Adam Lacko has won race three at Autodrom Most this afternoon in Round Six of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, his 10th race win of the season.
Adam Lacko won race three at Autodrom Most this afternoon in Round Six of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, his 10th race win of the season.
The Czech driver, urged on by a partisan crowd, extended his championship lead in his Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner as he headed home reigning champion Jochen Hahn (Team Hahn Racing Iveco) and Antonio Albacete.
Lacko started from pole position and made sure that he hung on to the advantage at the tight sequence of corners at the end of the pits straight. Hahn slotted in behind him with Antonio Albacete (Truck Sport Lutz Bernau MAN) grabbing third place. Hahn pushed as he hard as could but Lacko was always able to manage the gap, with the pressure of delivering in front of his home crowd and not making a mistake with the experienced Hahn poised to strike behind him.
As the leaders started to edge away, Albacete (struggling with tyre pressures) came under attack from Steffi Halm (Reinert Racing MAN) and Norbert Kiss (Team Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz). Eventually, Antonio was able to extend the advantage to secure third spot, although he was delayed by traffic in the final laps.
Running fourth, Halm came under pressure from Kiss, which further enabled Albacete to pull clear, although the top two were long gone up the road. Kiss, in turn, was well clear of Sascha Lenz (SL Trucksport MAN), who wriggled past Frankie Vojtisek (Czech Truck Racing Team MAN) on lap eight to grab sixth spot.
Vojtisek was on target for his best result of the season, but he came under late-race pressure from fellow Czech David Vršecký (Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner) who was coping with flapping rear bodywork after lap one skirmishes. The two started the last lap together, with Vojtisek keeping Vršecký at bay. However, Frankie copped a 10-second penalty for overspeeding, which dropped him to 10th place. Up to seventh, therefore, came Vršecký with Shane Brereton (TOR Truck Racing MAN) and José Rodrigues (Reboconorte Racing Truck Team MAN) promoted as well. Despite a spin, that gave a second Promoter’s Cup win of the weekend for Brit Brereton, along with pole position for race two on the semi-reversed grid.
Rodrigues secured ninth with a frustrated Vojtisek 10th ahead of the Scania of Erwin Kleinnagelvoort and Grzegorz Ostaszewski (Team 14 Renault). Eduardo Rodrigues (Reboconorte Racing Truck Team MAN), Dominique Orsini (Mercedes-Benz) and Maurice Monfrino’s Volvo completed the order.
The race lost yesterday’s race two winner Ryan Smith (Team OXXO Energy MAN) who retired with damage after a spin on the opening lap at turn two. Not only did the left-hand side of the rig sustain plenty of damage, but Ryan also suffered a sore wrist as the steering wheel whipped around. A problem with the steering box as well puts race four participation in doubt. Also a retirement was Gerd Körber’s Team Shwabentruck Iveco, which dropped out with damage sustained on the first lap when he was hit from behind and then hit Sascha Lenz’s MAN
Race four, with the semi-revesed grid, starts at 16:40 local time.