Barcelona This and That

13. May 2008That was a start of the season the truck racers had not imagined, much less wished for. Normally one associates Spain with blazing hot sunshine, but instead on this weekend there were the first rainy days in six months in Barcelona. That’s bad luck. On Monday morning there was rain again, but as soon as we crossed the Spanish-French frontier the sky opened up and the sun was shining. And so the “truckracing.de / truckrace.info” team spent the afternoon basking in the bright sun on a beach on the Mediterranean between Perpignan and Béziers. Attributable to the unexpected outcome of the second race on Saturday the current ranking does certainly not reflect the true power of strength. Indeed, not surprisingly, the two Buggyra pilots David Vrsecky and Markus Bösiger are leading, but the other two favourites Antonio Albacete and Jochen Hahn (both MAN) are only fifth and seventh, resp., in the ranking because of the crashes in the rain on Saturday. Hahn was not completely satisfied in spite of his fast times in the first timed practice, especially on the dry track. And also Bösiger would have preferred a bit more rain on Sunday. The Swiss, expecting copious showers of rain, had decided to fit his truck with old tyres because they are said to be advantageous on a wet surface. His team mate Vrsecky, however, whose truck had new tyres, was clearly quicker. Albacete, who has the reputation of being extremely ambitious, will certainly be really vexed about being not only 20 points behind the leading pilot, but also about the fact that Jean-Philipp Belloc of all people, who belongs to the Bernau Team – same as Albacete – is ahead of the Spaniard in the ranking. But the team most affected by the crashes during the Championship races on Saturday was the Allgäuer Team. Both MAN RaceTrucks were in an irreparable condition and it was not possible to fix them on the spot. But even worse was the incident for Egon Allgäuer himself. The pictures taken by the monitoring camera at the circuit after he hit the wall, show Allgäuer walking with a limp and apparently shocked, but obviously turning down any medical attendance at that time. It was not before Sunday morning that the Austrian went to the Medical Centre. It might be that Allgäuer, aside from bruises on his thorax – could have suffered a cerebral concussion. So the man from Vorarlberg cut his stay short and went back home.
On Friday late in the evening there was suddenly a frenzy of activity. Most of the trucks had to be equipped with new numbers, as the old ones did not meet the requirements stated some years ago in the regulations. Permanent Race Director Tony Iddon let it be known that this season they would pay more attention that this regulation would be complied to. Last year Egon Allgäuer was so annoyed about the incidents at the victory ceremonies for the team championship that he stayed away from the ceremonies for the last races, and this year he declined to register for this championship. After all, there is a considerable registration fee to be paid. In the end, with a lot of persuasiveness, Lutz Bernau – who, as a matter of fact is rather sceptical about this team championship – could be convinced to participate. Besides Bösiger/Vrsecky (Buggyra) and Vojtisek/Altenstrasser (Frankie Truck Racing), there is now a third team under the name of “Koller + Schwemmer”, consisting of the two pilots Belloc and Hahn (who has Koller + Schwemmer as a sponsor), or else there wouldn’t have been a Team Championship this year. But on Friday evening Bermejo Manager Pablo declared that he had registered another team for the Team Championship, consisting of his protégé and Steve Horne. This caused some confusion among the FIA officials, nobody knew about the registration. It was not before Sunday morning that some clarification was reached, resulting in Lutz Bernau having to pass the cup he had received the day before for third place to the new team.
No less annoying was the incident that occurred before the first free practice. At one of the entrances to the circuit the guard let only the towing vehicles and the staff of the circuit pass, but denied photo and TV journalists the access – regardless of the imprint “Pista” on the accreditation ticket. When finally the problem could be solved, the practice was over.