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Stuart Oliver emerged from his battle-scarred Castrol MAN to take the 2004 FIA European Truck Racing Cup at Le Mans on Sunday - but the fight with reigning champion Lutz Bernau was not decided until the very last event in the 40-race series!
Neither Oliver nor his great rival Bernau could find the race-winning pace that had seen them dominate the victory podium in virtually all the preceding rounds of the season…as slippery track conditions combined with a massive field of 30 starters made it tough to even record a quick practice lap.
In the Saturday session it was Gerd Korber (Freightliner) who claimed pole with a lap of 2m.10.726s. (115.110km/h), just 0.125s. ahead of the Mercedes of Jochen Hahn.
Oliver secured fourth fastest time with a lap of 2m.11.384s. (114.534 km/h) to line up alongside Adam Lacko (MAN) on the second row of the grid while Bernau was struggling in sixth spot - half a second down on Oliver's time.
The Saturday Qualifying race provided an exciting start to the weekend for the 40,000 crowd. Hahn took an early lead to hold off Korber and Lacko all the way to the flag - but the real action was behind this trio.
Egon Allgauer was initially holding fourth but soon came under intense pressure from hard-charging Bernau who had already battled his way past Oliver on the first lap. Allgauer and Bernau circulated in very close company but became entangled when the German attempted to dive inside his Austrian rival… Bernau's MAN actually mounted the side of Allgauer's machine and then travelled over 400 metres on three wheels before crashing back to the tarmac!
Despite this spectacular 'moment' Bernau survived to cross the finishing line in fifth position but was subsequently demoted to 9th when officials imposed a 20 second time penalty for dangerous driving. This cost him four valuable championship points - but with Oliver not scoring (the Castrol MAN was forced to retire with a punctured tyre after first lap contact) the title race was closing up.
The Saturday Cup race saw the two championship rivals again starting way down the grid; Bernau was in seventh spot while Oliver lined up at the back of the 26 strong field.
Korber took an early lead and held off Hahn for five laps until the Freightliner stopped with technical troubles - leaving the Mercedes man to score another win.
Bernau had quickly moved into the top five but it was Oliver who was making the most impressive progress - passing 11 trucks on the opening lap. By lap four the Castrol MAN was running in the top ten and finally the British driver secured a hard fought 7th place finish.
Bernau spent much of the 13-lap race battling with Allgauer. Bernau got ahead to hold fourth place but in the closing stages his Austrian rival mounted a determined effort to regain the position - forcing his way in front with one lap to go. But when officials decided his tactics had been dangerous Allgauer collected a 10 second penalty… dropping him to 8th and promoting Bernau to 4th.
Podium places went to Hahn - ahead of Lacko and Jose Rodrigues (MAN).
With one day of competition remaining Oliver's lead over Bernau had been cut to just 12 points!
Sunday's practice session again saw the two title contenders struggling to get anywhere the pace-setting Mercedes of Hahn. The German took pole with a time of 2m.12.154s (113.867km/h) with the young Czech Lacko just 0.209s behind.
Bernau was down in sixth spot 1.415s. slower while Oliver was a further three places back, his best time being 2m.14.041s.
In the Sunday Qualifying race the two Castrol-supported MAN drivers both managed to improve on their starting places…but only Bernau got into a podium position, finally taking third behind Han and Lacko. Again the German found his biggest problem was to pass Allgauer and the two exchanged paintwork on at least one occasion. Oliver progressed to eighth - but was kept busy fending off the chasing Portuguese driver Rodrigues who finished just 0.6s behind at the chequered flag. With one race remaining Oliver's advantage had been narrowed down to only 8 points.
The final Cup race of the season saw Hahn leading the field away in damp condition - and finally pulling away to take his fourth victory of the weekend by a comfortable margin of over nine seconds. But the battle behind him was not so clean cut with many competitors collecting bodywork damage as they traded places.
Bernau and Oliver were running in fourth and fifth respectively after two laps - with the British driver soon seizing an overtaking opportunity to reverse the positions. But Bernau wasn't about to hand over the crown without a fight - and for the next three laps pushed hard to regain a place. But when the two were side-by-side into a tight turn Bernau got pushed wide - sliding off and striking a tyre barrier which effectively ended his challenge as his front ended was too badly damaged to continue.
Hahn's lead at the front was increased when Korber's Freightliner suffered steering failure - pitching the German into the barriers at 130km/h, leaving Lacko to overhaul Allgauer for the runner-up spot. The Austrian then slowed dramatically - dropping down the order to finish sixth. That allowed Ross Garrett (Foden) to take the final podium spot just 1.5 seconds in front of Rodrigues with Oliver wisely keeping clear of trouble to come home fifth, no longer under pressure. As Bernau had retired the Castrol Atkins drivers' final championship winning margin was 16 points….
"It's fantastic achievement for all the team and a great feeling to have finally claimed the European Cup. It's not been an easy weekend - and at one stage during the weekend I was really starting to feel Lutz breathing down my neck, but in the end we came out on top!" said a jubilant Oliver… the first British winner of the Euro title since Steve Parrish back in 1996
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