Sunday in Zolder Part 2 – Hahn wins race 3

16. September 2018Zolder - The paddock and grandstand had filled nicely when Race 3 began after a slight delay on this balmy late-summer day. Hahn was on pole, Albacete to his left on the front row. Right behind the German was his compatriot Lenz, and next to him defending champ Adam Lacko. This foursome eventually decided the podium between themselves. Hahn took the lead, and Lenz came away quicker than Albacete. For several hundred metres the yellow-green-black MAN and the red-and-white one ran side by side till Lenz got the better exit out of a corner. But the Spaniard proceeded to pile the pressure on the German and, two laps later, regained P2.
Hahn had pulled away meanwhile, and stayed ahead all the way to the flag. Albacete was the only one that could match his old rival for pace, and even set the fastest lap of the race but simply couldn’t close in. A gap opened up behind him, and attention turned to the duel between Lenz and Lacko for P3.
At mid-race the MAN pilot made a “stupid mistake” (his words), which Lacko mercilessly exploited to overtake. While it initially looked like Lenz could – and would – still grab his podium place back, towards the end he was more focused on his rear-view mirrors, his top priority now being to defend against the onslaught of Norbert Kiss in the tankpool24-Mercedes – in which he succeeded, crossing the line three tenths ahead.
Kiss was followed home by Kursim in P5, Halm, and Reinert, who secured pole for Race 4 with his P8 finish.
José Rodrigues and Janes rounded out the top 10, the Brit taking the Grammer Truck Cup honours from countryman Jamie Anderson (MAN) and Steffen Faas.
„Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus“ (Hahn / Halm) was the top-scoring team, followed onto the podium by Truck Sport Bernau (Albacete / Recuenco) and Buggyra Racing 1969 (Lacko / Janes).

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