Adam Lacko took maximum points in race four of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at Hungaroring today after on the road winner Gerhard Körber and runner-up Ryan Smith were penalised for overspeeding at the start.
Adam Lacko took maximum points in race four of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at Hungaroring today after on the road winner Gerhard Körber and runner-up Ryan Smith were penalised for overspeeding at the start.
It had looked like Körber had taken a famous win in his Team Schwabentruck IVECO and scored his first victory since Jarama in 2009, before the stewards confirmed the decision which elevated Lacko’s Buggyra International Racing System ‘FatFox’ to the win.
Körber’s momentum started even before the race as he was also given a ten-second penalty for overspeeding in race thee. This relegated him to eighth and subsequently pole position on the reverse grid method for race four.
Körber made the most of his misfortune/fortune and led away from the pole and was able to hold it from lights to flag. This was despite enduring significant pressure from Ryan Smith who had equalled his best ever FIA ETRC result with second place before he was also given a 30-second penalty for overspeeding at the start.
The gap was never more than just over a second during the entire race after Smith made a decisive move on front row starter – Buggyra International Racing System driver - Jiri Forman. But despite his best efforts there was no way through for the British ace, as Körber used all his experience to resist the Team OXXO Racing MAN truck which suffered from some overheating brake issues during the race. Körber finished the race just 0.537s ahead of Smith.
As well as the fight at the front, the battle to watch in the early exchanges was that for third position as front-row starter Jiri Forman led a squabbling train of trucks that comprised of Ellen Lohr (Truck Sport Lutz Bernau), Adam Lacko (Buggyra International Racing System), Anthony Janiec (Lion Truck Sport), Norbert Kiss (Tankpool24 Racing) and race three winner Jochen Hahn.
The battles were frenetic as Lacko overtook Lohr at Turn One before Janiec made a move on her at turn three. Contact between the two saw the German lose momentum and she was forced over the kerbs and run-off on the exit dropping her down to eighth position. Lohr was also given a penalty after the race for overspeeding and thus dropped down to 12th place.
Lacko then put a move on his teammate Forman on lap five and soon began to pull away from the pack in third. This broke up the group further after Janiec made a clinical move on Forman at Turn 13 on lap six to move in to fourth, a position which he kept to the chequered flag. The Frenchman was then shuffled up to second place due to the penalties.
Norbert Kiss had another eventful race and battled through from seventh on the grid to grab fifth position in the final laps when he demoted Forman to sixth. This became third after the penalties for Körber and Smith and so meant Kiss scored a quartet of top three placings at his home event.
Championship leader Jochen Hahn claimed seventh on the road but fifth in the final results. He now has a 13 point advantage over Adam Lacko as the FIA ETRC family heads to Autodrom Most next weekend. Hahn also took the fastest lap of the day and a special award to commemorate the memory of former Hungarian trucking ace –János Krasznai.
Sascha Lenz and André Kursim (Tankpool24 Racing) finished sixth and seventh, while on the road winner Körber r was classified eighth ahead of Ryan Smith and Erwin Kleinnagelvoort, who again took the final point in his self-run Scania.
Sunday was a tough day for Steffi Halm (Reinert Racing) as she suffered more problems and was forced down to 11th position. Dominique Orsini made it a 100% finishing record for the race four starters in 13th position.
In the Teams title fight it was the Buggyra 1969 squad of Adam Lacko and Jiri Forman that took the victory, while the Lion/Lenz partnership claimed second and Tankpool24 Racing filled out the podium.
32,000 people witnessed the latest rounds of the FIA ETRC at Hunagroring this weekend and had plenty to cheer as their idol Norbert Kiss took four podium finishes.
The next round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship takes place at Autodrom Most next weekend. For a timetable of the action at Most please click here.
For provisional results of race four please click here