plaidt who knows all the dodges.
Before the start of the final race some black clouds were looming over the track, but it stayed dry. And this time there wasn’t any materiel battle, which is almost a tradition at the end of a race weekend; be it that suddenly the pilots saw reason or the constant admonitions from the stewards. Lvov defended his pole position, followed by Levett and Nittel, and they held these positions all the way to the finish line. Now the podium places were already determined – a combination the observers certainly wouldn’t have put their money on before the race. And also the chasing pack, Oestreich, Vrsecky, Lacko and Hahn – although driving nose to tail – did not mount any fierce attacks. Bösiger had lost his 8th position to Oliver, but after 3 laps was back in 8th. This meant that the top eight finishers came home in exactly the same order they had lined up on the grid for the start. Albacete had had to start from 21st position on the grid due to his disqualification in the first race, but after only one lap the Spanish had already made a great charge through the pack, and after passing the Frenchman Anthony Janiec (Renault) was already in the points. After two more laps he also overtook Oliver who eventually had to settle for 10th position. But when the Spaniard finally closed in on Bösiger, the Swiss driver proved impossible to pass for him; after all, the Swiss pilot was by far the fastest driver in the field, but he, too, saw no chance to get past any of his opponents.
With a total of 318 points Hahn could further extend his lead in the overall ranking, followed by Albacete (240), Lacko (214), Vrsecky (206), Oestreich (202), Bösiger (186) and Nittel (174).
In the first race the team ranking was won by MKR-Technology (Bösiger / Oestreich) ahead of Buggyra (Vrsecky / Levett) and MKR Team 14 Juniors (Lacko / Janiec). In the second race Buggyra was the most avid point collector, followed by Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau (Albacete / Nittel) and MKR-Technology.

Impressions:

Sunday in Most
Sunday in Most
Sunday in Most
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Sunday in Most
Sunday in Most