Testing Days in Nogaro

18. April 2008Nogaro - 15 pilots had undertaken the journey to Southern France. There would certainly have been even more drivers, but there is the Spring Truck Racing Festival in Pembrey taking place this weekend where points can be gained for the British Championship. And, needless to say, this has priority for Chris Levett, Stuart Oliver, and Steve Horne. And, after a long time, there will again be a lady – Jennifer Janiec – driving a RaceTruck. The sister of FIA pilot Anthony will only participate in the French and the Spanish Championship, but some of these races are part of the FIA Championship.
In Nogaro there is no official time-keeping for these tests, but all the teams know their own lap times precisely. But how real the times actually are which the teams reveal – that’s a different matter. And in the end nobody knows whether all teams and drivers have put their cards on the table. And, after all, only on Wednesday there were ideal test conditions with bright sunshine. On Thursday there was often heavy rain, and also on Friday large parts of the track were permanently underwater. Nevertheless, all the pilots did as many laps as possible, after all, each testing day cost them about 700 Euro, and there are not many more opportunities for tests before the start of the season in Barcelona on May 10.
As could have been expected, it seems that this season, too, the Buggyra Freightliners with title holder Markus Bösiger and David Vrsecky will again be the leading pilots. Over the course of the tests Antonio Albacete with his MAN could increasingly make up ground to the Freightliners, but even so, the Spaniard did not hide the fact that he wasn’t satisfied yet. The second pilot in a Bernau truck, Jean-Philipp Belloc, did not arrive in Nogaro until Friday because of other racing engagements. There he could climb into the cockpit of his brand-new MAN which was painted the colours of the French flag. The third truck of the Bernau Team with Dominique Lacheze at the wheel gave a surprisingly good performance. After many years in his Mack the Frenchman was highly enthusiastic about the driving experience in his new MAN RaceTruck he switched to recently. Maybe in future he will even have the one or other surprise in store. Anyway, he already was able to stand up to former European champion Egon Allgäuer. However, the Austrian did not seem particularly pleased in Nogaro. It says that Allgäuer complained especially about a rather heavy swaying of his truck’s body; but that is a problem that should not be too difficult to come to grips with before the start of the season. More difficult it could become to offer sufficient training opportunities for Gerd Körber’s successor, the Russian Mikhail Konovalov, in the second Allgäuer truck, because it could be seen that the truck racing rookie became bolder after each lap and took more risks. And there is yet another truck racing newcomer in an (in this case ex-) Allgäuer truck. The Hungarian Balazs Szobi has ample experience in Rally Truck and Dakar races, but truck racing is quite another matter. The decidedly friendly Oxxo Team from Hungary became instantly acquainted with the familial and cooperative way in the truck racing paddock. Especially their pit neighbours from Altensteig, the team around Jochen Hahn, went out of their way to help with words and deeds. As we know, the Swabian had to look for another brand after 11 years with Mercedes. It took quite a long time but in the end the liaison with MAN was achieved. Nevertheless, Hahn and his new race truck designer, Stefan Honens, have constructed a – not only optically – particularly appealing car. The German’s lap times in Nogaro were only a fraction slower than those of the Buggyras, almost on a level with Albacete. And, as Hahn and Honens said almost in unison, they still have something in petto. Basically, all MAN Common Rails shall obtain an update before the start in Barcelona. But Mario Kress said also that not all the possibilities for their Buggyras are exhausted yet. And nearly every pilot, team boss and mechanic declared that one would not know exactly where everybody was positioned until after the completion of the timed practice in Barcelona.