Jamie Anderson stole the show at the Slovakiaring, netting a hat-trick of victories in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP...
The Slovakiaring rounds of the 2019 FIA European Truck Racing Championship was largely a one-man show in the GRAMMER TRUCKS CUP as Jamie Anderson secured a superb hat-trick of category wins.
Following a rare retirement in race one due to a puncture, Jamie Anderson completed the triple success of victories in the remaining three races.
Anderson got nudged of the track under braking following contact by points leader Oly Janes’ Buggyra Freightliner, this in turn then launched Anderson in to Norbert Kiss’ delayed Mercedes-Benz.
At that stage it seemed that it could be a tough weekend for the driver of the white MAN, but Anderson fought back by winning all three of the remaining races.
In Race 2 he stormed his way through the pack from the back of the grid to take a commanding win and finished an impressive sixth overall.
Anderson started Race 3 behind both Luis Recuenco and Janes but gained two places and elevated himself to the lead on the opening lap and went on to clinch his second victory of the weekend.
In the final event of the weekend Anderson was particularly impressive.
The British racer converted his GRAMMER TRUCK CUP pole to a third victory of the meeting, showing tremendous pace along the way and finishing less than a second behind double-winner in Slovakia, Jochen Hahn.
“It was really good to stay with Jochen and not be far behind him. It was a brilliant weekend,” said Anderson.
“I thought it was going to all go wrong after the first race but we showed great determination and some patience and it came right. Thanks to the Anderson racing team because they did a great job as always here.”
Despite Anderson's stellar performance over the course of the weekend, it was Luis Recuenco who, owing to consistency, left Slovakia with the biggest points haul to his name.
Luis Recuecno had an eventful weekend. In Race 1 the Truck Sport Lutz Bernau driver had to take evasive action during the lap one race-stopping incident involving Andre Kursim, but he went on to win the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP and finish an excellent sixth overall.
In Race 2 the Spaniard was briefly running third overall and putting pressure on second-placed Sascha Lenz until he was put into a spin by Adam Lacko. He then recovered to finish a solid third in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP category.
Recuenco then added another third and a second place to his total tally of 49 over the weekend, the best of any of the chrome categorised drivers and his best overall performance since he came in to the FIA ETRC last season.
Oly Janes claimed two second places and a third, but Race 2 was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the weekend for the Brit.
The Buggyra Racing driver was starting from the front row, but was delayed by an opening-lap contact with Sascha Lenz that resulted in a slow puncture. This delayed the points leader who dropped down the pack and went on to cross the line a disappointed fifth in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP.
Eduardo Rodrigues collected points in all four races, being fourth on three occasions and finishing fifth once. His highlight over the weekend was scoring his first overall points of the season for 10th place in Race 1.
Fabio Citignola endured a mixed weekend as he was forced to sit out Race 4 due to an engine problem. The young German finished second in Race 2, recording his best ever GRAMMER TRUCK CUP result so at least took some consolation away from Slovakia.
Dominique Orsini had to withdraw from Sunday’s part of the competition on technical grounds. The Frenchmen finished fifth and sixth respectively the day before in his Mercedes-Benz.
Going into the Nürburgring rounds of the championship, Janes leads the standings with 144 points to his name. Luis Recuenco is second 14 pints down on Janes. Anderson rounds out the top three in the standings with 109 points to his name.
With several race-by-race entrants expected for Nürburgring the destination of the title could be greatly influenced with some more thrilling GRAMMER TRUCK CUP action.
