Jochen Hahn took a hard-fought victory in race three at the Hungaroring today to mirror his win in race one yesterday and extend his title lead over Adam Lacko.
Jochen Hahn took a hard-fought victory in race three at the Hungaroring today to mirror his win in race one yesterday and extend his title lead over Adam Lacko.
The race began with Hahn getting the better start and leading in to turn one ahead of poleman Norbert Kiss. The Hungarian ace delighted a bumper crowd, who came to see their truck racing hero as he pushed Hahn all the way to the chequered flag to claim a third consecutive podium position.
The gap between Hahn and Kiss fluctuated between 0.5 and two seconds in the first half of the event, but as it progressed the German was able to extend his cushion. However, Kiss always came back and by the final lap was within 0.666s of the winner who finished with his usual powerslide flourish as he exited the final corner.
Claiming the final rung of the podium was Buggyra International Racing System driver Adam Lacko who has struggled for his usual race winning pace this weekend. Lacko’s third place ensured that Hahn was able to extend his lead in the race for the title to 17 points.
The fight for fourth position entertained the large crowd as Anthony Janiec (Lion Truck Racing MAN) came under intense pressure from Ryan Smith (Team OXXO Racing MAN) in the later phase of the race. Smith had fought his way passed Steffi Halm on lap six and was soon right on the bumper of Janiec’s bright yellow truck.
Steffi Halm suffered a suspected steering issue caused by losing oil in the closing stages and dropped to 13th and last of the classified finishers.
There was equally bad news from race control for Janiec after the race as he was given a 30-second track limit penalty which dropped him to ninth position and just a single point.
Sadly for Smith, a brief excursion on lap nine dropped back behind Halm and he was unable to get back on terms and had to settle for eighth position in the final sort out. It seemed to ensure that Smith would start from pole position for race four but once Janiec’s penalty was added on it meant that Smith was seventh and Jiri Forman was promoted to the reverse pole position as he moved up to eighth in his Buggyra International Racing System ‘FatFox’.
Gerd Korber and Ellen Lohr engaged in a race long all-German battle for seventh position. But the late race changes saw the pair elevated to fourth and fifth places in the results after Janiec’s penalty was applied to delight both of the experienced truck racers.
Sascha Lenz scored his first points for several races with sixth position, while fellow ‘FIA ETRC Young Gun Jiri Forman who scored points for his eighth position.
Erwin Kleinnagelvoort took the final point for tenth position as he took his white Scania to a solid result which ensures he has scored in three of the four meetings he has attended this season.
Andre Kursim and Dominique Orsini completed the final positions in 11th and 12th position, with the delayed Halm coming home a dejected 13th.
The only retirement of the race was Shane Brereton who pulled off the circuit on lap six with an apparent technical problem.
In the teams championship the result saw the Reinert Adventures maximum points scored by Hahn's win out-score the Tankpool24 Racing pairing of Kiss and Kursim. The Buggyra 1969 duo of Lacko and Forman took third position.
**Note: Gerd Korber was given a post race 10-second penalty for overspeeding and thus was demoted to eighth position in the results, which puts him on pole position for race four.
For results from race three please click here