Saturday at the Nürburgring Part 1 – Hahn turns up the heat with big win
02. July 2016Nürburgring - It’s a Truck Grand Prix tradition for racers and fans to be at the circuit early, never mind how late the night before has been. After a short curtain-raiser in the form of the warm-up at 8:30 am, the trucks were back on the grid and ready for the first race at this, the 4th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, at 10 am sharp.
The weather was dry, the temperature was stuck in single digits – typical for summer in the Eifel, – and the truck racers were content.
The day before, home hero Jochen Hahn (MAN) had, in similarly superb weather for racing, claimed the prime starting position on the grid in an exciting SuperPole, besting his closest championship rival, the Czech Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner).
The start went off as smooth as silk, Hahn slipping easily into the lead. At the entrance of the Mercedes-Arena, as the track climbs out of the dip immediately following the sharp curve, it looked like Steffi Halm in her MAN would move ahead of Lacko in the Buggyra. The German was right alongside the Czech through the Arena, but by the time they’d reached the truncation that completes the ETRC loop Lacko was clearly ahead once again.
While the leading duo thus established their positions at the start, Halm had now to watch out for Hungarian Norbert Kiss, whose immediate mission was to dispute her third place. The defending champ in his tankpool24 Mercedes was relentless in his stabs at driving the young German into a corner, but in the end it was Halm who laid down the law - far more authoritatively than the one-second gap at the finish line might suggest.
After a short gap René Reinert (GER) was home in 5th in his MAN. His two (originally) immediate pursuers, Frenchman Anthony Janiec (MAN) and German Gerd Körber (Iveco), had worn each other down in their long fight for sixth, Janiec eventually making it across the line half a second ahead.
Sascha Lenz (GER) followed close behind, every ready to pounce should the MAN and Iveco tangle and take the one – or the other – or both – off. But it never came to that, and Lenz had to satisfy himself with the not inconsiderable consolation for finishing 8th: pole position for the day’s second race.
The last two points-winning places went to the second Iveco pilot Markus Altenstrasser (AUT) and Ellen Lohr (MAN).
Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert) was the top-scoring team, followed by WOW! Women On Wheels (Lohr / Halm) and Buggyra International (Lacko / Forman).
Impressions:
