Jochen Hahn continued his domination of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at the weekend by winning three of the four races in round 3 at Albacete in Spain.
The MAN driver, who won all four races in the last round at Misano, again qualified on pole position for the weekend’s opening event and pulled effortlessly away from pole position at the start.
The German was helped when reigning champion Antonio Albacete (MAN) was tipped into a spin by Markus Oestreich (Renault) on the opening lap and he capitalised on the confusion behind to pull away to an easy 10.759-second victory.
Oestreich held on for second place ahead of Adam Lacko (Renault) and David Vrsecky (Freightliner) while Anthony Janiec (Renault), Alex Lvov (MAN) and Stuart Oliver (MAN) completed the top eight, the British driver gaining pole position for the partly-reversed grid second race.
Alabacete fought back to finish tenth and last of the points scorers at the flag. Uwe Nittel (MAN), who started from 31st on the grid after an engine issue in practice, battled his way up to 12th place at the finish but was then disqualified for overspeeding.
In the second race, Oliver held off team-mate Lvov at the start but was soon forced to retire in the pits with a mechanical issue, thus handing the Russian the lead.
Two-time European Champion Vrsecky chased the leader hard throughout the race, but couldn’t force his way past as Lvov claimed Allgauer Team’s first win of the season.
Lacko completed the podium ahead of Hahn, who was forced to fight his way through the field after a run through the gravel at the start of the race dropped him to the midfield pack. Albacete claimed fifth at his home track ahead of Janiec, Oestreich and Markus Bosiger (Renault), while Nittel had another dramatic fight from the back of the grid to clinch ninth ahead of Javier Mariezcurrena (MAN).
Having again qualified on pole position for Sunday’s first race, Hahn was back in dominant form as he led from lights-to-flag to finish 4.787 seconds clear of Lacko, while Nittel scored his first podium of the weekend in third ahead of Albacete.
Vrsecky edged Bosiger for fifth place while British drivers Christopher Levett (Freightliner) and Oliver secured front-row starts for the final event with seventh and eighth, frustrating championship-challenger Oestreich who could only manage ninth ahead of Janiec.
Oliver made another good start from pole position in the final event, and began to ease away from countryman Levett.
However the drama came after Albacete had worked his way through the field into second place and made a move on Oliver for the lead at mid-race distance. Contact was made between the Spaniard and the Brit, with Oliver forced into the gravel and dropping to third place.
The incident left Albacete in the lead, with Hahn in second place, but behind there was more contact in the dying stages of the race when Bosiger hit Oliver on his way through to third position.
After the race, the result was changed as both Alabacete and Bosiger were handed penalties by the stewards for their robust moves on Oliver, gifting Hahn the win and promoting Oliver to second and demoting Albacete to third and Bosiger to fourth. Vrsecky and Mariezcurrena were sixth and seventh while Oestreich, Levett and Janiec completed the points scorers.
FIA European Truck Racing Championship
Championship Standings (after 3 rounds)
1 Jochen Hahn, 147pts
2 Antonio Albacete, 109
3 Markus Oestreich, 103
4 Adam Lacko, 79
5 Uwe Nittel, 76
6 David Vrsecky, 69
7 Markus Bosiger, 68
8 Alex Lvov, 35
9 Christopher Levett, 33
10 Anthony Janiec, 33
Next round: 18-19 June, Nogaro
Watch FIA Truck Racing highlights from Albacete on Tuesday 14 June at 11:05pm (BST) on Motors TV.
Andy Wilkinson
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