Jochen Hahn took a straightforward win in race three at Zolder...
Jochen Hahn maintained his record of scoring a victory in every 2018 FIA European Truck Racing Championship weekend so far by claiming a conclusive win in race three at Zolder.
Hahn saw off the opposition from the very start as he blasted away from pole position defending from the chasing Antonio Albacete.
For Hahn, who took his eighth win of 2018, it was another dominant performance which sees him increase his points lead to a healthy 62 points with nine races remaining.
Albacete lost out to Sascha Lenz at turn two and was forced to relinquish second but the wily Spaniard was soon back at the young German and made a move on lap three at the final chicane to take it back.
Albacete then went after Hahn, setting several quick laps including the fastest of the race, but he was then forced to back off with overheating tyres.
Lenz soon fell back into the clutches of Adam Lacko’s Buggyra International Freightliner and the Czech was able to make a move exiting the first chicane on lap six.
This gave Lacko the final rung of the podium and at least minimised some of the damage to his wavering claims at retaining the title this season.
Lenz was just able to hold off Norbert Kiss’ Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz for fourth place, while the German trio of Andre Kursim (Don’t Touch Racing IVECO), Steffi Halm (Team Schwabentruck IVECO) and Rene Reinert (Reinert Racing MAN) came in sixth, seventh and eighth.
However, a post race 30-second penalty for Kiss meant he dropped back to 12th position meaning that it will be Jose Rodrigues will start from pole for the final race.
The GRAMMER TRUCK CUP saw a tight battle throughout the 12-lap contest as Oly Janes attempted to ward off Steffen Fass (Tankpool24 Racing) and Jamie Anderson (Anderson Racing MAN).
Janes was able to resist the pressure and take the maximum score ensuring he notched up his third category win of the season.
Indeed Janes pulled out quite a margin by the end of the race while behind him Steffen Faas pressured Jamie Anderson in a tight battle for the runners-up position.
It was Anderson who held on while Faas at least made some more slight in-roads into Shane Brereton’s points advantage.
Brereton looked set to take fourth in class after coming through the field from the rear after issues in qualifying. However, a last lap excursion allowed Luis Recuenco's Trucksport Lutz Bernau MAN through to snatch the place.
Jose-Eduardo Rodrigues put in another assured display to take sixth in class for Reboconot MAN, while Ray Coleman (LRS MAN) and Erwin Kleinnagelvoort were the final classified runners.
In the teams' result it was the Die Bullen von IVECO Magirus team which won with Hahn and Halm, while Trucksport Lutz Bernau claimed second with Albacete and Recuenco combining. Buggyra 1969's pairing of Adam Lacko and Oly Janes took third.