Le Mans gave birth to the champion. Hahn defends the title
14.10.2013
The fight is over! The chequered flag was flapped one last time before the truck racers‘ eyes. This year’s European Championship title was seized again by Germany‘s Jochen Hahn, who has thus completed a golden hattrick. We had to wait until the last season’s race at the Le Mans circuit to have the name of the old-new champion confirmed.
Following the Saturday half, it was the Spaniard Antonio Albacete who led the ranking though. Hahn, at that moment on second place, had a four-point gap to fill. However, the result of Sunday’s super pole, which always decides the starting grid for the championship race, didn’t favour Albacete at all. There were twenty valuable points to be assigned to the winner – Albacete started from position seven, whilst his greatest rival Hahn held position two on the start. We also had a reason to cheer, as our pilots gave a great performance in the super pole. They were both holding the top positions until the limit was almost up, only then were they beaten by Kiss, Hahn and Vršecký. All three of them continued by starting out really well and occupying the podium together. Hahn on first place, Kiss and Vršecký second and third, respectively. Albacete pushed through to the front as well, finally landing on fourth place. Adam Lacko recorded points for fifth position with Markus Bösiger closely following him. ‘I knew I could get neither higher nor lower in the ranking, so I didn’t push that hard. My main goal was to get myself and the truck safely to the finish. The race was a total scrum. You could sense everyone was struggling to grab the last points,‘ commented our pilot Adam Lacko, who already knew he would conclude the season on sixth place this year.
Hahn had a six-point advantage at the start of the final handicap race. Hungary’s Kiss prematurely ensured fifth position for Vršecký, who has occupied the unpopular rank for the fourth time in a row. The worst-case scenario for Kiss was fourth place, yet he still had a hypothetical chance to get the bronze medal. As could be expected, the nerves showed in the season’s final race. The handicap race wasn’t particularly dramatic. Due to a crash with Albacete, Kiss was forced to retire prematurely, burying his hopes for the bronze, which was eventually smoothly taken by Oestreich on fifth place. The race was overruled by the teenage talent Benedek Major. Our Markus was holding up to second place. ‘It was a damn fast final race, the flag was flapped before I even managed to found my bearings. Closing the season on the podium is amazing, the atmosphere in the team and at the circuit was superb,‘ added our silver Markus, who occupies seventh place overall.
The bronze was taken by Albacete in the race, but Hahn completed right after him, and so he could immediately celebrate his third successive title, this time winning with a five-point headstart.
Although we’ve missed the podium in the individual contest this year, we reached for the bronze in the teams’ competition, the so called “constructors’ trophy”.
European Championship - overall ranking: 1. Jochen Hahn (GER/MAN) Castrol Team Hahn Racing 417 b., 2. Antonio Albacete (ESP/MAN) Equipo Cepsa 412, 3. Markus Oestreich (GER/MAN) Truck Sport Lutz Bernau 316, 4. Norbert Kiss (HUN/MAN) Oxxo Truck Race Team 301, 5. David Vršecký (CZE/Freightliner) Buggyra 294, 6. Adam Lacko (CZE/Renault) 227, 7. Markus Bösiger (SUI/Renault) both MKR Technology 201.
