Oly Janes became the second GRAMMER TRUCK CUP winner in Spain last weekend...
The GRAMMER TRUCK CUP season was completed at Circuito Jarama last weekend with four different winners and a new 2019 champion.
Oly Janes reigned in Spain as he took his Buggyra Racing Freightliner to the race victory in the second event of the weekend on Saturday afternoon to seal the deal and take a highly popular title.
The British racer claimed his seventh win of the campaign in a spectacular second race which saw his title rival James Anderson crash out at the final corner.
Still, the title was only sealed when Janes took the chequered flag as the Anderson Racing squad scrambled to try and rebuild their truck after the race was red flagged.
Despite the herculean efforts of the team they were just beaten by the clock and Janes romped home to take the GRAMMER silverware.
Earlier on Saturday Anderson had drawn first blood of the weekend as he led Janes home but he was unable to extend the title challenge in to the final day of the season on Sunday.
For Janes it was a memorable weekend and one which he fully relished with his team at the annual FIA ETRC awards on Sunday evening.
“It’s what we wanted! The team has done so well and they put together such a good package for the year, together with the partners,” said Janes.
“We’ve had good reliability and yes, it means that all of the hard work this year, the sacrifices of home life and business we had to do, we’ve done for a reason.”
Describing the season, Janes said that the excellent preparation of the Buggyra Racing Freightliner he drove was a key factor in the outcome of the title success.
“The season was really good and the team were brilliant in keeping the truck reliable the entire year, you can’t really ask for more,” he said.
“We made a big step in Zolder, which was my favourite race I guess, but also Le Mans. If we hadn’t have made such a big step in Zolder and Le Mans it would have been a tough weekend here at Jarama. But we’ve done a good job.”
Jamie Anderson, despite his and his teams valiant efforts, missed out on the top spot this season but with a remarkable 12 category wins to his name Anderson had a stellar second season in the FIA ETRC.
With his well-drilled Anderson Racing squad the former top rally driver seemed to excel on Sunday’s with 8 of his 12 wins coming on the second day of action.
However, non scores at six races dealt a hammer blow to challenging the more consistent Janes, but Anderson showed that his skill and confidence in this new discipline for him has greatly increased.
Luis Recuenco, in his eye-catching green and white MAN, finished third this season after taking four victories; two in Misano and one each at Slovakiaring and Le Mans.
The Spaniard had an excellent second season in the FIA ETRC and was right in the title mix until the previous round at Le Mans.
Erwin K's Special Day; Citignola Stars
There was Dutch joy in Spain as Erwin Kleinnagelvoort broke his GRAMMER TRUCK CUP duck with an excellent victory in the final race of the weekend.
The Scania driver capitalised on a four truck melee between Anderson, Janes, Citignola and Recuenco to come through and claim a highly popular victory.
Equally, Tankpool24 Racing’s Fabio Citignola took his second win of his maiden FIA ETRC campaign with an excellent victory in Sunday’s third race.
The 21 year-old German swept to the win after taking a dominant pole position and placing seventh overall, dominating proceedings and making up for a tough Saturday with his Mercedes-Benz truck.
Jose-Eduardo Rodrigues took a pair of third place finishes in races one and two and four for the Reboconort team, while Terry Gibbon secured fourth place in the standings with a second in race one and a runners-up spot in the third event.
The T Sport racer was leading the fourth and final race comfortably but his hopes were dashed with a gearbox issue. It was a bitter pill for the UK based team but overall they showed their mettle with four GRAMMER wins over the course of the season.
Dominique Orsini took 15 points away from Jarama and three points scores from the four races to round out his season in his family run Mercedes-Benz.
The GRAMMER TRUCK Cup saw excellent racing in 2019 with thrills, spills and close competition throughout.