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ETRC - Hahn and Smith claim Saturday wins in Czech republic

02.09.17

ETRC - 2017 Race of Most - Race 1 & 2

ETRC, Race of Most

Jochen Hahn and Ryan Smith took wins on Saturday at Autodrom Most after a day of intriguing FIA European Truck Racing Championship action.
Hahn sealed his first win for three months, while Smith took his second win in the FIA ETRC, reprising his 2016 success exactly 12 months previously.

Race 1
Jochen Hahn in his Hahn Racing Iveco won the opening race of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship round six held at Most this afternoon.
Starting from pole position, German ace Hahn took his fourth win of the season ahead of championship leader Adam Lacko (Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner) and Norbert Kiss (Team Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz).
Pole-sitter Jochen Hahn led the pack away with Norbert Kiss resisting an early attack from local hero Adam Lacko to hang on to second place. Once ahead, Hahn was unstoppable, leading at the end of the opening lap by 1.3s and that advantage continued to increase as the race wore on.
Behind the reigning champion, a great battle raged for second place. Having fended off a challenge from Steffi Halm (MAN), Lacko, whose engine mysteriously cut out at the first corner of the race, started to close the gap to Kiss, the two running nose to tail at the end of lap four. Lacko attacked at turn one starting lap five but Kiss defended perfectly, with the delayed Lacko coming under attack from Halm and Antonio Albacete (Truck Sport Lutz Bernau MAN) who had lost ground at the start after being forced wide in the opening corners.

 
Race 2 
British race ace Ryan Smith claimed victory in the second race in the FIA European Truck Racing Championship round six at Autodrom Most this afternoon, his first of the season.
In a thrilling duel, Smith sneaked over the line ahead of Steffi Halm and Sascha Lenz, with championship leader Adam Lacko bagging more points in fourth.
Starting from pole position, Smith (Team OXXO Energy MAN) was under constant pressure from Steffi Halm’s Reinert Racing MAN as she wriggled past Sascha Lenz (SL Trucksport MAN) at the end of lap two. Once past Lenz, Halm carved into Smith’s advantage to set up a titanic duel between the two as the leaders were as one on lap eight, with Halm crawling all over the back of the British driver; Smith trying to soak up the pressure and keep his MAN ahead.
Halm tried everything to find a way past but Smith, a winner here last year, was not to be denied and the two rigs flashed over the finish line separated by just six-tenths of a second. Smith admitted it was the hardest race of his life and the key was about staying error-free.
Behind the top two came a lonely Sascha Lenz who fell away from the scorching pace set by the top two but was far enough ahead of the chasing pack to take a second podium finish of the season, his first since race four at the Red Bull Ring in round one. Adam Lacko (Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner) produced a great drive from seventh on the reversed grid and dived past Norbert Kiss (Team Tankpool24 Racing Mercedes-Benz) at turn two on lap four to secure fifth place with the championship leader then setting off in pursuit of team-mate David Vršecký (Buggyra International Racing System Freightliner).