Jochen Hahn took his second race of the FIA ETRC season-opening weekend at Misano…
Jochen Hahn came through from sixth on the starting grid to take his second race of the FIA ETRC season-opening weekend held at Misano this afternoon.
Staying out of trouble in a fraught few opening laps was key to Hahn’s success on a drying track that featured contact between some of his competitors.
Hahn only needed a couple of corners to move up to fourth position as Rene Reinert and Race 3 winner Norbi Kiss came together on the approach to Turn 6. As a result of the contact Kiss first fell to the back of the pack and later retired his Team Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz after crawling back to the pits.
At the start pole sitter Jose Rodrigues led away but the Portuguese racer made a mistake under pressure from Sacha Lenz and ran out wide at Turn 13 and ending his chances of a good result.
Hahn then went after first Anthony Janie and then Sascha Lenz. He quickly despatched both and settled into building a healthy lead in his Team Hahn Racing IVECO to ensure it wasa memorable weekend for the Italian based manufacturer.
Lenz went on to finish second to give some consolation to his SL Trucksport 30 team which endured a tough Saturday. Janiec, who was confirmed just prior to the season as a full-season entrant took a solid third place for the well-drilled Lion Truck Racing team.
Adam Lacko was another man on the move in the early stages. The Czech was initially running sixth with his Buggyra Racing-run Freightliner but dealt first with Steffi Halm [Team Schwabentruck] and then with Antonio Albacete [Truck Sport Lutz Bernau] to finish fourth. All of that was despite carrying significant damage to the left side of his Freightliner which sustained in the opening exchanges.
Halm eventually went by Albacete to finish fifth, with the Spaniard claiming sixth in his Truck Sport Lutz Bernau MAN.
Rene Reinert in his new Reinert Racing run IVECO crossed the line seventh, one placed ahead of Jose Rodrigues who recovered following his first lap adventures.
Anderson Takes Fighting GRAMMER Win
The GRAMMER TRUCK CUP saved its best race of the weekend to the last one as Oly Janes (Buggyra Racing Freightliner) and Jamie Anderson (Anderson Racing MAN) fought a titanic scrap for the category victory. The result ensured there were three different winners from four races on the opening weekend of the 2019 season.
Anderson initially led until Janes, who was looking for a second consecutive victory today, hunted down and overtook Anderson on lap three after making a decisive move on his fellow Brit.
But Anderson fought back valiantly and got his revenge a few laps later to assert his authority on the race. However, the run to the flag was far from calm as Janes got to within a touching distance of the white MAN challenger at the chequered flag.
Third place should have gone to Thomas Robineau but fate intervened. The French ace overtook Tankpool24 Racing’s Fabio Citignola at half-distance with a dive down the inside of Turn 6, however, he was then forced to serve a drive-through penalty with just two laps remaining meaning that Citignola, who again impressed on his debut, claimed third ahead of Jose-Eduardo Rodrigues’ Reboconort MAN in fourth.
A deeply frustrated Robineau took fifth, while Saturday’s man of the moment Luis Recuenco had a disappointing end to his weekend and was classified sixth following two incidents involving Citgnola and Jose Rodrigues.
The Truck Sport Lutz Bernau driver was then forced to pit because of the resulting damage and went on be the last finisher in 14th, two laps down on the leader.
Don’t Touch Racing’s Andre Kursim retired with a broken rear-axle after five laps.
The next four races on the 2019 FIA European Truck Racing Championship schedule will take place at the Hungaroring over the weekend of 22/23 June.