Adam Lacko capped off a perfect day at Misano on Saturday as he swept to another victory to extend his title advantage to four points after six races of the 2016 FIA European Truck Racing Championship season.
Adam Lacko capped off a perfect day at Misano on Saturday as he swept to another victory to extend his title advantage to four points after six races of the 2016 FIA European Truck Racing Championship season.
Lacko, driving for the Buggyra International Racing System team, drove a textbook race, pulling off a succession of excellent and decisive overtaking manoeuvres to head home title rival Jochen Hahn by 6.865s.
Lacko fought through from 8th place on reversed starting grid, making several sensational moves on his opposition. There was none more spectacular than when he took second position on lap two as he swept by Norbert Kiss and Jochen Hahn at the Quercia corner.
The Czech ace then hunted down early race leader Anthony Janiec and made short work of the Frenchman by decisively taking the lead on lap three, again at the Quercia left-hander. From there Lacko’s ‘FatFox’ soon stretched out an advantage and he crossed the finish line 6.685 seconds ahead of his Hahn.
“It was a perfect day and I don’t remember when I had a day like today in sunny Italy,” said Lacko after the race. “I enjoyed the battle with Jochen (Hahn) and Norbi (Kiss). I think that Norbi concentrated on Jochen and maybe he forgot I was on the left side. I enjoy racing with both these guys on the track.”
Jochen Hahn drove an equally impressive race and cut through those ahead of him on the grid to place his MAN truck in second place by lap four. The German then attempted to catch Lacko but the Czech’s pace was too hot even for Hahn under the hot Adriatic sun today.
“We are on the podium for the second time today, it’s a good row, 3rd in race one, then 2nd in race two, maybe tomorrow P1 tomorrow! I am happy with today, two times on the podium is good points and everything went well.”
Claiming a brilliant podium position was Steffi Halm in her Reinert entered MAN truck. The German star consolidated the promising pace shown in race one to again execute a fine drive to overtake Norbert Kiss and then Anthony Janiec to secure third position. It also secured a well-deserved second position for the Wow! Women on Wheels team which she shares with Ellen Lohr.
“I am really, really happy because the truck just got finished before that race so I was not able to do much testing at all,” said Halm. “For me the last driving in did was in Most last year. I must thank the team who worked hard and we had some really good pace here which we can take in to tomorrow’s races.”
Anthony Janiec, who led the race in the opening stages, finished in fourth position on the road. The Frenchman had made an excellent start and grabbed the lead halfway around the first lap from countryman Jeremy Robineau (Team Robineau MAN). The Lion Truck Racing driver was unable to capitalise though, as first Lacko and then Hahn were able to catch and overtake him. Janiec also survived contact with Rene Reinert early in the race. Sadly Reinert was not so lucky and had to pit and retire his MAN truck. Janiec was subsequently penalised for avoidable contact and had 30-seconds added to his total time which dropped him back to 12th position and out of the points.
Right on Janiec’s tail was Norbert Kiss, who took a fine fourth position on the debut event of the new Stefan Honens designed and inspired Mercedes-Benz truck. The Hungarian lost the lead at the start but battled energetically in the top three during the opening exchanges. It was a promising start for the new project and the Tankpool24 Racing team will take a great deal of confidence in to Sunday’s races.
Completing the top ten places were Gerd Korber who fought his way through from ninth position on the grid to claim fifth place, Jeremy Robineau who fell back after a stellar start saw him briefly lead the race was classified sixth, Sascha Lenz was seventh, Ellen Lohr came eighth, Jiri Forman was ninth and Frankie Vojtisek took tenth position and the final championship point.
The team points went the way of the Buggyra 1969 team with a combined points haul delivered by Lacko and teammate Jiri Forman. Second was the Wow! Women on Wheels squad of Steffi Halm and Ellen Lohr.
Races three and four are scheduled to take place at 13.20 and 15.30 on Sunday afternoon.
To follow the race at the FIA ETRC race centre with live timing, live text commentary and the popular ‘Truck Tracker’ click here