History-Making Hahn Takes Fifth Title with Win
Jochen Hahn was crowned FIA European Truck Racing champion for an historic fifth time as he claimed a second victory of the weekend at Le Mans Bugatti this afternoon.
The German, driving his Hahn Racing IVECO, completed his tenth win of the season and in so doing takes the championship with five races to spare.
Hahn was again on imperious form as he converted pole position in to a comfortable win and he justifiably celebrated another title from the top step of the podium.
The great German led from pole position and resisted some early pressure from fellow front-row Sascha Lenz to then steadily build a small lead.
Despite Lenz’s best efforts the SL Trucksport driver was unable to get on terms with his countryman and took the runners-up position ahead of fellow young charger Andre Kursim.
Don’t Touch Racing’s Kursim, who was victorious in yesterday’s second race, initially soaked up pressure from Steffi Halm as she made a blistering start to surge from eighth on the grid to fourth.
The Team Schwabentruck IVECO driver in turn had to defend from Norbert Kiss but the Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz ace managed to squeeze through on lap 8 to take fourth position. Kiss then launched an attack on former teammate Kursim to aim for third but he was unable to make a move stick within the 11-lap encounter.
Halm slipped back a little in to the clutches of Jose Rodrigues but the Portuguese was unable to sufficiently attack and the pair finished fifth and sixth.
Antonio Albacete claimed seventh just ahead of Ryan Smith who slipped back in the opening stages but fought through again despite a damaged MAN truck to grab the semi-reverse pole position place.
Outgoing champion Adam Lacko fought for most of the second half of the race with Rene Reinert and the pair completed the race in a disappointed ninth and tenth.
Their dejection grew after the race when they were penalised for track limit violations and dropped to 12th and 13th respectively. This meant that Shane Brereton took ninth overall and Oly Janes and Terry Gibbon were promoted to 10th and 11th.
Brereton Seals GRAMMER TRUCK CUP title
The GRAMMER TRUCK CUP silverware was taken by Shane Brereton as he took a 15th category win to become the first ever champion of the newly named category.
The British driver led from lights to flag to take the win ahead of Oly Janes’ Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner.
James Anderson had finished the race in second position but accrued significant penalties and dropped down the order to ninth in class.
Rounding out the podium and taking a third consecutive podium was T Sport’s Terry Gibbon as the British racer continued his excellent recent form.
Ray Coleman took fourth in his LRS MAN ahead of Erwin Kleinnagelvoort (EK Race Scania) and Eduardo Rodrigues (Reboconort MAN).
Faas was classified seventh in class and saw his slender title chances ended, while Luis Recuenco and Jamie Anderson came in eighth and ninth after serving penalties for track limits violations.
Frankie Vojtisek again retired his Czech Truck Racing Team MAN in the early stages.
Die Bullen von IVECO Magirus took the honours in the Teams classification with Hahn and Halm combining to claim the maximum points. This ensured that the team had enough points to take the 2018 FIA ETRC Team's crown.
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