Saturday at the Hungaroring Part 3 – Steffi seizes opportunistic first win

05. September 2015Hungaroring - For many spectators, two ladies on the front row of the grid for the second race was a wondrous sight. There, as clear as day, was Steffi Halm on pole and Ellen Lohr next to her.
Everyone had expected Lohr to be starting on the right.
What had happened was that Reinert was penalised 30 seconds retroactively for having collided with Albacete, and that changed the result of the first race decisively.
The MAN pilot dropped from fifth to 10th, and those behind him moved up one place. Crucially, that catapulted Steffi Halm from ninth, in which spot she’d have started the second race, right up to pole position.
The young Swabian seized the opportunity, taking the lead as soon as the lights turned green. She was even able to pull out a gap, which measured several seconds in later laps.
All this while Lohr was under relentless attack from Janiec, her teammate last season. The Frenchman for his part was under fire from the brat pack - the Buggyra brothers, Hahn, and Kiss. As long as Lohr held them all off, Halm was able to extend her lead.
Lacko meanwhile had pulled out, evidently with a blown engine that had leaked a bit of oil, launching his immediate pursuers into skids.
The field had lost momentum, and Halm appeared to be cruising into the sunset.
But then the barriers behind her began to fall. First Vojtíšek, and then Janiec, fell to the ferocity of their pursuers, led by Vršecký, who swept ahead in hunt of Lohr.
One after the other they unceremoniously overtook the grande dame of truck racing - the Czech first, then Kiss, and finally Hahn. But by the time they had Halm in their sights the bantam from Altensteig was dropping out of sight.
A separate cluster had formed in midfield with Vojtíšek, Reinert, and Albacete. You’d be forgiven for thinking they were battling for absolute victory; the prize in this case was only seventh place. But Vojtíšek, that wily old fox, was more than equal to every attack.
The Czech, after all, has a hard-earned reputation to protect – he’s notoriously difficult to overtake – and stayed there in seventh till the flag, ahead of the German and the Spaniard. The final point went to Lenz.
Janiec in sixth, Lohr now in fifth, and Hahn in fourth managed to preserve their positions.
Vršecký and Kiss had gained rapidly on Halm, and Steffi must have desperately longed for the chequered flag to fall. When it was finally waved, the MAN pilotess had only a second’s lead over Vršecký, and he in turn had Kiss almost spilling all over him.
The triumphant team was Hungarian — at least half of it; the other half is French. Oxxo-Lion (Kiss / Janiec) was the top scorer ahead of Buggyra (Vršecký / Lacko) and Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert).

Impressions: