Thursday, 28.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3

Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3

30. August 2020Most - Barely were the trucks back in parc fermé following the Super Pole, than a fine drizzle began to descend over the circuit. Nobody paid too much attention, and the noontime racers from the supporting series did their laps without apparent difficulty, although the rain did imperceptibly grow heavier. It wasn’t quite a thundershower, but enough to form pools over parts of the track.
Shortly before the first Sunday race of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship it looked like the rain would let up, but that proved a forlorn hope. On the formation lap the trucks threw up fountains in their wake. The first lap was run under Full Course Yellow – no overtaking allowed. No sooner had the green light been given than the trucks began slip-slidin’ away. The first top gun to aquaplane was polesitter Kiss. He shot straight across the gentle S-curves in Sector 3 and then through the gravel, regaining the track behind Lenz. Home hero Lacko passed Hahn at the end of the back straight, and Kiss got level with Lenz. But then the German’s rear swung out, causing the MAN to collide with the rapidly advancing Lacko and land in the gravel. That seems to have been reason enough for the stewards’ to decide to stop the race there. The trucks carefully lined up on the grid once again behind the pace truck. More than half an hour after the original start time it was decided that the trucks would return to parc fermé to await further instructions.
The rain obligingly began to slow, allowing one of the supporting races to be run without incident. Then it was announced that Race 3 would be restarted and Race 4 cancelled. Accordingly, the only contest of the day kicked off 10 minutes after the final race should have started. This segment would run over nine laps and the results combined with the drivers’ times in the first two laps earlier in the afternoon for a composite classification over 11 laps.
The formation lap was, once again, followed by one lap under Full Course Yellow, during which polesitter Kiss was able to pull out a handsome lead. Lenz in P2 was also able to put some distance between himself and Jochen Hahn and Lacko, both of whom had started from directly behind him. The Czech is an acknowledged wizard in the wet, and he knows the Autodrom like the back of his hand – especially the places where the runoff is poorer. It was only a matter of time that he’d move ahead of six-times champion Hahn, which he did on Lap 3. The Buggyra pilot then set out to hunt Lenz down, closing in steadily on the German in the technicolor MAN, but never came as close as one might expect.
Kiss, meanwhile, held onto his advantage and, together with the time credit from the first race segment, was headed for a clear victory. But two laps to the finish he was hit by a brake malfunction on his red MAN. Lenz and Lacko caught up in next to no time, and there was little the hapless Hungarian could do to prevent them from surging past and building an unassailable lead.
Lenz pulled away from Lacko again all the way till the flag and, combined with his time advantage from the first segment, registered a convincing win.
Kiss was followed across the line by Hahn, Janiec, Halm, Calvet, Faas, Albacete, and Anderson in P10.
Calvet took the Promoter’s Cup honours ahead of Faas and Anderson.
Löwenpower (Anderson / Lenz) was the top team, followed by Buggyra Racing (Calvet / Lacko) and „Die Bullen von Iveco“ (Jochen Hahn / Steffi Halm).
Lenz comes away from the first round as the top scorer with 41 points. Kiss has 37, followed by Lacko (35), Hahn (33), and Halm (20).

Impressions:

Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3
Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3
Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3
Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3
Sunday in Most Part 2 - Lenz wins an extraordinary Race 3