European Truck Racing / Truck Race Information Service

Saturday in Misano Part 3 – Hahn lays hold of his third win of the season

27. May 2017Misano - The weather was just perfect when the lights went off at the start of the day’s second race. Polesitter José Rodrigues handily beat Körber to the first corner, but by the end of the lap had lost the lead and was down to 4th. Körber now led the field, but it wasn’t long before the „Bulle von Iveco Magirus“ was bullied by teammate Jochen Hahn into surrendering his advantage. There was no sign of the thrust deficit the defending champ had experienced in the earlier race; quite the opposite. Hahn quickly put daylight between himself and the hunting pack, and streaked away to a clear victory.
Körber soon had Steffi Halm bearing down on him, and she in turn had Lenz, Kiss, Lacko, and Albacete nipping at her heels.
By and by the MAN pilotess drew ahead of Körber and proceeded unhindered to a second podium finish.
Behind her it started to get a bit nasty, though. First Lenz and Kiss collided heavily, as a result of which the young MAN pilot dropped to eighth – or was it ninth? Shortly after, Körber and Lacko had an uncomfortable encounter, the Iveco pilot coming off the worse. The podium was thus decided by mid-race, with Hahn, Halm, and Kiss, followed by Lacko, Albacete, Körber, and Lenz, and that’s the way they stayed till the finish.
Kursim and José Rodrigues fought another breathtaking duel for eighth, the Portuguese winning this one again by a nose. Robineau finished tenth for the second time today. These three made up the Promoter’s Cup podium in the same order of classification as in the earlier race.
The trophy for winning team went to „Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus“ (Hahn / Körber). Reinert Adventure (Halm / Lenz) came second and tankpool24 (Kiss / Kursim) third.
But the podium ceremonies weren’t the final act; after an intensive consultation, the stewarts handed Kiss a 30 second elapsed-time penalty on account of the incident involving Lenz, as a result of which the Hungarian dropped to 9th, behind his teammate Kursim. All the other drivers above Kursim correspondingly moved up a spot, and Kiss had to cede the trophy for 3rd place to Buggyra pilot Lacko.
With 69 points, Hahn continues to lead the championship, but Lacko is now second with 62 points, just one ahead of Halm. Albacete (41), Körber and Lenz (both 36), and Kiss (33) are the other top drivers in the classification.