Sunday in Zolder Part 1 – Jochen Hahn on pole
16. September 2018Zolder - After a cold and clear night, it took till 10 am for the first stirrings of activity at Circuit Zolder. Till that time no engine may be fired up, because of a service that is held in the chapel on the infield. First off was a charity event, in which a motley variety of sportscars took to the track in convoy. The truck racers could only start their warm-up at more or less the same time as they’d gone qualifying yesterday.
The dew that had settled on the asphalt overnight should long have evaporated – yet the trucks just didn’t seem to want to brisk up, and it took ages till the first driver cracked 1:59. That someone, Czech Buggyra pilot Adam Lacko, remained the only one to do so. German Jochen Hahn (Iveco) was two tenths off, with four more trucks under 2 min. Nobody seemed to be in any hurry; this was, after all, only a warm-up.
In Q2 one hour later the pace got a lot more aggressive, the trucks now shod with fresh rubber. Hahn did a 1:58.382 and Hungarian Norbert Kiss countered with a 1:58.322 in his tankpool24 Mercedes. Quick enough for the Super Pole, they were joined back in pit lane by the other top drivers, all seeking to conserve their new tyres.
The fight for P10 continued till the flag fell. For most of the session, tankpool24 pilot Steffen Faas (GER) was ahead, only to be elbowed out at the last moment by Brit Oly Janes in the Buggyra Freightliner.
P3 through P9 for the shootout were taken by German René Reinert (MAN), Lacko, MAN pilots Sascha Lenz (GER) and Antonio Albacete (ESP), Iveco comrades André Kursim and Steffi Halm (both GER), and Portuguese José Rodrigues (MAN).
Hahn set the top time on the first hot lap of the Super Pole, a 1:57.425 that was barely 15 hundredths faster than Albacete and 18 hundredths up on Lenz. Following a cooling-off lap, the four-times champ went even faster, cementing his claim on pole with a 1:57.370. Albacete and Lenz were followed in order by Lacko, Kiss, Kursim, Steffi Halm, Reinert, José Rodrigues, and Janes.
