ETRC - Grammer Truck Cup Review: Jane's Breakthrough Weekend in Most
British racer Oly Janes experienced by far the best weekend of his FIA European Truck Racing Championship career to date at Autodrom Most last weekend.
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British racer Oly Janes experienced by far the best weekend of his FIA European Truck Racing Championship career to date at Autodrom Most last weekend.
Janes, aboard his Freightliner run by the Czech based Buggyra International Racing System outfit, took advantage of his own and his team’s track knowledge to clinch two GRAMMER TRUCK CUP wins on a wet Saturday in Most.
Janes amassed 30 points on Saturday alone, just one less than his career best total weekend haul. His Race 1 win, where he went on to past his compatriot Jamie Anderson on the last lap, was particularly impressive.
What was a glorious day for one Brit, turned out to be a character building one for another – current points leader Shane Brereton spun out of qualifying on Saturday and had to undergo an engine change on his TOR Truck Racing MAN. As a result, the West Country born and bred driver had to sit out Race 1.
In race three, Brereton bounced back and claimed the category win, capitalising on Janes’ missed gear error during the start which saw him lose several places. He ultimately brought his Freightliner home in third, with Steffen Faas finishing second.
Come the final race of the weekend and Shane Brereton found himself on overall pole for the semi-reversed grid race.
Despite being involved in an incident with Norbert Kiss in the opening exchanges, Brereton won the category ahead of Faas and Truck Sport Lutz Bernau’s Luis Recuenco. Janes was this time penalised for breaching track limits late in the race and ended up a frustrated sixth in the category.
Despite a difficult Sunday, the Buggyra International Racing System driver experienced his best FIA ETRC weekend to date, amassing a total of 47 points, most of any GRAMMER TRUCK CUP participant.
Following a tricky Saturday, where he struggled with the visibility in a steamy cabin, Faas experienced a much better Sunday bringing his Team Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz truck home twice in second.
Jamie Anderson was driving a race truck for the very first time in wet conditions but manged to grab the third best points haul (38 points) of the weekend, thanks to one second place, two fourths and a fifth.
Local ace Frankie Vojtisek, experienced a disappointing weekend by his standards, registering only one podium finish in Race 2 and being excluded from Race 4 for causing a collision in the early stages.
Terry Gibbon endured tough weekend in his T Sport MAN after a mysterious vibration issue compromised his weekend. The British driver did however take GRAMMER TRUCK CUP points in races one, three and four despite also changing an injector for the Sunday races.
Erwin Kleinnagelvoort equalled his best result of the season with fourth place in the first encounter on Saturday. The EK Race Scania driver followed that up with points in the following three races as he gets set for his ‘home’ race at Zolder next month.
Making his first race appearance of the season was Jose-Eduardo Rodrigues who deputised for his injured grandfather Eduardo. The Portuguese teen took 15 points in total in his Reboconort MAN.
Going into Zolder, Brereton still leads the standings but his advantage over second-placed Faas shrank from 40 to 22 points due to his disastrous Saturday.
Third-placed Oly Janes is 79 points down on Brereton but believes that a strong weekend at Autodrom Most was a turning point in his season and from now on he’ll be in contention for category wins on a regular basis.
Round six of the FIA ETRC will take place at Circuit Zolder on 15thand 16thof September.
Latest Standings HERE