Adam Lacko scored a brilliant victory in the fourth and final race at Misano this afternoon to take another hat-trick of victories at the Italian venue.
Adam Lacko scored a brilliant victory in the fourth and final race at Misano this afternoon to take another hat-trick of victories at the Italian venue.
His three wins this weekend reprised the same results he achieved exactly 12 months previously and ensured he extended his standings lead to 12 points over Steffi Halm.
Halm took her third podium position of the weekend with second place in her Reinert Racing MAN after an epic battle throughout the 12-lap encounter with Norbert Kiss’ Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz who placed third.
The drama began even before the start of the race, as Jochen Hahn’s team tried to rectify a technical issue on his Hahn Racing Iveco in order to start from the reverse grid pole position. Sadly, they were unable to do so and Hahn was dealt an early blow in his quest to retain his FIA ETRC crown.
With Hahn’s slot on the grid left vacant, it was Thomas Robineau (Robineau MAN) who was effectively on pole position. The Frenchman got a fine start and led for the first two laps before a charging Gerd Körber (Team Schwaben-Truck Iveco) was able to make his way through in to a brief lead.
Behind the leading group, Lacko, who was clearly the fastest man on the track, was starting to make dramatic progress from eighth place on the grid. The Czech ace managed to overtake Halm and Kiss, before he grabbed the lead from Gerd Körber.
From here, Lacko was unimpeded and pulled a race winning gap which he stabilised to 6.7 seconds as the chequered flag dropped to send his Buggyra International Racing System team in to ecstasy.
Halm and Kiss were able to displace Körber and they then proceeded to engage in an entertaining but often fraught battle all the way to the flag. They were eventually joined in this fight by Antonio Albacete (Truck Sport Lutz Bernau MAN) and the trio crossed the line with just 1.1s covering the three of them.
After leading in the opening phase of the race Körber dropped back through the pack after he sustained damage in the earlier battle and came home a hugely frustrated sixth.
There was early race drama for Sascha Lenz who was in the lead group until he spun halfway around the first lap after some contact. The German SL Trucksport MAN driver was able to continue and eventually placed ninth.
The Promoter’s Cup saw victory taken by fifth place overall finisher Thomas Robineau, who drove probably his best ever FIA ETRC race. Second in the new for 2017 Promoter’s Cup category and seventh overall was Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz driver Andre Kursim, while point’s leader José Rodrigues took third in class and eighth overall.
The final point fell to Eduardo Rodrigues (Reboconorte MAN) who enjoyed a race long battle and several contacts with Enes Draganovic’s Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner entry which took 11thplace.
Apart from the unfortunate Hahn, the only other retirement in race four was Dominique Orsini, who pulled in to the pits after eight laps in his black Mercedes-Benz.
In the Teams Championship the Tankpool24 Racing pairing of Norbert Kiss and André Kursim took the silverware with the Buggyra 1969 combination of Lacko and Draganovic taking placing second.
The next round on the 2017 FIA European Truck Racing Championship schedule is the jewel in the crown event with the ADAC Truck Grand Prix at Nürburgring on the weekend of 1-2 July.