David Increases Advantage, Markus Deprived of Absolute Triumph by Strange Penalisation
The fifth race at the famous German Nürburgring was the last race of the former half of this year ´s championship. Nearly two hundred thousand spectators (192 000) could witness a perfect concert of the Czech philharmonic called BUGGYRA. Markus Bösiger was deprived of maximum score by a strange penalisation in the Sunday cup race. The result was David ´s victory. Thanks to that David is now ahead of Albacete by the whole 16 points, while Markus on the third rank loses six points after him. In addition David defended his last year ´s title of International Champion of Germany by the highest score, receiving the big golden wreath and the cup.
The drivers started their trucks for the first time on Thursday to give a ride to the local VIPs and journalists. On Friday they took part in both free practices and one time practice for the Saturday qualifying race. The Friday portion was sprinkled with light rain. For most of the race David was at the lead but before the end of the reserved twenty minutes he had to withdraw for a defect of his alternator. The drying track brought then victory to the Spaniard Albacete. However, in the last possible round Markus won the pole position. David was still overtaken by the Austrian Altenstrasser, but the latter was then disqualified for exceeding the maximum permitted speed of 160 km/hr and dropped to the bottom of the starting field. The same destiny was prepared for his fellow driver of the Renault team Frankie Vojtíšek, who originally drove on the fifth position just after David.
The start of the qualifying race was skilfully mastered by Markus who immediately took the lead in front of Albacete, while David kept the third place and on entry to the second round he immediately began the overtaking manoeuvre to get in front of the Spaniard, who was evidently slower. But David could not complete his plan for his electronics betrayed him and he had to slow down. This was utilised by the Frenchman Belloc immediately in the following round followed by the domestic Hahn, and David dropped to the fifth position. After a short effort to get forward was suggested by the promising British pilot Chris Levett David ´s Buggyra suddenly caught a second breath and began accelerating. But David still managed to shorten the advantage of the fourth Hahn by two and a half seconds only. An even bigger advantage was brought to the finish by Markus who won in front of the second Albacete. “It was incredible bad luck, I was already in front of Albacete when suddenly my truck lost power. Eventually even the engine switched off but was started again after the very first attempt, leaving the feeling of its power again. But I could not make up for the loss, for the race was drawing to an end already,“ regretted David after the race. The victorious Markus was laconic as usual: “I drove exactly as I needed! The rain was unpleasant and the only danger was threatening in the first curve. But I soon fought it off!“
Markus entered the cup race with the same intention to get the maximum score and approach the scores of Antonio and David. Like the previous race he won this one with the start-finish method. The only driver managing to keep his killing tempo was David. David made use of the crazy start by Belloc, who caused Albacete to spin in the very first curve, and slipped from the third row to the second position. The triumph of the blue Buggyras was accomplished for Hahn, the driver completing the race as the third, gained a loss of around twenty seconds and the fourth Levett another ten score points behind them. Albacete proved his predator nature and power by getting to the scored fifth place from the very bottom of the colourful field. Even though a lot can be objected against the aggressive style of the Spaniard by the former British champion Oliver, who was sent off the track by Albacete uncompromisingly before the final “S” curve, Buggyra celebrated the third double in this season (out of the nine cup races). “It was nice! I only wanted to hear in my walkie-talkie how Antonio was doing. He is a predator, driving much too well, and he will certainly want to make up for today ´s loss on Sunday,“ summarised David the Saturday happenings.
On Sunday the weather improved over the Nürburgring and the time practice was held on an ideally dry track. Our pilots utilised that by breaking the track record. The mutual duel of the Buggyras was eventually won by Markus by 58 thousandths of second. Hahn ranked third and Albacete fourth.
The qualifying race again clearly favoured the Buggyra brand. Markus repeated his Saturday performance and watched his rivals in his rear-view mirrors only for most of the race. In the former half of the nine-round race Hahn followed David first, but then he was left behind in the fifth round and David brought to the finish an advantage of more than three seconds. A small loss was scored by the fourth Albacete, while the others lost much more. “Especially thanks to the mechanics and engineers my truck is set excellently. And if I manage a good start, which I did for three times already, then I can do nothing but win. And be pleased by crossing the finish line first together with David in addition,“ said the last year ´s champion. David was also happy, especially that he managed to leave Hahn behind after a short race with him. “Jochen wants to show off at home and that is very good. Especially when he ranks in front of Antonio, where every score points is worth gold,“ said the top driver of the overall ranking.
The final cup race began exactly in the same way as before. Markus took the lead, followed by David and Hahn, and watched from the fourth position by Albacete. In the ninth round both Buggyras had already developed a decent advantage and headed towards another double. But at the end of the round Markus cornered to the pits to pay the penalty for the apparently exceeded passing start speed! After leaving the pits he returned to the race on the fifth position, where he remained until the finish after a much slower final section of the race. At that time David rejoiced of the victory, getting to the finish before the second Hahn with the advantage of eight seconds. Thanks to Markus´ penalisation Albacete ended third. The telemetric data, however, showed his starting speed well below the permitted limit…
“I am pleased with the victory, but I would be pleased much more if I achieved the victory after a fair duel on the track. I feel sorry for Markus, for he could have been the first this year to score the maximum 60 points over a racing weekend, which would move him in front of Albacete together with me in the overall ranking,“ closed David the weekend.
The team competition is headed by Buggyra with the advantage of 111 before MAN, and the third Renault with the loss of 214 points.
See you at the end of the summer holiday at the Most track!!!
