ETRC championship started at Hungaroring, Lacko is 2nd in the standings
The new season of the European Truck Racing Championship has just started at Hungaroring, Hungary last weekend. Sasha Lenz from Germany took his first career victory, ahead of Adam Lacko, while local favourite Norbert Kiss finished in 3rd place.
According to the team boss and Buggyra Racing team owner Martin Koloc, the first round of the season went as expected. As always, a tight Hungaroring was never the best place for Buggyra trucks. “Adam has confirmed that he’s going to fight for the championship title. Téo is 10 points behind 6th place and Aliyyah has a lot to learn,” he said, while not going into the details, how much was Aliyyah affected by her sister’s crash. On Saturday, Yasmeen Koloc had an accident in the ESET Cup series at Poznan, and she ended up in a hospital for evaluation. “They’re the best friends with Yasmeen, but she knows that crashes are part of the racing world.”
Overall satisfaction
Saturday’s sessions were affected by the technical issues of Norbert Kiss, as the local driver was not able to score any points. Then, followed a collision in the 2nd race, that forced the organisers to cancel the rest of the day. But while Saturday’s programme was limited to only a single race, luckily, Sunday went without any hiccups. “I’ve got no reason to be overexcited, but also not to be disappointed. I managed to take a podium every time, I’m 2nd in the championship, just 8 points behind Sasha Lenz, which is pretty good considering everything,” said Adam Lacko, who finished in 3rd place in 3 races at Hungaroring.“We had some issues with traction, but I’ve never had much success here with a truck before. On Sunday, I entertained the fans a bit, thanks to a nice battle with Steffi Halm, who showed a total and also a successful defensive drive. I don’t want it to sound like an excuse, but it wasn’t worth it to try to force it for just a few points.”
Téo Calvet took 10 points at Hungaroring, and he realises that fighting for the TOP 6 is going to be very difficult. “Saturday was more about getting used to everything. Then on Sunday, I took 8 points, and I consider that a decent result,” said Téo about his performance, which puts him into 8th place in the standings and also 2nd place in the Goodyear Cup.“Almost every time it’s possible to deal with things better, but I’m not happy with my performance. I’m really curious about the data.”
While Aliyyah Koloc did not score any points in Hungary, her mentor David Vršecký believes that the 16-year-old driver did everything she could. “Hungaroring is a very difficult circuit and it’s very complicated for overtaking, so Aliyyah couldn’t use the real potential of the truck. Also, knowing that your sister is in a hospital, that plays its role while racing. It’s better to look at the Goodyear Cup standings, where the 4th place is matching to her experience,” confirmed the 2-time European champion.
In the teams’ championship, Buggyra with Lacko and Calvet holds 4th place in the standings, but they are only 9 points behind the leaders Kiss and Albacete. “My suspicion has been confirmed – it’s going to be very close this year and there are up to 4 teams that could win. Saturday was a bit weird, but on Sunday, we scored 28 points which would put us in 2nd place. But this is just the first race,” added Adam Lacko.
