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Sunday in Misano Part 1 – Adam Lacko unstoppable

Sunday in Misano Part 1 – Adam Lacko unstoppable

29. May 2016Misano - The glorious summer at this second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship on the Misano World Circuit seemed to have beaten a retreat. The sky over Italy’s Adriatic coast was overcast and the air was muggy, the temperature early this morning way above 25°C. Ironically, ideal conditions for race-pace laps in warm-up itself.
Once again the quartet led by Czech ace Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner) with the German MAN trio of Steffi Halm, Jochen Hahn, and René Reinert set themselves atop the timesheet, all of them recording significantly quicker times than, indeed, in qualifying yesterday.
At the start of second qualifying there were a few scattered drops. That, however, wasn’t the reason why the red flags were brought out in just two minutes. Reinert was seen stuck in the gravel, having gone off reportedly owing to a steering defect. It was apparent that recovering the MAN and towing it back to the pits was going to take a while. And so, a good 25 minutes later, the session resumed - without Reinert. The top quartet had been reduced to a trio.
But it wasn’t only these three who pitted after their first flying laps, Hahn quickest with 2:03.124s and Lacko only five-hundredths slower; four more drivers – Mercedes pilot Norbert Kiss (HUN) and the three MANler Sascha Lenz (GER), Anthony Janiec, and Jérémy Robineau (both FRA), too were quite sure they’d secured their place in the Top 10 for the SuperPole.
Ellen Lohr (GER) in her MAN, Czech Jiří Forman (Buggyra Freightliner), and Iveco pilot Gerd Körber (GER) made up the group of 10.
In Lenz’s case it wasn’t confidence in his own time that moved him to seek the refuge of the pit lane but a broken piece on the drive axle of his MAN. His mechanics would have only the remainder of the 20-minute qualifying session to work on the truck; thereafter parc fermé conditions would apply till the start of the SuperPole.
But the Lenz crew set to it like a posse possessed - and pulled off the unthinkable. In gratitude, Sascha Lenz went all out to secure an outstanding 5th on the grid.
The rows ahead were occupied, expectedly, by Lacko (2:02.884s) Hahn, Halm, and Kiss. The starting slots behind Lenz were taken by Janiec, Robineau, Lohr, Körber, and Forman.

Impressions:

Sunday in Misano Part 1 – Adam Lacko unstoppable
Sunday in Misano Part 1 – Adam Lacko unstoppable
Sunday in Misano Part 1 – Adam Lacko unstoppable