Lacko took his first win at Hungaroring, Calvet struggled with aggressive competitors
The Czech driver has moved up to 4th place in the European Truck Racing Championship series. Meanwhile, Téo Calvet had to sustain several rough hits, and he lost a big number of points on the circuit known from Formula 1. He is now sitting in 2nd place in the Promoter’s Cup, but only 3 points behind the leader.
From the first metres of the opening race of the weekend, it was clear that the drivers are ready to fight hard for every inch of the track. That was just a confirmation of what was seen in the first round of the season at Misano - that contacts are now part of truck racing.
“We had another few races full of emotions, ups and downs like at Misano. While Adam had a fantastic weekend, Téo had so much bad luck. But we’ve seen our improvement and we can’t wait for the next races,” said the team manager Fabien Calvet about the weekend at Hungaroring.
The 37-year-old Lacko was the luckier Buggyra driver this time around. The first Saturday race already showed that the testing at Most, which took place between races at Misano and Hungaroring, has made the truck even better and more competitive. After the start, the Czech driver was holding 3rd place, but then was passed by Jochen Hahn, so Lacko had to settle for only 4th place, right outside of the podium.
But he improved his mood just a few hours later when he took his 1st win of the season and his 57th win in the European championship. But first, he had to survive a crazy start that took out several trucks. It almost went wrong for Buggyra too, as Téo Calvet only nearly missed Lacko’s truck, after the French driver was sent into the barriers by one of the competitors.
“The handicap race was very interesting for the fans and the drivers as well. My win came only after several incidents, one restart and many damaged trucks. Luckily, I was able to navigate through everything, and I was leading after the first start already. And then was able to hold on to that lead after the restart,” said Lacko after the race.
He showed his pace on Sunday as well, when he took 2nd and 3rd place finishes. “After a long time, we’ve had a really successful weekend at Hungaroring, which is a circuit I never looked forward to. Our changes this year have proven to be the right call. And the handicap race was a massacre right until the last lap when I got ahead of Sasha Lenz and grabbed the podium result,” added Lacko, who is now in 4th place in the standings.
And like the bad luck was on a mission to strike both Buggyra drivers, eventually. After a horrible weekend for Lacko in Italy, it was time for the French youngster Calvet to take his turn.
As you can see for yourself: In the first race, he was pushed to the pit wall by one of his competitors, which led to a rear tyre puncture. During the first start, he was pushed off the truck, and just very narrowly missed Lacko. Then, at the restart, he was hit and got a puncture again. On Sunday, he finally scored points for 8th position. In the final drive, he was leading for a long time, following a reverse grid rule. However, Calvet’s bad luck did not say the last word, yet. Following so many accidents, his brakes stopped working. Still, he managed to stay very close to the lead of the Promoter’s Cup, which is his main goal.
“Almost a perfect race at the end. I was starting from pole position, and I managed to stay in the lead until problems with the brakes. I had so much bad luck at Hungaroring, a really bad weekend. But that’s also part of racing, and I hope I can turn it around next weekend already at Nogaro,” added Calvet, who is preparing for his one-off in the French championship.
