Sascha Lenz took a highly popular maiden FIA ETRC win at Misano this evening.....
Sascha Lenz took a long-awaited first ever career FIA European Truck Racing Championship victory in Race Two at Misano on Saturday evening.
The German converted a front-row position to head home Adam Lacko’s Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner by an impressive 4.7s and claim a hugely popular maiden win for himself and the SL Trucksport squad.
After two second place finishes, four third places, a pole position in 31 FIA ETRC meetings attended the German can now consider himself an FIA ETRC race winner.
Lenz led from his reverse grid front-row and defended from pole-sitter Jamie Anderson in to the first corner.
The British driver quickly found himself swamped by the chasing pack though and there was contact which triggered a chain-reaction including Antonio Albacete, Ryan Smith and several others.
The melee accounted for Smith’s OXXO Hungary Truck Racing Team MAN which retired on the spot, while Anderson re-joined at the tail of the field.
Anthony Janiec came through the mayhem to grab second, while behind him Adam Lacko and Race One victor Jochen Hahn snatched third and fourth positions respectively.
Lacko held off Hahn despite huge pressure for the entire race and claimed his second consecutive podium placing with second position.
But it was earned only after epic pressure saw Janiec make a small mistake which allowed Lacko through to second.
Hahn immediately tried to follow suit but some robust defending by Janiec denied Hahn who ran wide at Turn Two
Hahn’s IVECO fell back in to the clutches of Norbert Kiss’ Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz which ran fifth, but Hahn had just enough to keep hold of fourth place as the chequered flag flew.
Kiss drove an exceptional first portion of the race after being forced to start last on the grid after he lost his third position in Race One after his truck was found to be underweight.
Thomas Robineau put behind the disappointment of his race one penalty to scoop the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP points ahead of Shane Brereton.
Robineau controlled the race in his familiar red MAN to lead home the British driver, taking an impressive sixth overall as he did so.
Several trucks did not make it on to the dummy grid and had to start from the pit lane. These included Rene Reinert who took his first points of the season with a clean race to seventh place ahead of Steffi Halm who also started from the pitlane and came in eighth.
Brereton, who had his first race of the day spoilt with steering damage, took second place in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP and ninth place overall.
Antonio Albacete recovered from his earlier excursion to claim the final point in tenth position.
Oly Janes (Buggyra International Racing System) executed a superb ‘top-gear from the rear’ performance by scything through the field to claim his first ever points finish in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP with third in the category and 11th overall.
Eduardo Rodrigues survived a clash with Luis Recuenco (Trucksport Lutz Bernau) to take 12th position ahead of his Iberian nemesis. However, Recuenco was later excluded for overspeeding.
This meant that Ray Coleman took 13th overall and sixth in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP ahead of Frans Smiths’ Scania
Gerd Korber (Team Schwabentruck IVECO) joined Jamie Anderson (Anderson Racing) in the retirements section of the results.
Steffen Faas’ Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz pitted early in the race was suspected damage and was unable to re-join the action.
The Teams’ silverware went to the Team Reinert Adventures duo of Rene Reinert and Sascha Lenz ahead of the Buggyra 1969 combination of Oly Janes and Adam Lacko.
After two races in the 2018 FIA ETRC it is Jochen Hahn who leads Adam Lacko by 27 points to 24 points.
Tomorrow’s two races are scheduled for 13.10 and 15.20 local time.
Follow the action with live timing and live text commentary HERE
RACE RESULT