Lacko Up Podium Four Times! Chances for Champion Title still Alive

A podium rank in each of the four races, that is the result of Adam Lacko from the Spanish weekend in Jarama. On Saturday the Czech pilot added his thirteenth victory and one second rank. The same rank was repeated in the main race of Sunday completed with third rank in the last race. The comparison to Jochen Hahn with whom Adam fights for the European throne their Spanish score ratio was 52 : 52. Saturday In the field of twenty one competing trucks Jiří Forman struggled hard for the super pole, eventually achieving the tenth best lap time. The name of Adam Lacko was on the other end, securing the pole position in front of the crowded tribunes for him. “Even in the absence of Albacete the audience background is wonderful here. I can hear them into the cab cheering at the stadium,“ Adam enjoyed the local atmosphere. The first race was controlled by the Czech pilot who held his leading rank from the start to the finish. Although Hahn attacked fiercely in the beginning, the Buggyra pilot did not give him a single chance. “This is my thirteenth victory this season and I like the number thirteen. The road was very slippery but I could see I was not alone. The second race will be a nice mess again,“ said the happy Lacko. Thanks to the premature ending of Frankie Vojtíšek Jiří Forman ranked ninth and for half of the race attacked the eighth ranking Ellen Lohr. Then, however, he made a mistake in braking and the hopes for the eighth rank assuring him the pole position in the second race withered away. “It is certainly a pity for I could have managed Ellen. It only wanted to wait for longer,“ said the ninth-ranking Jirka in the finish. Due to the reverse order Adam Lacko only started for the second race of the day form the fourth row of the starting grid. However, in the middle of the first lap he already ranked fourth. Hahn made use of starting from the inside and thanks to the cooperation of the German pilots remained one rank ahead. “It is hard to fight against the rest of the field responding to Jochen´s blinking, and so I am deeply grateful for the second rank. I am not fighting against one pilot, but against all Germans,” smiled Adam, eventually ranking second after Hahn and reducing his advantage by four points on Saturday. Forman held the ninth rank after start but soon Kursim in Mercedes overtook him and the newcomer to truck racing finished with one score point for the tenth rank. “It was not as good as it could be today. I must check the data and think it over a little. Jarama is a hard circuit, nothing easy for a newcomer. Tomorrow I would like to accelerate and bring home more than three points,“ said Jirka. Sunday The Sunday super pole brought a better result to the German pilot in the Lacko – Hahn comparison. The difference, however, was mere eighteen thousandths of a second. Even Jiří Forman successfully got among the top ten but not repeating his performance in the super pole he eventually started from the fifth row. The equality of Adam Lacko and Jochen Hahn was confirmed by the fact that if neither of them makes a mistake their mutual ranking in the race cannot change. “It is really tight but it also means that unless one of us makes a mistake we cannot overtake each other. I tried right after start but he pushed me to the dirty trail and I could not try again anymore. In the second race my starting position will be better than his in turn,“ said Adam, ranking silver in the race. Jiří Forman started from the ninth starting position and held close to the eighth ranking Ellen Lohr. Then, however, he was penalised for knocking down the skittles. “I managed to defend the ninth rank but could not think of the best eight. And finally I was penalised in addition for knocked down skittles, so the result is annoying for me,“ said Jirka. The second race was stopped after start with red flags and so it had to be restarted. Adam Lacko managed to get to the fifth rank from the seventh starting position in the first lap and that was also his position for the restart. After the restart he quickly managed to get to the third rank with René Reinert in front of him. The German pilot first slowed down to let the fourth Hahn get behind Lacko and then successfully blocked his advance. “To get to the third rank was no problem but to overtake Reinert was impossible. He applied all his experience and if I had tried a hard attack it might have ended with a disaster for both of us. Now after Spain we have preserved the mathematical chance for the champion title but we would need a little of the racers´ luck and at least one piece of bad luck for Hahn this season, pointed Adam Lacko to the problem-free progress of this season for Hahn. Jiří Forman made his last Spanish race hard by his thirteenth rank in the first Sunday race, but eventually ranked ninth and added two more score points to his Saturday gain of three. “I will not be far from truth saying that my Spanish hardships have just ended. There were certainly better weekends for me this season. Now I most work hard on my data because as soon as for next weekend we will travel to Le Mans for the end of this season,“ said Jirka after the last race of the weekend. Le Mans still offers another 60 score points to gain and the loss of Adam Lacko after Jochen Hahn equals 35 score points. Thus the mathematical chance for the champion title has not died yet!