Lutz Bernau emerged from the eighth round of the FIA European Truck Racing Cup in Belgium as top scorer while Stuart Oliver retained his lead in the championship with three second places during a weekend of fiercely contested competition. An enthusiastic crowd of over 27,000 witnessed some really tough battles in every race.
The first day of action at Zolder saw Castrol-sponsored Bernau taking maximum points with a dominant performance in his MAN. In the Qualifying race Bernau led from start to finish with Oliver chasing hard – the two MANs seldom more than a few metres apart with the Englishman finally just 0.641s behind at end of nine hard-fought laps.
In the Saturday Cup race Bernau again held off a strong challenge from Oliver to take his second victory of the day. Although the German stayed ahead throughout the 12-lap event, it was a close run battle with the leading pair separated by just 0.7s at the flag.
Lacko, after a slow start, made good progress coming through to take the final podium spot, the ambitious youngster outbraking Egon Allgauer at the chicane on the final lap. Jochen Hahn – having retired from the Qualifying race with compressor failure, made a superb charge from the back of the field in his Mercedes to claim fifth ahead of Ross Garrett’s Foden.
Bernau was again the pace-setter on Sunday morning and initially secured pole, but officials gave him a five-second penalty after he was judged to have overtaken under yellow flags. That relegated a frustrated Lutz to 10th spot on the starting grid for the Qualifying race.
Allgauer, in fact, took pole and made good use of it to take the lead into the first corner while second on the grid Oliver had his hands full fending off hard-charging Adam Lacko. The leading trio held their positions all the way to the finish, while Bernau managed to fight his way through to take an impressive fourth.
The last race of the weekend proved to be a bruising experience for Oliver. The Castrol MAN driver outgunned everyone at the start of the Cup race to head the crowded field into the first left hand corner – but with Allgauer, Lacko and Bernau all in close company Oliver found himself running wide, getting three tyres onto the dirt putting him down in sixth. Another trip into gravel a few laps later demoted Oliver by a further 10 places and he would eventually fight back to seventh.
Allgauer appeared comfortable out front, but Lacko was really pushing hard and in the closing stages looked set to mount an attack. But Egon stayed cool and held his lines throughout the remaining laps to claim a well deserved victory – with his Czech challenger just 0.95secs behind. Bernau stayed in touch with the two yellow MANs and claimed the last podium place – the 12 valuable points for third helping to keep his championship hopes very much alive.
Bernau’s first day success and continued strong showing on Sunday made him the top scorer of the weekend in Belgium, netting a total of 49 points. Oliver had to be content with a total of 37 – so his championship lead has been narrowed down to just 32 points. With two rounds of the FIA Cup remaining and a potential total of 120 points up for grabs the title chase is far from decided.
The next race is at Jarama, Spain on October 2-3.
:: Pembrey - Wins... Business as usual :: It was ‘business as usual’ for Stuart Oliver at Pembrey last weekend as the MAN driver claimed another two comfortable victories in Class “A” of the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship.
:: THE WINNING GOES ON AT THRUXTON :: Last weekend Team Oliver Racing was in action at the high speed Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.
:: Late Entry to 2010 FIA European Truck Race Championship :: 'astonished at the unsporting actions of a fellow British team entered European Championship as well as the narrow minded, short sighted actions of the FIA truck racing Stewards.
:: Oliver signs off with second Truck Superprix victory :: Stuart Oliver signed off a successful 2009 British Truck Racing Association Championship campaign by clinching his second victory of the weekend at Brands Hatch today (Sunday).
:: OLIVER CLINCHES CROWN WITH THREE WINS :: The second visit of the season to Pembrey produced the usual frantic first-turn action that the Welsh circuit has become renowned for – with the Class ‘A’ races generating some particularly spectacular action.
:: Oliver Wins at Thruxton :: The latest rounds of the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship took place at a sunny and warm Thruxton circuit last weekend (August 15/16) – and saw a double win for Stuart Oliver
:: Team Oliver in China :: British Truck Racing drivers Stuart Oliver, Ben Horne and Dave Ball joined Swedish driver Mikael Johansson and Russian Mikhail Konovalov at the finals of the China Truck Racing Championships
:: Most - Czech Republic :: Sunday’s race ended in mechanical failure for Stuart when after a collision he was forced to retire.
:: Race Winning Form at Donington :: Stuart Oliver strengthened his position in the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship to 8 points with two clear wins at Donington Park on 27th July.
:: European Championship - Albacete, Spain :: An enthusiastic Spanish crowd of 20,000, saw Spanish driver Antonio Albacete take his MAN to victory on Sunday (winning both the Qualifying and Championship races).
:: Stuart to drive BTCC :: In what can only be described as the best thing that has happened to BTC Racing in its short history, Stuart Oliver – the 2007 Delphi British Truck Racing Champion – has signed to drive for BTC Racing,
:: Stuart does it for a seventh time!!! :: 2007 Champion Stuart Oliver cemented his title with a dominant victory in the second Class A race of the British Truck Racing Championship at Brands Hatch.
:: Stuart Oliver wins International Truck Challange :: Torrential rain and floods hit the South of England as teams made their way to the Thruxton rounds of the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship.
:: Round 2, Zolder, Belgium :: Stuart Oliver held his eighth place position after the second round of the 2007 European Championship held at the Zolder circuit in Belgium.
:: British Championship Pembrey :: Stuart Oliver – Battles to gain a First Place Finish – Just missed another due to a ‘Racing Incident’
:: Barcelona 2007 :: Team Oliver returned to European racing with good finishes
:: MAN TG-A Complete Outfit FOR SALE! :: Team Oliver will be enhancing the team presence in both the British and European Championships for 2007.
:: Brands Hatch 2006 :: True to expectations, a crowd of thousands filled every corner of the prestigious Brands Hatch circuit over the weekend
:: Team Oliver win win win :: Champion Stuart Oliver (MAN) came back into top form with straight wins in all races and fastest laps to add to his points
:: Brands Hatch – Press Preview By JONATHAN REEVES :: Steve Horne, Stuart Oliver and David Ball had a busy day at Brands Hatch – assisting with a Press ‘preview’ for the forthcoming Truck Superprix, the final event of the 2006 season on November 4/5.
:: Team Oliver - Fastest Drag Race Truck! :: Recently, twelve of the BTRA teams, including Team Oliver, had a weekend away together at the Santa Pod Raceway.
:: Thruxton August 2006 :: Over the weekend of August 5th/6th Team Oliver was at the Thruxton circuit to participate in a weekend of truck racing events, including rounds 6 and 7 of the British Championship
:: Nurburgring - Truck Grand Prix 2006 :: Since Stuart Oliver aired the Team Oliver MAN TGA race truck at the Pembrey circuit in Wales over the Easter weekend, the vehicle has undergone extensive work to bring it back up to competitive racing standards.
:: Pembrey April 2006 :: Easter weekend saw the return of Stuart Oliver to the Truck Racing circuit when he took to the track for the first rounds of the British Championship
:: Stuart Oliver extended his lead.... :: Stuart Oliver extended his lead in the FIA European Truck Racing Cup dominating the first day of action at Alastaro in Finland while Sunday’s races brought success for Jochen Hahn.