Saturday at the Hungaroring Part 1 – First pole for Lacko

16. June 2018Hungaroring - The truck racers were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with near clear skies this morning, the first race day of the second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at the Hungaroring.
The clouds started to gather in the late morning, but nobody really had anything to complain about – after that soggy Thursday. German MAN pilot Sascha Lenz was positively delighted to crack the 2:19 barrier with a 2:18.926 in second free practice earlier this morning. But he wasn’t quite able to match it in qualifying, whereas most of the others went even faster. The objective, of course, was a place in the Top 10, and the man who achieved this with the best time was Spaniard Antonio Albacete. The MAN pilot drove a superb 2:18.429, and that was that. Czech champ Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner), home hero Norbert Kiss (Mercedes), Iveco pilot Jochen Hahn (GER), and Englishman Ryan Smith (MAN) joined also lapped under 2:19, all spread apart by less than half a second.
André Kursim (Iveco) was 6th quickest, ahead of Lenz, René Reinert (MAN), and Iveco driver Steffi Halm (all GER). Englishman Shane Brereton (MAN) rounded out the field of 10 for the Super Pole.
Five minutes later they were back out for their second go at a top grid position. Lacko went more than three tenths faster on his first flying lap to take pole with a
2:18.436 – by three hundredths from Hahn. Smith and Kiss also gained by fractions, but only enough for second-row start positions.
Albacete managed another lap in the 2:18s, but this time he was only fifth-fastest. These five were now even closer together – just three tenths apart.
Steffi Halm qualified 6th, ahead of Lenz, Kursim, Reinert, and Brereton.

Impressions: