All eyes are alredy on round two of the FIA ETRC taking place at Norbert Kiss' home circuit of Hungaroring this weekend...
The dust has barely settled following the opening event of the 2019 FIA European Truck Racing Championship season at Misano but the truck racing fraternity is already looking forward to the second round taking place at the Hungaroring this weekend.
We’re still in the early days of the season but there’s already a lot of interesting storylines shaping up with new rivalries and on-track battles to savour.
At the front of the pack, it’s the now traditional rivalry of two arch rivals – reigning champion Jochen Hahnand the 2017 title-winner Adam Lackowhich is again a key talking point.
Hahn has his proven IVECO truck to his advantage, which took him to the title last season, but it’s Lacko who hasn’t yet shown his full potential yet, having been given an all-new truck at the beginning of the season by his slick Buggyra Racing team.
At Misano, it was Hahn who seemed to have an upper-hand, but it was Lacko who came out with the biggest points haul at the end of the four races. This was mainly due to the fact Hahn failed to take any points in race two – a rare occurrence!
It will be fascinating to the see how this duel will develop at the venue best known for hosting the Hungarian Grand Prix.
And let’s don’t discard Norbert Kiss, who’ll be particularly formidable on his home turf where he is adored by the passionate and vibrant Hungarian fans.
The two-time champion only took one victory in the entire 2018 season. This year, he kick-started his campaign from the off, only needing three races to match this achievement and crossing the line first in Race 3 at Misano.
The fact that Kiss didn’t managed to take a victory in front of his home crowd last year, will only add to his will to win this time around. He has a strong record on home tarmac with two wins here in 2015 and one in 2017.
Behind these three, there’s little to choose between Antonio Albacete, Rene Reinert, Sascha Lenz, Steffi Halmand even José Rodrigues.
Reinert only needed two races to take his first IVECO victory last month and also took a mighty race 4 win at Hungaroring last season, while Albacete keeps making the best of his proven Truck Sport Lutz Bernau/MAN package, paying regular visits to the podium and always being a threat for a victory.
Perhaps Lenz and Halm haven’t shown their best quite yet, but there’s no doubt that this is just a question of time. In Lenz’s case it’s largely down to optimising the set-up of his newly-built MAN truck, while Halm has always been quick in Hungary having taken a memorable win there in 2016
André Kursim, is currently only 12th in the standings, but will be fired-up after a season-opening weekend in Italy that didn’t go his or his Don’t Touch IVECO teams’ way.
GRAMMER Action Guaranteed
Misano showed that the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP front runners are expected to knock on the doors of the top 10 on a regular basis this season. At the same time 2019 may go down in FIA ETRC history as the closest season since the category for chrome-categorised drivers was created in 2017.
Luis Recuenco looks much improved after a season learning the FIA ETRC ropes in 2018. He scored two fine wins in his Truck Sport Lutz Bernau machine at Misano on Saturday. However, as Sunday at Misano showed, Recuenco will have plenty of competition this season.
Two other drivers who began their ETRC careers last year, Brits Oly Janesand Jamie Anderson, also turned out to be formidable and consistent challengers enjoying some superb battles in the Sunday events.
It is Janes who currently leads the standings, but as Misano showed, producing three different winners from four races, the 2019 GRAMMER TRUCK CUP is truly up for grabs.
And let’s not discount rookie truck racer Fabio Citignolain his Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz . The German youngster may have little experience, but based on his speed shown in touring cars and the fact that he clocked up valuable miles during the season-opening weekend, it would be no surprise if he starts winning GRAMMER TRUCK CUP races in the near future.
Eduardo Rodriguesreturns to action after reversing his retirement decision at Jarama last year. The experienced racer will be taking over the cockpit of the Reboconort MAN which he is sharing with his grandson Jose-Eduardo throughout this season.
Terry Gibbon, who had to sit out the Misano round due to an old back injury, makes a welcome return to the FIA ETRC in his T-Sport run truck. The British driver has upgraded his MAN with a common rail engine and should be able to fight for GRAMMER podiums and wins this year.
A third Mercedes-Benz truck will be on the grid this weekend as Dominique Orisini continues his return to the FIA ETRC with his family run squad. The Frenchman endured a tough start at Misano when he was forced to skip a race due to technical issues but the venerable Orsini will be out to collate more GRAMMER points in Hungary.
Click HERE to see the latest points standings
Check out the official Timetable HERE