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Sunday in Istanbul – part 1

Sunday in Istanbul – part 1

13. May 2012Istanbul - Even though the weather has not been nearly as nice on this second day of the first race of the FIA Truck Racing Championship in Istanbul, a lot more spectators and fans showed up at the race track and in the paddock. This morning there was a big surprise for all the drivers. The time schedule had been changed and the warm-up session had been moved ahead by 15 minutes.
Anyway, for the first time in the history of the Truck Championship a warm-up session was canceled. However, this did not have any major impact on the following second qualifying. The top drivers only drove one lap. Obviously Jochen Hahn (GER) kept a low profile, just as yesterday. The title holder, who is generally seen as the top favorite was “only” the fourth fastest. Ahead of him were his MAN – colleague Antonio Albacete and both MKR – Renault drivers Adam Lacko (CZE) and Markus Bösiger (SUI). The top ten for the SuperPole also included Markus Oestreich (GER) with a Renault truck, the French Dominique Lacheze (MAN), David Vrsecky (CZE) and his Buggyra – Freightliner, the French Anthony Janiec (Renault) and both MAN – drivers Mika Mäkinen (FIN) and Mathew Summerfield (GBR). During The SuperPole Hahn eventually let the cat out of the bag and drove that fast that his rivals were over 1 second behind him. He was done for the day and drove into the pit lane as relaxed as he could be, while the rest of the drivers drove another lap after their cool-down-lap. However, no one managed to catch up with his time – until a few seconds before the end. Albacete had been driving slower on purpose in order to get everything out of his MAN truck. In fact he was able to undercut Hahn’s best time by almost one and a half seconds. This did not have an effect on the German, as Albacete was put back 2 positions after attacking Oestreich during the last race yesterday. Lacko was able to rank 2nd after pole setter Hahn and before Oestreich and Albacete. On the other positions were Bösiger, Lacheze, Vrsecky, Mäkinen, Summerfield and Janiec.

Impressions:

Sunday in Istanbul – part 1
Sunday in Istanbul – part 1