Gerd Körber took victory in Race Four at Le Mans Bugatti to banish the disappointment of losing out on the last lap in yesterday’s Race Two....
Gerd Körber took victory in Race Four at Le Mans Bugatti to banish the disappointment of losing out on the last lap in yesterday’s Race Two. The experienced German, whose last race victory here at the same circuit 11 years ago, celebrated a superb victory after holding off Steffi Halm during a close contest.
The Team Schwabentruck Iveco driver resisted race-long pressure from the Reinert Racing MAN driver to take a hugely popular win. Halm tried desperately to find a way past her fellow German but had to settle for second position to round out another excellent weekend of results.
Körber led away from the front row of the grid, as he got the jump on pole man André Kursim, who slipped down the order quickly. Halm also found her way and passed Kursim and also Sascha Lenz who had made a spectacular, but illegal, start.
There were some excellent battles in the opening exchanges as Lenz came under massive pressure for third position. The German was eventually overtaken by first Jochen Hahn (Hahn Racing Iveco) and then Adam Lacko (Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner).
Lenz’s race was effectively ended when he received a 30-second penalty for the overspeeding offense at the start. The disappointed SL Trucksport driver did not let it get him down though and he was able to find a way passed Lacko to at least finish fourth on the road. This was altered to 11th position once his post-race penalty was applied.
Hahn finished in third position, while title rival Lacko took fourth. The results mean that 45-points separate the pair (in Lacko’s favour) as they head to the final event of the year at Jarama next month.
Norbert Kiss (Tankpool24 Racing) took fifth place ahead of David Vršecký (Buggyra International Racing System), André Kursim (Tankpool24 Racing) and David Jenkins who claimed eighth position on his return to the FIA ETRC.
Antonio Albacete (Trucksport Lutz Bernau) was ninth after a 10-second penalty for overspeeding was taken, while Shane Brereton was 10th and also third in the Promoter’s Cup.
The Promoter’s Cup winner was André Kursim, as he took an untroubled victory to make it two wins each for he and category rival José Rodrigues this weekend.
Rodrigues had a difficult race and finished 12th in his Reboconorte MAN entry. The gap between the two is 18-points, so there is all to play for at the Jarama finale in two weeks’ time.
Erwin Kleinnagelvoort (EK Scania), José-Eduardo Rodrigues (Reboconorte MAN), Cees Zandbergen and Manuel Rodrigues Goncalves (VRT Volvo) completed the result.
In the Teams’ race it was Hahn and Korber’s Die Bullen Iveco von Magirus which took the maximum points score ahead of Buggyra 1969 duo Lacko and Vršecký. Third was the Reinert Adventures pairing of Steffi Halm and Sascha Lenz.
The next and final round of the 2017 FIA European Truck Racing Championship is on October 7/8 at Jarama, Madrid.