David Vrsecky took his first win of the 2017 FIA European Truck Racing Championship campaign after just holding off race one winner Antonio Albacete in race two this afternoon.
David Vrsecky took his first win of the 2017 FIA European Truck Racing Championship campaign after just holding off race one winner Antonio Albacete in race two this afternoon.
Vrsecky took a well-deserved victory after soaking up huge pressure from local hero Antonio Albacete in a fascinating race which kept the large Spanish crowd on the edge of their seats.
The start of the race witnessed pole sitter Jose Rodrigues sprint away but soon there was drama as Portuguese left his braking way too late for the first turn and sailed in to the gravel trap. The furious Reboconorte driver re-joined in 13th position.
This handed a grateful David Vrsecky the lead in his Buggyra Freightliner, after the Czech made a meteoric start from fifth on the grid.
He held off a train of trucks which include Gerd Korber, Antonio Albacete, Andre Kursim, Jochen Hahn and Norbert Kiss in the early running. The Hungarian made an astonishing start from 16th position on the grid to run fifth by lap two.
The pacey Truck Sport Lutz Bernau-run Albacete soon cleared Korber and started to pressurise leader Vrsecky.
The pressure was applied right to the chequered flag but it Vrsecky’s first win of the season, by the tiny margin of 0.0571s, could not be denied.
Behind the front two, Korber soon had stablemate Jochen Hahn all over his rear bumper. Hahn was followed home by fifth placed Kiss, new champion Adam Lacko and Sascha Lenz.
The big fight in this bunch had been between Hahn and the fired-up Kiss, who was clearly determined to make up for the disappointment of his race one retirement. But soon Hahn was able to get back on to Korber’s tail and although he looked for a way passed his Iveco compatriot, Korber held on for his second podium appearance in three races.
Hahn, Kiss, Lacko and Lenz completed the top seven, while Reinert Racing driver Steffi Halm had a frustrating race after getting shuffled back down the order on the first lap. She eventually took the chequered flag in a relatively lonely eighth position.
In the Promoter’s Cup race it was Andre Kursim who took the maximum points score as he just held off the recovering Jose Rodrigues.
Like race one the Portuguese driver had to select top gear from the rear after his opening lap indiscretion. He managed to clear Frankie Vojtisek in the second half of the race and apply significant pressure on Kursim in the final laps, but the young German was equal to the task and won the Promoter’s Class.
Vojtisek came in 11th after a late race excursion through the gravel in his Czech Racing Team MAN.
The best Spanish guest entrant was again David Marco in his self-run MAN.
In the Teams result it was Buggyra 1969 duo of Lacko and Vrsecky who triumphed ahead of the Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus pairing of Hahn and Korber.
The final two races of the 2017 season are scheduled for 12.45 and 15.30 local time tomorrow afternoon.
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RACE RESULT 