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Sunday at the Nürburgring Part 2 - It’s three on the trot for Lacko

Sunday at the Nürburgring Part 2 - It’s three on the trot for Lacko

02. July 2017Nürburgring - The sky kept precipitating a fine mist over the Nürburgring, and of the day that had started so promisingly dry there was no sign at all. A chaotic supporting touring car race a little earlier had been full of tyre-changes, from slicks to wets and back again. Sunday’s first truck race was every bit as turbulent – even if there are no pit stops for tyre changes in truck racing.
There was some confusion soon after the start; the trucks all approached the first corner in a broad phalanx. Climbing the long left-handed slope in front of the Mercedes arena, Kiss was clear in the lead, tailed by Albacete, Lenz, and Hahn.
Just before the short connecting arc that closes off the sprint circuit Albacete seemed to have given his 1,200 horses a bit too much fodder. His MAN swung out to the right and came into contact with fast-starting Sascha Lenz’s truck, forcing both beasts roaring off into the tyre barrier.
This wasn’t the last major driver error in the race. Almost every pilot made some mistake – with the exception of Buggyra pilot Lacko, that is. Kiss took a detour across a gravel trap in the first lap itself. Hahn and a surging Lacko were past in a shot, and suddenly there was a completely new race order. Lacko led the field at the completion of the first lap, followed by Hahn, Körber, Janiec, and Kiss.
While the Czech proceeded to another facile victory, the scenes unfolding behind him were completely incomprehensible to most watchers. First Körber found things get out of his hands, dropping out of the points for a few laps before he was able to battle his way back. Hahn too couldn’t hold on to his 2nd place for more than a few laps, being overtaken first by a resurgent Kiss and then Janiec, falling even behind Körber for a brief while.
The top trio kept pulling away from the rest of the field. Lacko was lapping as smoothly as silk, Kiss and Janiec trailing him a few seconds each apart. The podium was decided in this order, with a yawning gap to Kursim in 4th.
Six trucks of the 21 on the track were lapped, and it wasn’t always clear what exactly was going on. There was a spate of unforced errors – the track was simply too slippery, and the fastest times were between 12 and 15 seconds slower than those in qualifying.
Towards the end of the race Steffi Halm, who had tailed the tankpool24 Mercedes of Kursim throughout like a shadow, let Buggyra pilot Vršecký go past into 5th. Hahn had gradually clawed his way back up to 7th, which would mean a front-row start position for Race 4 alongside his „Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus“ teammate Körber, who managed to finish 8th.
Albacete and his Portuguese teammate José Rodrigues (MAN) collected the points for 9th and 10th.
Sascha Lenz didn’t have a good race at all. After his crash on the opening lap he was well on his way to finishing in the points, when a skid took him off again into a tyre barrier. All that the young German could manage at the end was 12th, behind French race-by-race pilot Jérémy Robineau (MAN).
Buggyra Racing 1969 (Vršecký / Lacko) was the winning team once again, followed by tankpool24 (Kiss / Kursim) and „Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus“ (Hahn / Körber).
Kursim took the Promoter’s Cup victory ahead of José Rodrigues and Robineau.

Impressions:

Sunday at the Nürburgring Part 2 - It’s three on the trot for Lacko
Sunday at the Nürburgring Part 2 - It’s three on the trot for Lacko
Sunday at the Nürburgring Part 2 - It’s three on the trot for Lacko
Sunday at the Nürburgring Part 2 - It’s three on the trot for Lacko