Lion Truck Racing driver Anthony Janiec scored a dramatic final win of the weekend..
Anthony Janiec scored his first FIA European Truck Racing Championship win since taking victory at Jarama in October 2016 at the at Nürburgring today.
The Lion Truck Racing driver converted pole in to the win despite massive initial pressure from both Adam Lacko (Buggyra International Racing System) and André Kursim (Don’t Stop Racing IVECO).
But Janiec had just enough for victory after also heading off a train of eight trucks throughout the entire second phase of the 13-lap race.
It capped a memorable weekend for the French team who also celebrated France’s famous win over Argentina in the World Cup yesterday.
Kursim initially believed he had taken his best result of the season with a fine runners-up position after his best efforts to wrest the lead from Janiec. One attempt saw contact between the two and Kursim lose some bodywork.
The Don’t Touch Racing IVECO driver made an excellent move on reigning champion Lacko to then attack Janiec but he was unable to find a way through and crossed the line just 0.4s behind. However, a post-race penalty saw him lose second place after a 30-second sanction was applied dropping him down to 12th position.
Lacko, therefore, took second place and his second podium of the weekend in his Freightliner to cement the current runners-up position in the points standings.
The first main drama of the final race came at the start of lap four as pole sitter Anthony Janiec held off a hard-charging Gerd Körber and Lacko.
Contact was made at turn one and Körber was forced to pull off the track with suspected suspension damage to his Team Schwabentruck IVECO.
The action was once again frenetic as pockets of thrilling battles entertained the large ADAC Truck Grand Prix crowd.
Race one victor Jochen Hahn made progress in the early stages and along with Antonio Albacete towed up to the lead battle. The pair though, were unable to make a bid for the podium though and Albacete was able to hold off Hahn for fourth position which became third after Kursim's penalty.
Hahn took solace in the fact that he restored his point’s standings advantage and now leads new second placed driver Adam Lacko by 42 points.
Sascha Lenz took fifth position after being part of the lead train for most of the race in his SL Trucksport MAN. Norbert Kiss took sixth in his Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz, while Steffi Halm was classified seventh after getting an overspeeding penalty.
Halm drove an excellent race after starting from the back of the grid. The Team Schwabentruck IVECO driver was sixth on the road after overtaking 13 trucks before her extra 10-seconds was applied.
Ryan Smith had a similarly impressive race as he too carved through the field in his OXXO Hungary Truck Racing MAN to take eighth. This was despite an overspeeding offence which saw bumped down the order.
Shane Brereton completed a clean sweep of the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP as he cruised to a win after rival Thomas Robineau was given a drive-through penalty for track limit violations.
Brereton also took two points for ninth position overall. The British driver engaged in an energetic fight with Thomas Robineau on his way to extending his lead in the race for the inaugural GRAMMER TRUCK CUP.
Oly Janes put behind him a tough weekend to claim second position in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP after a faultless display in his Buggyra International Racing Systems Freightliner.
The final place on the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP podium was taken by Terry Gibson’s T-Sport squad. That was a fine reward for the efforts of the team after an engine issue on Friday meant a mechanic had to fly from the UK overnight with spare parts.
The penalty delayed Robineau took fourth in category and 14th overall ahead of Erwin Kleinnagelvoort and Eduardo Rodrigues.
Eduardo’s son José had a race to forget after starting from the front row of the grid. The Portuguese racer slipped back alarmingly in the opening laps and then had to serve a drive-through for track limit abuse. When he failed to do this he received a 30-second time penalty which meant he was 17th in the final classification.
Luis Recuenco was classified 18th after a suspected water temperature issue caused by a new inter-cooler forced him to pull off the track with just two laps remaining.
Teo Calvet endured a tough final race of the weekend and along with Tankpool24 Racing driver Steffen Faas was excluded for overspeeding.
Sadly, Frankie Vojtisek was unable to take the start of the final race due to a mechanical issue.
For full race results click here. Next round on the 2018 FIA European Truck Racing Championship schedule is at the Slovakia Ring over the weekend of 14/15 July.