Rene Reinert only needed two starts behind the wheel of his all-new IVECO truck to score his first victory for the Italian truck manufacturer...
Rene Reinert only needed two starts behind the wheel of his all-new IVECO truck to score his first victory for the Italian truck manufacturer.
The Reinert Racing driver who started on the outside of front row, took the lead just after the race got under way diving into the inside of the reversed grid pole sitter Luis Recuenco (Truck Sport Lutz Bernau).
Antonio Albacete secured second place in the 12-lap encounter after making a last-lap move when Steffi Halm locked a wheel to take his second podium finish of the day.
Halm moved up from fourth to second on the opening lap and was putting significant pressure on fellow IVECO driver Reinert. The German racer had to nurse cramp in his leg for the early stages of the race.
Albacete, who started sixth, made great progress through the field to take his second podium of the day.
The Spaniard wasn’t the only driver who made big gains over the course of the race. Adam Lacko brought his updated Buggyra Racing Freightliner home in fourth, following a charge from seventh on the grid. The Czech ace had a frantic scrap with Sascha Lenz and Norbert Kiss due the race.
Hungarian Kiss, aboard his Team Tankpool24 Racing-run Mercedes-Benz truck, went on to finish in fifth position.
Recuenco Takes GRAMMER TRUCK CUP Double
Sixth place overall went to pole-sitter Luis Recuenco, who also took his second GRAMMER TRUCK CUP victory of the day.
Recuenco lost out the IVECOS driven by Reinert and Halm at the start but was running third for the first half of the event, fending off the likes of Lenz, Kiss, Albacete and Lacko in what was his best ever performance and result.
Andre Kursim kept his nose clean over the 12-lap race to bring his Don’t Touch Racing IVECO home in seventh, following a start from 11th on the grid.
Several drivers had to serve drive-through penalties for track limit violations. Sascha Lenz was one of those as the SL Trucksport 30 racer was in contention for the podium, but after serving his penalty he was relegated down to eighth overall with pace sapping issue. This was one place ahead of Oly Janes who also secured second in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP in his Buggyra Racing truck.
Anthony Janiec had a more eventful race than the first encounter where he was forced to retire after steering problems. The Frenchman was forced to serve a drive-through penalty and later received a further 5-second sanction for overspeeding in the pit lane.
Race 1 winner Jochen Hahn was initially in the mix for a potential crack at the podium as he fought with Lacko and Recuenco for P6. But the Hahn Racing IVECO driver went out wide and also had to serve a rare drive-through for track limit violations and missed out on points as a result, crossing the line 11th.
Jose Eduardo Rodrigues secured third in the GRAMMER TRUCK and 12th overall, one place ahead of his father who had to serve another drive-through penalty.
Rookie truck racer Fabio Citignola lost his front bumper in a first lap collision and later had to serve a drive-through for crossing the white line at the start. He was classified 14th, one place ahead of final finisher Dominique Orsini who was given a 5-second penalty for forcing Jamie Anderson off track in a heated battle as Anderson charged through from a pit-lane start.
Both Thomas Robineau and Andrson retired in the race with Robineau succumbing to a broken shock absorber and the unlucky Anderson stopping with a power steering problem that made him start from the pit lane in the first place.
With 22 points to his name (one more than Albacete and two more than Hahn) Lacko took an early lead in the standings.