Its Reinert at Hungaroring

At Hungaroring, the second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship for 2018 season, it was Reinert who won.

At Hungaroring, the second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship for 2018 season, Reinert won.

The second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at the Hungaroring near Budapest started off in extreme humidity and rain. The first day of action with three and a half hours of track time, including VIP and press rides, and of a supplementary and regulation free practice, it stayed dry but sans a sunshine. It felt warm as the racing teams tried out alternative setups; prepared for the action, which would begin from the next day morning and end the next day evening. With Jochen Hahn the man to watch out for, it did not take time to know that this race is going to yet another exciting event of the 2018 event calendar. Two tenths slower, Ryan Smith also evoked much interest. Also did Sascha Lenz, defending champ Adam Lacko, Norbert Kiss, Antonio Albacete and Steffi Halm.

Behind the wheel of a racing MAN truck, Sascha Lenz delighted. He craked the 2:19 barrier with a lap time of 2:18.926 seconds in the second free practice run on saturday morning. It turned out to be a different story that he couldn’t match it in qualifying. Put up a strong fight he did, throughout the race. Another man behind the wheel of a MAN truck was Albacete.

He put up a quick lap time of 2:18.429 seconds. Also fast were Adam Lacko in a Buggyra Freightliner; Kiss in a MercedesBenz; Hahn in an Iveco, and Ryan Smith in a MAN. André Kursim, behind the wheel of an Iveco was sixth quickest. René Reinert in a MAN and Steffi in an Iveco came close after him. The next race of the day saw Lacko beat Hahn as the two raced into the first corner. Kiss, Smith, and the rest of the field followed, crossing the finish line at the end of the lap-one in pretty much the same order. It felt like a procession almost. As the race progressed, Smith seemed to lose ground on the finish straight. Taking advantage, Steffi raced ahead. Entering into the first corner, a fight ensued between Albacete, Lenz, and Reinert abreast of Smith. With space for only two trucks to pass, Smith hit Albacete’s truck. The two skidded off, leaving the rest of the racing trucks to speed past. Disentagling somehow, Smith and Albacete once again started chasing the field from the end.

Leading the field, Lacko seemed to have problems and started falling back. He dropped a couple of places, and hung on with a punctured rear tyre. Taking advantage, Hahn raced ahead to score a win – his third in the 2018 season. Kiss and Halm followed. Reinert comfortably finished fourth. A 10 seconds penalty levied for overspeeding pushed him to sixth however. Jursim, who came fifth, got elevated to fourth, and Lenz, to fifth. Smith fought his way up to finish seventh. Keeping Lacko from superceding in what turned out to be a fierce fight, Brereton came eighth. The temperatures had begun to rise on Sunday as the final race day began on

June 17, 2018. Undaunted, Jochen Hahn recorded a quick lap time of 2:18.834 seconds. Home hero Norbert Kiss surprisingly took a shade longer whereas the rest of the field could not significantly improve on their warm-up times. Events in the ensuing Super Pole saw Kiss and Lenz abort their hot laps. Hahn took the pole with a 2:19.002 seconds lap time. It was nowhere close to his qualifying time. Smith took second position ahead of Lacko, Kiss, Albacete, Steffi Halm, Lenz, Reinert, Kursim, and Brereton.

Temperatures countinued to climb as Hahn grabbed the lead. He was closely followed by Smith, Lacko and Kiss. Things seemed a bit chaotic at the back. Albacete, Halm, and Reinert got into a scrap. It did not affect the running order, but gave a chance to the four racing trucks ahead of them to build a strong advantage. In the first lap, Lenz received a hit at the rear. It got his MAN to swing and leave the track in a plume of smoke. He fell behind even as the frontrunners kept increasing the gap. Not much could be done about it. Hahn finished to become a clear winner that led the race from the pole to the flag. Smith came second, and Lacko came third. Kiss could not do much, but be content of having bagged the fourth place. A judicious drive was Kursim take the fifth position. He was followed by Halm and Reinert. Technical problems saw Albacete fall behind. Towards the end of the race it were left rear tyre damage that bugged him. It forced him to retire on the penultimate lap. Kursim on the other hand resisted Halm’s attacks across several laps. Putting up a good fight, Reinert, in his MAN had to be content ith seventh place. Recovering from a 360-dgree spin, Lenz drove

brilliantly to move up the field and finish eighth. Jamie Anderson and Terry Gibbon collected the remaining points.

The final race began with a thin cloud cover. It felt humid and warm. Over 34,000 spectators turned up to watch what would turn out to be no less exciting a race of the 2018 season. Turning out to be a very disciplined race, it was Lenz and teammate Reniert who broke into the lead as the light turned green. The duo seemed unrelenting until Reinert powered out of one of the curves to grab the lead from Lenz. Lenz stayed right on Reinert’s heels throughout the race thereafter. Kiss and Lacko kept up the pressure on both Lenz and Reinert right till the end. Hahn in hot pursuit kept the pressure on Kiss and Lacko. If any of them commited a mistake, he would exploit the opportunity. Three laps to the finish, and Hahn hot pursuit did seem to hold true. A massive loss in air pressure, on which several of a race truck’s systems are dependent on, got the better of Hahn. He was forced to retire making its easier for Kiss to secure the third position, and for Lacko to secure the fourth position. Devoid of heated tempers, the race turned out to be the most discplined ever. With Hahn forced to retire, Kursim moved up to fifth. An uneventful race it turned out to be, he was followed by Smith, Albacete, Brereton, Halm, and Anderson. Steffi defended her ninth position despite suffering from tyres that smoked. Sticking within striking distance of Kursim for several laps, Halm was struck in the rear just as she was about to overtake him. She lost momentum and bent metal part pressed into the right rear tyres. It was only logical that the tyres began to smoke.