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Zolder Preliminary Report

Zolder Preliminary Report

15. September 2016The 7th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Zolder, Belgium, rings in the final phase of a suspenseful championship battle. At the moment only MAN pilot Jochen Hahn (GER) and his Czech rival Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner), the favourites from the start, have a realistic shot at the title.
With leads of 136 and 123 points respectively over third-placed Norbert Kiss (Mercedes-Benz), the gap is simply too wide for the Hungarian to close, even if the mathematical possibility remains.
But Hahn harbours some bitter memories of Zolder. It was at this circuit that the thrice champ had one of the most spectacular accidents in the history of the championship, and where, exactly 10 years ago, a faulty replacement turbocharger knocked him out of the reckoning altogether.
If the bantam from Altensteig and his Czech competitor are able to maintain a buffer of at least 120 points when Sunday’s final race is done, they’ll be guaranteed the top two steps on the podium at the FIA awards ceremony in Le Mans. The only question that remains is, which of them will be standing on the top step.
So we expect Kiss to be concentrating on defending 3rd place against MAN pilot René Reinert (GER). The Hungarian tankpool24 racer has an 11-points advantage, but don’t forget there are two more MAN lions lurking not much further behind, waiting to pounce – Anthony Janiec and Steffi Halm have only 22 and 27 fewer points respectively than Kiss, with 180 still up for grabs.
As in Most, Iveco will be out in force again in the Zolder paddock.
But the company’s sole ETRC standard-bearer Gerd Körber still feels keenly some injustice of the decisions taken against him in the last few races. The German had doubtless expected to score a few more points with his Schwabentruck. Instead, he’s now worrying about compatriot Sascha Lenz snatching 7th place away.
Like Körber, the young MAN pilot from Plaidt hasn’t exactly had it going for him so far. But his first podium finish in Most less than two weeks ago could lend him considerable impetus through the three weekends that remain, whereas Körber has only two opportunities to score since his Schwabentruck team won’t be racing at Jarama.
Race-by-race MAN pilot Ryan Smith hasn’t registered for Zolder, and could well finish out of the Top 10 to the benefit of Czech Jiří Forman (Buggyra Freightliner) and the German grande dame of truck racing Ellen Lohr (MAN).
After the rather gorgeous summer we’ve had across Central Europe, the outlook for this weekend isn’t all that sunny. The weathermen are warning of light rain on Saturday. But they’ve also revised their forecasts over the last few days, so we remain hopeful.

Impressions:

Zolder Preliminary Report
Zolder Preliminary Report
Zolder Preliminary Report