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Sunday in Spielberg Part 1 - Steffi Halm earns her first pole in qualifying

Sunday in Spielberg Part 1 - Steffi Halm earns her first pole in qualifying

14. May 2017Spielberg - The second race day of the first round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg dawned bright and mostly clear, something the truck racers – the majority of them at any rate – would have desired for Friday evening, when second free practice had to be cancelled because of torrential rainfall.
The top times in the warm-up, the trucks all running used tyres, kept dropping steadily. Iveco spearhead Jochen Hahn (GER) ended the session quickest with a lap of 1:04.609s, but Hungarian tankpool24 ace Norbert Kiss (Mercedes), Czech Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner), and MAN pilot Antonio Albacete (ESP) all managed to duck below the 1:05s bar as well. Notably, the trucks were extraordinarily closely matched – the 11 quickest were no more than a second apart.
If it was still the established elite of the last few seasons that dominated warm-up, yesterday’s surprise winner José Rodrigues (PRT) drove home in second qualifying the realisation that his victory in Race 2 yesterday was no flash in the pan – in the closing minute of the session he snatched top spot from defending champ Hahn.
The others with Top 10 times for the SuperPole were MAN pilotess Steffi Halm, compatriot André Kursim (Mercedes), Albacete, Lacko, Kiss, Iveco pilot Gerd Körber (GER), and Britisher Ryan Smith and German Sascha Lenz (both MAN).
Genial home hero Markus Altenstrasser (Iveco) suffered another bitter disappointment; his time, a mere six-tenths off Rodrigues’s, was only good for 11th.
The shootout shuffled the entire order around, even though the trucks and drivers were once again so closely matched that even momentary inattentiveness could lose one a number of places.
To begin with, the experienced “establishment” once again occupied the top slots, till Steffi Halm – out of the blue or, should we say, in the blue – shot to the top with a lap of 1:05.000s. Her time at the top was short-lived, Lacko’s 1:04.848s out of left field besting her superb effort almost immediately.
The Buggyra team were jubilating at the Czech’s pole position when it rained on their parade – all Lacko’s SuperPole times were cancelled for overspeeding, handing pole back to Halm.
Places two through nine on the grid were snapped up by Hahn, Kiss, Albacete, Körber, José Rodrigues, Lenz, Kursim, and Smith. All Lacko was left with was 10th.

Impressions:

Sunday in Spielberg Part 1 - Steffi Halm earns her first pole in qualifying
Sunday in Spielberg Part 1 - Steffi Halm earns her first pole in qualifying
Sunday in Spielberg Part 1 - Steffi Halm earns her first pole in qualifying