Saturday in Spielberg Part 3 – Reinert wins ahead of Hahn

30. April 2016Spielberg - The second race of this season-opening round of the FIA ETRC on the Red Bull Ring will go down as one of the scrappiest and most chaotic races in the history of truck racing. We’ve seen some of this type in the past, but those were always the final race of the weekend.
Be that as it may, no incident seems to have escaped the eagle eyes in race control, which duly handed out a series of drive-through penalties.
Kiss was on pole for the second race with Robineau alongside and Lacko directly behind. At the start the Czech wanted to overtake the polesitter on the inside. The tear to the first corner put the frontrunners on course for a collision, and when it happened the result was a chain reaction right down the ranks. Many of the trucks were forced wide, the field was in total disarray, but many battered trucks simply bashed on. Kiss was now the backmarker and Lacko the leader.
But hardly had the Hungarian picked up his pursuit than he was laid low again. In the dip following the curve that truncates the truck race loop from the rest of the Red Bull Ring Lohr’s truck was touched by Janiec’s and spun. Smith, taking evasive action, landed in the gravel trap and dug himself in. Kiss, however, crashed broadside into the German’s MAN, ending his race there and then. Lohr tried to carry on, but even she gave up a little later.
Lacko’s newly won lead didn’t last long; in no time Reinert was out in front. Hahn, meanwhile, had worked his way up relatively unspectacularly, and by mid-race even he had overtaken Lacko. From then on the two Reinert Adventurers were unchallenged, going on to take their second one-two on the trot, only this time with Reinert in front.
Drive-through penalties came down thick and fast, and even Lacko wasn’t spared. Sascha Lenz suddenly found himself in a podium position, but had an albatross around his neck in Altenstrasser. For his part the Iveco pilot was throwing everything he could at getting onto the podium – not retrospectively, but before the prizegiving, of course, – and this time he was successful, to the wild jubilation of the crowd. For Lenz all that remained was a second fourth-place finish.
The drive-through had dropped Lacko to 6th behind Vojtíšek, landing him in the fury of the battle between Janiec and Körber. He emerged from the tumult in 5th, ahead of Vojtíšek and Janiec. Meanwhile the gremlins seem to have gotten to Körber’s Iveco towards the end of the race, slowing the Rheinau native sufficiently for Czech Jiří Forman (Buggyra Freightliner) to pass him shortly before the finish line.
Robineau followed Körber home in 10th, picking up the last available championship point.
Reinert Adventure was the top team once again, followed by Lion Truckracing / Lenz and Buggyra.
Hahn takes the lead in the standings with 29 points, followed by Reinert (25), Altenstrasser (20), Lenz (17), Lacko (12), and Körber (10).

Impressions: