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Assen – Preliminary Report

Assen – Preliminary Report

05. May 2009While the drivers of most of the other motorsport series have already completed their first races this year, the opening round for the pilots of the FIA European Truckracing Championship will take place next weekend. But the programme for Assen is so action-packed that in fact they will already start on Friday – both the truck racers as well as the pilots of the ADAC Masters who will take part in the supporting programme. They, too, had already the first opportunity to try their strengths; and the word ‘strength’ can indeed be taken literally, because in the GT Class there are automobile brands such as Aston Martin, Audi R8 LMS, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ford GT, Porsche etc., all of them weighing only 1150 kg and 1280 kg, but equipped with 500 HP and more. And there is a rumour that it could be even almost 600 HP.
The light-weights in Assen are the Monocoques in the Formula ADAC, 570 kg including the pilot. Compared to that the RaceTrucks are almost ten times as heavy, however, they have nearly 1,000 HP more under the bonnet. But also among the truck racers there are several people who were already ‘in the battle’ this year. Egon Allgäuer participated already in two rounds of the Formula Truck Brazil – however, with a completely different truck than the one he will be driving in the FIA ETRC – and also the pilots of the British Truck Racing Championship have already completed two rounds. All the others must now again get used to the somewhat tougher driving style.
19 out of the 21 registered drivers announced that they’ll come to Assen; José Bermejo (Mercedes Benz) as well as Pascal and Jeremy Robineau resp. (both are registered for the MAN with the no. 21) will not participate. And of course, the two local heros, Cees Zandbergen and Erwin Kleinnagelvoort, will take part. The two Scania drivers registered in advance as race-by-race pilots. Zandbergen was the winner of the Class B British Championship, and Kleinnagelvoort ranked as the go-and-stop king of the Nürburgring all along. Yvan Gaillard, the third race-by-race pilot in Assen, cannot present as many ‘merits’ in regard to truck racing as the afore-mentioned, but everybody is curious how the Frenchman with the third Freightliner will fare in the field.
The weather service does not really predict summer weather, but according to the forecast it will not be as bad as during the last truck racing event in North Holland exactly 4 years ago, when it was raining almost constantly. Probably there won’t be any precipitation during the daytime before Sunday – the likelihood of rain is between 20 to 50 per cent, depending on the different weather services. For Friday and Saturday they even predict mostly sunshine, however, on Friday evening there could be some brief but heavy rain showers. The daytime temperatures will range between 12 and 17 °C (53 and 62 °F), maybe even up to 20 °C (68 °F). But during the nights there will be a noticeable drop in temperatures – only around 6 °C (43 °F).
The entrance fee is 5 Euros (Friday), 10 Euros (Saturday), and 25 Euros (Sunday) – admission free for children under 12 – so this is a good opportunity for many families, especially from North and West Germany, to take a trip to Assen and enjoy motorsport at its finest.
And finally a very special treat. Today the Cologne TV production company ‘Kamiono TV’ announced that also in 2009 they want to do a 30-minute report about each round. These reports will be aired almost worldwide and – much to the joy of the German truck racing fans – now they will also be broadcast unabridged on the free TV station DSF. The report about the event in Assen is scheduled for Friday, May 15, 2009, 9:00 – 9:30 a.m.