Steffi Halm claimed her second win of 2018 after executing a smart move on Andre Kursim...
Steffi Halm executed an impressive race two win at Zolder today to take her second success of the 2018 FIA European Truck Racing Championship season.
The Team Schwabentruck IVECO driver put behind her several tough events in recent months to take the chequered flag 5.532s ahead of Jochen Hahn.
Halm out-muscled pole position starter Andre Kursim going in to the first corner and made an audacious and brave move around the outside of her fellow German.
From there Halm was able to control the race and take the 10-points in clinical fashion.
Kursim still managed to equal his best result of the season for himself and the new for 2018 Don’t Touch Racing squad in third, but was disappointed to lose out on the runners-up spot after Jochen Hahn overtook him on the final tour.
Rene Reinert was in line to take third earlier in the race but made a slight mistake on lap seven running wide over the gravel at the final chicane. This allowed Jochen Hahn to make it through and take the runners-up position after he then went on to hunt down Kursim in the final stages.
All this meant that with Hahn and Kursim joining Halm in the top three positions it was a red-letter day for IVECO who claimed all the available space on the podium.
As ever at Zolder there was frenetic racing on the tight and challenging track as positions were fought over tooth and nail.
Hahn had earlier made a scintillating start from sixth on the grid to emerge fourth after the first lap sort out. Race one winner Antonio Albacete followed Hahn through from eighth on the semi-reversed grid and was able to pressure Hahn throughout the race but could not find a way through.
Albacete made his way past Rene Reinert on the penultimate lap to take a hard-earned fourth place leaving Reinert a frustrated fifth.
Adam Lacko’s Buggyra International Racing Freightliner looked set for sixth position but only after an entertaining battle with first Norbert Kiss (Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz) and Sascha Lenz (SL Trucksport MAN).
Lenz was able to vault Kiss at the chicane on lap four and get on to the back of Lacko. Again though there was initially no way through for the German but on lap nine he made a move stick to vault the reigning champion and seal sixth place.
Lacko appeared to have an issue and sure enough he fell back through the field and eventually pitted with an apparent mechanical issue with just two laps to go.
Jose Rodrigues’ Reboconort MAN inherited seventh position just ahead of an ailing Kiss in eighth.
Anderson Takes Sensational Last-Gasp GRAMMER Win
Shane Brereton looked set to take another textbook GRAMMER TRUCK CUP victory with his TOR MAN.
The British ace again stamped his authority on the early stages but was gradually caught by a flying Jamie Anderson (Anderson Racing MAN).
The thrilling dual came to a dramatic conclusion on the final lap when Anderson capitalised on a slight braking error from Brereton. Getting a better exit from the final chicane Anderson won by a remarkable 0.009s!
Steffen Faas fought back from his first race woes which saw him retire to take third position in the category.
Filling out the top six in the GRAMMER TRUCK CUP were Oly Janes (Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner), Ray Coleman (LRS Racing MAN), Luis Recuenco (Trucksport Lutz Bernau) and Jose-Eduardo Rodrigues (Reboconort MAN).
Janes, Rodrigues Jnr and Kleinnagelvoort all endured penalties during the race.
In the teams’ fight it was Die Bullen von IVECO Magirus’ pair of Hahn and Halm that emerged victorious from Trucksport Lutz Bernau and Tankpool24 Racing.
Sunday sees the final two races of the Zolder weekend with races scheduled for a 13.45 and 16.05 local time.
Result HERE