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Saturday in Le Mans –  Team Cepsa / Truck Sport Lutz Bernau Team-Champion 2011

Saturday in Le Mans – Team Cepsa / Truck Sport Lutz Bernau Team-Champion 2011

08. October 2011Le Mans - It was cold – with temperatures in the single-digit range on the Celsius scale – and still a bit dark outside when at 8:30 a.m. the truck racers hit the track of the traditional Circuit Bugatti for the first time. For the camera operators and photographers the lighting conditions posed a challenge, and the pilots had to cope with the slippery track. Stephanie Halm, the only female driver, had never been to Le Mans before, but in the second free practice the young German in her tankpool24 Mercedes could reduce the arrears to the top pilots a bit. But at the top the three MKR Renaults pilots Markus Bösiger (SUI), Markus Oestreich (GER) and Adam Lacko (CZE) were in a class of their own; their main rivals clocked lap times that were more than a second slower.
Then it got more serious in the timed practice, but Bösiger didn’t let anyone get the better of him. The other two MKR pilots, however, seemed to lose some strength. Instead another Renault pilot, the Frenchman Anthony Janiec, clocked 2nd fastest time, followed by the three MAN pilots Norbert Kiss (HUN), Jochen Hahn and Uwe Nittel (both from Germany), Buggyra Freightliner pilot Chris Levett (GBR), Oestreich, MAN driver Antonio Albacete (ESP), Lacko and the Czech pilot David Vrsecky (Buggyra Freightliner).
To the surprise of his fans Gerd Körber (GER) in his Schwaben-Truck-Iveco did not make it into the SuperPole. In his previous race the multiple European Champion had even claimed a podium place, although he was only registered for 4 rounds as a race-by-race pilot.
In the SuperPole everybody meant business, now they had to put their cards on the table, and again it became really exciting. Bösiger had already gained an impressive lead in the second lap and was on route to a win, but behind him his chasers swapped places constantly. But finally the MKR Renaults finished in the same order they had claimed in the second free practice – Oestreich and Lacko crossed the finish line behind pole setter Bösiger, followed by Vrsecky, Hahn, Nittel, Albacete, Janiec, Kiss and Levett.
But the pole position and the first row on the grid was soon all in vain for MKR. Allegedly the trucks of Bösiger and Oestreich were found to be too low to the ground (5 mm) when measured – according to technical delegate Ross Garrett, so that the Swiss and the German were relegated to the back of the grid.
Now Lacko was on pole, followed by Vrsecky. But the Renault pilot didn’t make a good getaway and was immediately passed not only by the Czech, but also by Nittel and Janiec. The Frenchman had outgunned several pilots at the start, but was soon passed by Lacko and later was also overtaken by the two hard charging pilots Hahn and Albacete.
Levett finished 7th ahead of Kiss, which meant that the Hungarian driver would start the second race from pole position. Körber and Bösiger took the two remaining places within the points. The Swiss and Oestreich had barged their way through the field, acting as a kind of “tandem team”, but only Bösiger managed to make it into the top ten, “Oese” had to settle for 11th.
By the time when the second race started the programme was already way behind schedule. And as it was an overcast day anyway and the daylight was far from bright, people braced themselves for a “night race”. And indeed, at least for the photographers and the camera operators it became a small ordeal. At times it was rather tedious to keep track during the race.
Already at the start pole setter Kiss dropped back to 5th, and Levett took the lead, followed by Albacete, Lacko and Janiec. After only a few laps Oestreich was forced to retire, and a bit later Albacete had to drive through the pit lane which dropped him way down the field.
Shortly afterwards Levett was out of luck and he dropped from his leading position back to 9th. Suddenly Lacko found himself at the top of the field, a position he maintained to the finish line. And the MKR pilot benefited from the fact that his nearest chaser, Janiec, was also ordered to do a “lap of honour” through the pit lane. And suddenly Hahn was in 2nd position, and the German was highly satisfied with that place, especially as his only opponent in the battle for the title had dropped back considerably. And of course Hahn refrained from attacking Lacko. Kiss finished the race in 3rd position – or should we say would have finished in 3rd if the stewards had not forgotten to wave the chequered flag, so that in lap 12 Vrsecky was suddenly in 3rd position, but actually there were only 11 laps scheduled. However, obviously there were some of the people responsible for the races staying on top of things.
The red flag was waved and the race was stopped. And, of course, the results were adjusted by the time keepers – with the times clocked after lap 11 taking effect. Behind Vrsecky, Nittel crossed the finish line in 5th, followed by Bösiger and Körber. Levett, Albacete and Janiec completed the positions within the points.
As Hahn finished both races ahead of Albacete, he could further extend his championship lead – and with a total of 381 points his prospects are bright – followed by Albacete (355), Lacko (305), Vrsecky (287), Oestreich (257), Bösiger (246) and Nittel (215).
In the team championship the winner has already been determined – it’s Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau (Albacete / Nittel).
Today the winner of the first race was Buggyra (Vrsecky / Levett) ahead of Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau and MKR Team 14 Juniors (Lacko / Janiec). The second race was won by MKR Team 14 Juniors, followed by OXXO-Mäkinen (Kiss / Mäkinen) and Cepsa-Trucksport Lutz Bernau.

Impressions:

Saturday in Le Mans –  Team Cepsa / Truck Sport Lutz Bernau Team-Champion 2011
Saturday in Le Mans –  Team Cepsa / Truck Sport Lutz Bernau Team-Champion 2011
Saturday in Le Mans –  Team Cepsa / Truck Sport Lutz Bernau Team-Champion 2011