The race that has always traditionally been most widely watched by all the fans of our team had been preceded by rigorous preparations. All the more so because it was to become a race where a new Freightliner with Gerd Körber behind the steering wheel was to make a debut for the Race Truck Division. Therefore it is no wonder that the construction of the boxes and the V.I.P. stands for guests started as early as Monday, at the very beginning of the week.
The first Saturday results looked very encouraging. Especially David was doing very well, and managed to score a second place after Ludovic in the first free practice, and winning the remaining two. The good mood of all who came was further bolstered by a live interview with Martin Koloc via a web camera, and projected onto large screens. However, the drivers still had the most decisive race of the day ahead of them - a forty-minute timed challenge! From the outset Ludovic had firmly established his lead. For the entire time of the race, he only gave up his first position to Östreich for a few minutes, but he got back into lead immediately after one more flawlessly executed lap. Toward the end of training, Ludovic was alone among all pilots who managed to get below a minute and 53 seconds. David also kept improving his performance gradually, although his effort was "only" sufficient for a third place. It already seemed that he's got victory in his pocket, but at the last moment, the assertive Albecete snatched his position by only 0.12 seconds. In any event David confirmed what was already evident last time in Alastar in Finland - that he is a very capable driver indeed.
Gerd also introduced himself in a spectacular fashion when fighting for qualification among 26 vehicles. Were it not for a collision that occurred while overtaking one of the weaker pilots, he might have placed right behind the winning Czech duo Lacko - Vojtíek. In the last qualifying race Gerd was less lucky and had to leave mid-through the race due to technical troubles. The technicians then worked on his team then worked with his car until four o'clock a.m.
During the Sunday Super Truck qualifying race Ludovic didn't manage to repeat his previous success from practice, and dropped to a second position behind Östreich right after start. It seemed for a brief while that it is David who will be behind Östreich, but after a few turns he was back to his fourth starting position. The only change in the order of pilots occurred in the second lap, when Albacete found himself in second position after a slight mistake on the part of Ludovic.
The main race was dramatic only at the start, whereupon five pilots went into lead. The best off to emerge from the throng happened to be Albacete followed by Ludovic and Östreich. David fell to a fifth position, from which he attempted to attack Drückenmüller for 12 laps. As much as he tried, this time it was in vein and for the second time this season he would only reap points for the fifth place.
To be sure Gerd still had a surprise for his competitors up his sleeve. He won the Sunday timed practice by half a second over Oliver from Britain. However, the latter set off better in the qualifying race, and drove slightly ahead of Gerd for full eight laps. Still, he was not destined to reap the golden crown, as the commissioners gave him a STOP-and-GO penalty for his initial attack. Well, sometimes a meter seems not to be the same as a hundred centimetres...
In the continuous ranking after seven races, Östreich is now first with 17 points ahead of Ludovic in second place, while David and Albacete are third with 23 points each.
