Most – This and That

03. September 2009Of course Markus Altenstrasser’s spectacular accident only a few minutes after the start of the first free practice was the dominant issue. Already on Friday evening we were of the impression that the pilot had got over his nasty accident very well, both physically and mentally, but his truck was severely damaged. But that did not stop the crew of the Frankie Team from getting down to work; they pegged away all through the night, and Sunday morning saw Altenstrasser back on the track during the warm up, heading the mid-field. That later on the Austrian refrained from participating in the races, was only a measure of precaution.
The pilot was still not feeling one-hundred percent fit, and after the warm up and after a follow-up examination in the hospital the doctors applied a supporting neck brace as a prophylactic treatment. And if – particularly after the serious accident of team boss Frankie Vojtisek in the first Saturday race – the team had not run low on front axles, Altenstrasser would probably have participating on Sunday.
Completely unexpected – at least for us, as we had only seen him among the spectators so far this weekend – Uwe Nittel joined the truck racers on Monday morning. The German rally pilot who got a first taste of truck racing when he piloted the Iveco of the Lenz Team at the Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, and as Buggyra was going to do some additional tests on Monday, Nittel seized the opportunity to do some laps in David Vrescky’s Freightliner. And after detailed instructions given by the reigning European champion, the German clocked lap times which were not much slower than the ones Vrsecky had posted, and which would have put him just behind the top pilots on the grid.
All that took place almost unnoticed by the public, at a time when the last teams were packing their bags. But the audience could witness two incidents on Saturday and Sunday which cost Jochen Hahn at least 16 points in the end. His disqualification on Saturday was, if you should describe it exactly, rather a kind of formal error. The MAN pilot was accused of having used rear tyres which were not in accordance with the regulations. Indeed there were a few very thin grooves in Hahn’s tyres, however according to the representative of the manufacturer Rigdon, almost every pilot had used these types of tyre some time or other. But for 2009 this tread pattern explicitly was not lodged with the FIA. And Hahn had not even benefitted from these tyres – quite the contrary. Because on a dry track there is nothing like racing slicks, which are not available for RaceTrucks. But it also applies to truck racing that the fewer grooves a tyre has got, the better. And Hahn’s tyres had more grooves than the others.
And also in the second controversy in Most, the only drive-through penalty of the weekend, Jochen Hahn was on the receiving end. For four laps the German in his evidently faster truck was glued to his MAN colleague Egon Allgäuer. It’s common knowledge that there is hardly any other pilot in truck racing more difficult to pass than the former European champion from Austria. Every season, when drivers are in a ‘close combat’, more often than not there are some nudges and shoves – sometimes also a bit tougher – without the stewards feeling compelled to react. Perhaps they decided to make an example here. But considering what Hahn said shortly after the race: “…Egon braked where nobody else would brake.” maybe it would be worthwhile to thoroughly study the videotaping once more – also for the stewards. But the factual decision will not be changed anyway.
The weather was even better than predicted, albeit a bit gusty at times. Otherwise everything was relaxed and at ease. 50,000 fans did attend, a little less than last year, but compared with the considerable decrease in the number of visitors other motorsport series suffer, the FIA ETRC can be highly satisfied with the number of spectators this season – in Most and at all the over events so far. It is a tradition that many fans from Germany attend the event in Most, and of course the commentary at the track was again bilingual. Same as last year, there was again an aerobatic pilot doing daredevil stunts while flying over the circuit between the grand stand and the tower, yet his plane was less noisy than the racers in the supporting programme, which sometimes were on the threshold of pain. Compared to that the deep ‘growling’ of the RaceTrucks was a feast for the ears.
And to those who could not attend the event in Most or who want to see the races from a different perspective, we would like to recommend the 30-minute Kamiono report which will be aired by DSF on Saturday, September 5, at 5:00 p.m.