Sunday in Zolder Part 3 - Lacko handed win in final race

21. September 2014Zolder - The overcast, rainy forenoon had given way to a splendid summer afternoon as the trucks lined up on the grid for the final race of the weekend. The 13.000 spectators were obviously enjoying the weather, but what really excited them was the fact that “their” Jean-Pierre Blaise would start from pole - never mind that, with fellow veteran Frankie Vojtíšek alongside, he wasn’t in for a cakewalk. Sure enough, only a few hundred metres after the startline, Blaise was sideswiped by Vojtíšek’s MAN on the inside of the first corner, sending him skidding into the gravel trap. His attempt to resume the race in a badly bruised truck didn’t last for too long. Vojtíšek, for his part, was able to stay put in sixth till he was called in for a drive-through penalty because of his part in the collision. This dropped him down to the rear-end of the field.
Now Bösiger was into the lead and pulling away, Lacko following at some remove, tailed by championship leaders Albacete, Hahn, and Kiss in a clump. It looked like things would stay this way till the flag.
But then, without any indication, Bösiger’s dreams went up, quite literally, in smoke. At one moment his MAN was in top flight; the next it was at a standstill. The Swiss veteran later suggested that the shaft of his turbocharger had probably broken. The way was now open for Lacko, and the Czech drove unchallenged to his sixth victory of the season.
Albacete and Hahn took the remaining podium places. Kiss was fourth, ahead of Vršecký, Reinert, Janiec, and Steffi Halm.
A dramatic three-way contest for the last two points places developed between Ellen Lohr (GER), the second MANamazon in the field, her French MAN colleague Jérémy Robineau, and Renault pilot José Rodrigues (POR). The Portuguese had been disqualified in the earlier race for overspeeding, forcing him to start this one from the end of the field, but in the final lap he managed to snatch ninth place from under Lohr’s nose. The grande dame of truck racing held on nevertheless to take her first point of the season in 10th, sending Robineau home empty-handed.
Buggyra was the top team in this race, ahead of Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert) and Truck Sport Bernau.
In the drivers’ standings it’s now so close as we’ve not seen it for many years at this stage of the season. Albacete is still in the lead with 303 points, six ahead of Kiss (297) and seven ahead of Hahn (296), with Lacko (243), Vršecký (196), and Bösiger (193) rounding out the top six.

Impressions: