2019 Nürburgring recap: Hahn Takes Double Victory on Home Soil
Jochen Hahn continued his perfect score in first races in 2019 with a well-judged victory at the Nürburgring. The Hahn Racing IVECO ace controlled the 13-lap encounter despite the close advances of Antonio Albacete to extend his points advantage in the 2019 title chase.
Hahn led from pole into the first corner and was never headed, and even though Albacete tried his best to get on terms with his great rival he was 0.6s in arrears at the end of the race. Albacete proved he had the pace to live with Hahn and set the fastest lap of the race in his Trucksport Lutz Bernau MAN challenger.
Norbert Kiss took third in his Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz making it three different manufacturers on the podium in race one.
Adam Lacko put behind him a troubled start to the season by taking his Buggyra Racing Freightliner to a fine victory in Race 2 after he surged from third on the grid and into the lead on the first lap. Lacko mastered a fraught first few corners which saw pole-sitter Anthony Janiec drop back and José Rodrigues take to the grass in an attempt to snatch the lead. But it was Lacko who emerged in front and the Czech was able to control a gap to second placed José Rodrigues for most of the 13-lap encounter.
However Rodrigues saw his dreams of a runners-up place dashed as first Sascha Lenz and then Jochen Hahn mangaed to find a way through to claim second and third positions in the final few laps.
Lenz’s second place came via a brilliant move on Rodrigues, as he hung around the outside of turn one before claiming the inside into the following left hander. The move involved contact between the pair but the incident was not placed under investigation.
Jochen Hahn took his second win during his home round at the Nürburgring in Race 3. The championship leader had a good getaway from pole position and managed to avoid the first corner chain reaction that involved several drivers.
The German quickly opened up a 1.6s gap over second on the road Steffi Halm in the second of the IVECO trucks and, untroubled from this moment onwards, cruised to his second win of the weekend and eight of the season, taking another step towards his sixth title.
The podium was completed by Antonio Albacete of Truck Sport Lutz Bernau and Adam Lacko in a Freightliner run by Buggyra Racing.
Norbert Kiss took a hard-won second victory of his 2019 Championship campaign in the final race at Nürburgring. The Hungarian snatched the lead from pole-sitter André Kursim with a superb move at the end of the fifth lap to ensure Mercedes-Benz became the third different manufacturer to win from the four races in front of a huge crowd.
Kursim hung on to the runners-up position in his Don’t Touch Racing IVECO despite colossal pressure from Antonio Albacete’s Trucksport Lutz Bernau MAN, who took third.