At the halfway stage we look at the leading bunch in the fight for the 2018 FIA ETRC title...
With four race weekends down and four to go, the battle for the 2018 FIA European Truck Racing Championship crown is currently controlled by Jochen Hahn.
The multiple German champion who took the silverware in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016 leads the standings by a very healthy 57 points after collating six wins.
Hahn has been dominant on several occasions and in his Hahn Racing IVECO truck has more often than not proved to the class of the 2018 field.
It has not all been smooth running though for Hahn, as non-scores in Hungaroring race four and Nürburgring race two, proved that nothing can be taken for granted.
Behind Hahn there is a battle royal for second position as Adam Lacko, Antonio Albacete. Norbert Kiss and Steffi Halm are separated by just 24 points.
Reigning champion Lacko has been scoring consistently well but the Czech ace will be far from satisfied that he has scored just one race win so far this season in his Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner.
Norbert Kiss claimed his first win of the year at Slovakia Ring last month and is still in touch with the fight for second place at present in his Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz.
The Hungarian though has often been frustrated in 2018 so far and will be aiming to add more victories so he can at least apply some pressure on to Hahn.
Enjoying a much better start to his season than in his comeback campaign last term, Antonio Albacete who has so far registered two wins in his Trucksport Lutz Bernau MAN at Hungaroring and Slovakia Ring.
The great Spaniard has also scored consistently well and if it were not for non-points scoring finishes in the final two races at Slovakia Ring he could be much closer to Hahn.
Finally, Steffi Halm has had a rollercoaster of a start to her new career with Team Schwabentruck IVECO.
It started promisingly with some fierce drives through the field in the first two race weekends at Misano and Hunagroring. Then, after an unforgettable victory at Nürburgring, the German charger had a disastrous run of results which have seen just 25 points netted from the last six races.
This has bumped Steffi down from second to fifth in the tile standings. It will though merely make the feisty Halm even more determined to succeed as the second phase of the season starts at Autodrom Most in just a few weeks’ time.
In part two we look at the rest of the 2018 FIA ETRC field.
To check out the latest points standings click HERE