André Kursim capitalised on his front-row start to take the fourth career FIA ETRC victory...
Don’t Touch Racing driver André Kursim controlled Race 4 at Hungaroring this afternoon to finish ahead of René Reinert and make it yet another 1-2 for IVECO trucks.
Antonio Albacete completed the top three, clinching his second podium of the weekend which saw a crowd of 25,000 people enjoy some typically close FIA ETRC action.
As the race got underway, Kursim had to fend off the hard-charging Adam Lacko who started from third position on the grid. However, the 2017 FIA ETRC title-winner retired his Freightliner on lap one due to a throttle problem, allowing Kursim to attack pole sitter Jamie Anderson who started from the semi-reverse grid pole.
The young German quickly found his way by Anderson and was in the lead by the end of lap one. He then remained in control, maintaining an average gap of 2.5s over second-placed Reinert over the course of the 11-lap race.
From then on, Anderson had his mirrors full, with a train comprised of seven trucks forming an aggressive queue behind him.
The Anderson Racing driver, who was also leading the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP, drove firmly but eventually dropped down the order as the race approached its mid-point.
Truck Sport Lutz Bernau’s Albacete quickly moved up to third position, with the IVECOs of Jochen Hahn and Steffi Halm also moving up the order to take fourth and fifth respectively.
After two further laps, Norbert Kiss also fought his way passed Anderson to take sixth place for the Team Tankpool24 Racing squad.
Starting from the very back of the grid Sascha Lenz was charging hard following a heart-breaking retirement in the closing stages of Race 3. The SL Trucksport 30 racer only needed three laps to move into the top eight. In the closing stages of the race, he also went by Anderson to secure points for seventh place after a fighting drive.
Second GRAMMER TRUCK CUP win for Anderson
Jamie Anderson, despite dropping down six places from his starting position, brought his MAN home in eighth, securing his second GRAMMER TRUCK CUP victory of the day.
José Rodrigues finished exactly where he started in his Reboconort Truck Racing Team MAN in ninth overall.
The top ten was rounded out by Oly Janes, who took second in the GRAMMER TRUK CUP for Buggyra Racing.
Eduardo Rodrigues brought the second of the Reboconrt Truck Racing Team’s MANs home in 12th, one place ahead of the Mercedes-Benz driven by Fabio Citignola, who had to serve a drive-through penalty for a false start.
Dominique Orsini served two drive-through penalties, one for a false start and the second one for track limits violations and then failed to take the chequered flag, stopping in the middle of the track on the last lap with a technical problem. He was, however, classified.
Terry Gibbon was on his way to second in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP until he suffered a water pump issue with less than half of the distance remaining in the race after another strong showing from the tenacious British racer.