Jochen Hahn took his seventh win of the 2019 FIA ETRC campaign at the Nürburgring this afternoon....
Jochen Hahn continued his perfect score in first races of FIA ETRC weekends in 2019 with a well-judged victory at the Nürburgring this afternoon.
The Hahn Racing IVECO ace controlled the 13 lap encounter despite the close advances of Antonio Albacete to extend his points advantage in the 2019 title chase.
Hahn led from pole in to the first corner and was never headed, and even though Albacete tried his best to get on terms with his great rival he was 0.6s in arrears at the end of the race.
Albacete proved he had the pace to live with Hahn and set the fastest lap of the race in his Trucksport Lutz Bernau MAN challenger.
Taking third was Norbert Kiss in his Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz making it three different manufacturers on the podium in race one.
Kiss had a healthy gap over Sascha Lenz’s SL Trucksport30 entry which took fourth place ahead of series returnee Gerd Körber in fifth, Adam Lacko in sixth and José Rodrigues in seventh place.
Taking the semi-reverse grid pole was Anthony Janiec who will be aiming to reprise his victory here at the Nürburgring 12 months ago.
Making his first appearance in the FIA ETRC this season was Shane Brereton who took his Apollo TOR MAN to 11thplace after an eventful race which saw contact with Jamie Anderson placed under investigation.
The major incident on the opening lap featured Rene Reinert and André Kursim who both suffered race-ending damage.
Steffi Halm was also forced to retire with a puncture after early race contact in her Team Schwabentruck IVECO.
Fabio Citignola also hit issues at the midway point and was forced to stop his Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz entry.
In the teams’ battle it was the Löwen Power duo of Sascha Lenz and who took the silverware from the Die Bullen von IVECO Magirus and Buggyra 1969 squads.
Robineau Grabs GRAMMER Honours
Thomas Robineau took the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP honours after an accomplished race which saw him lead from the first lap to the chequered flag.
The French driver, who took his first category win of the season after leaping into the lead on the first lap and then controlling the pace to also finish an impressive ninth overall. It was also his first GRAMMER TRUCK CUP win since Misano in 2018.
Pole sitter Luis Recuenco lost out in the opening exchanges and was shuffled down the order.
The early action saw Jamie Anderson promoted into second place but he soon came under pressure from old nemesis Oly Janes in his Buggyra Racing Freightliner.
Janes took the position but Anderson almost immediately took the place back with a daring move down the inside at the short circuit loop corner.
Anderson went on to take second place while Terry Gibbon claimed the final rung of the podium in his T Sport MAN.
Oly Janes looked to be heading for fourth place after a frantic and entertaining mid-race battle with the recovering Recuenco. It was a heated battle which saw several contacts occur.
However, the Spaniard fought back and re-took the British ace in the final laps to snatch the fourth in the category.
Teo Calvet fought back from being delayed in an opening lap incident to take sixth in GRAMMER TRUCK CUP ahead of a squabbling José Eduardo Rodrigues, Frankie Vojtisek, Erwin Kleinngelvoort and Clemens Hecker.
Just outside the top ten was Franck Conti and Jennifer Janiec as the final finishers with the former having been forced to make a pit stop for a technical infringement.
*Jamie Anderson and Oly Janes were both handed a 5s time penalties for causing a collision following an investigation by the stewards. While the penalty didn't affect Anderson, Janes dropped from one place down, losing P14 in favour of Teo Calvet.