Adam Lacko took a commanding victory in Race Four of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship weekend at Zolder, making up for his non-finish in Race Three earlier on Sunday.
Adam Lacko took a commanding victory in Race Four of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship weekend at Zolder, making up for his non-finish in Race Three earlier on Sunday.
The Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner started the race from the seventh row of the grid, but was already up into eighth place at the end of the opening lap. By lap three Lacko had moved into fourth, which became third on lap five when he passed Frenchman Anthony Janiec.
The Czech rapidly closed the gap to second-placed Steffi Halm and race leader Sascha Lenz and in lap six he passed Halm at turn four. An unstoppable Lacko then overtook Lenz to take the lead into turn two on the next lap and soon disappeared over the horizon. Lacko eventually crossed the line 8.813s clear of the second-placed truck.
Behind Lacko, Lenz was unable to fend off Halm and Jochen Hahn. Hahn had lost a couple of places in the early stages, but fought his way back to the front and after passing Janiec in a clinical move which started at turn one and was completed by turn two; he overtook Lenz to take third.
Hahn, however, was not satisfied with third place and began to chase down Halm. On the final lap Hahn managed to pass her at turn five and came across the line to claim yet another impressive podium finish.
The Reinert Racing driver, who had started from sixth on the grid, managed to move into second place on the opening lap. Despite passing Lenz Halm was unable to keep championship contenders Lacko and Hahn behind her and she had to settle for third place.
Frenchman Anthony Janiec finished the race in fourth place, ahead of the MAN of René Reinert. As a result of finishing in fifth place Reinert amassed enough points to move up to third place in the championship standings.
Having led six of the 12 laps, Sascha Lenz finished the race in sixth place, three seconds behind Reinert. The young German was unable to keep up with the pace of the front-runners in the end, but did manage to secure yet another top six finish.
André Kursim could not convert his pole position into a top six finish, the Tankpool 24 Racing driver eventually finishing seventh. By the end of the opening lap Kursim had already dropped to fourth place and the 24-year-old German could not stop Lacko, Reinert and Hahn from overtaking him.
Ellen Lohr claimed more championship points by finishing in eighth place, just one-tenth of a second ahead of Jiri Forman. The Czech driver, however, was given a 30-second time penalty after the race for hitting two penalty markers and was only classified as 11th in the final results.
Forman’s penalty meant Eduardo Rodrigues secured ninth place, while Erwin Klein Nagelvoort claimed the final point in his Scania.
Norbert Kiss retired his Tankpool 24 Racing Mercedes-Benz after just three laps, while Gerd Körber didn’t even start the race. The Schwabentruck team fitted a new steering system on his truck before the race, but Körber came back into the pits at the end of the formation lap and did not go out again.
Thomas Robineau and John Hemming failed to make the start, following problems earlier in the weekend.
Some 15.000 spectators attended the Belgian Truck Grand Prix this weekend. The FIA ETRC continues after a two-week break at Jarama for round eight of the championship (October 1-2).