Sunday at the Hungaroring Part 3 - Vintage Norbi wins handicap race

13. June 2021Hungaroring - Under placid skies, the truck racers stirred up a storm on the track.
Before we proceed, though, a couple of footnotes to the earlier race report: Hahn drove almost the entire race with a punctured rear tyre, as did Reinert. That explains why both dropped as far back as they respectively did.
And Anderson’s truck had sustained engine damage, requiring that the engine be changed. But with not much more than an hour to get back into formation, his crew had no time to get the job done and the team had no option but to withdraw.
Halm and Calvet stood on the front row, with Brereton and Hahn right behind them. Easy pickings for Hahn? Not. Halm outran Calvet to the first corner, but Hahn hung back, allowing Brereton to slot in ahead of him. Over the next 11 laps Halm drove one of the best races of her career, whereas her Iveco teammate saw any prospects of a victory vanish on the first lap itself. Brereton made it past Calvet on Lap 1, but by the time he did, Halm was several trucklengths ahead and pulling away. Lacko meanwhile caught up with Brereton and soon overtook the MAN to close in on the Schwäbintruck. He first tried a few times to sniff out a gap with his Buggyra, but failing in that endeavour, proceeded to touch Halm’s crash guard, forcing her off the raceline now and again, and even into the grass on a couple of occasions. But through it all the plucky Iveco pilotess kept the upper hand.
All this time, Kiss crept up on the trio. He made short work of Brereton and drew up full-height against Lacko’s rearguard.
Halm now had two clearly faster trucks behind her. Kiss held his horses, waiting for the right moment. Sure enough, the opportunity to overtake the Czech presented itself mid-race, and Halm a lap later.
But the steely blonde continued to block the Buggyra as before. Try as he might, Lacko could find no way past. He took the chequered flag two tenths behind.
Hahn tailed Brereton across the line, the German champ chased hard by his countryman Lenz.
Calvet came home seventh, ahead of Kursim, Albacete, and Faas.
Die Bullen von Iveco (Hahn / Steffi Halm) took the team honours, with Team Titan (Albacete / Kiss) and Buggyra Racing (Calvet / Lacko) next-best.
Brereton was the winner in the Goodyear Cup ranking, with Calvet and Faas first and second runners-up.
Lenz leads the standings after the first round of the season with 40 points, followed by Lacko (32), Kiss (30), Hahn (27), Albacete (22), and Halm (20).

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