Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Le Mans – Preliminary Report

Le Mans – Preliminary Report

16. September 2009It happened already several times in the past that there was only a one-week break between two rounds, however that’s not to everybody’s taste. Particularly the semi-professional teams sometimes run into difficulties, because most team members have got a full-time job and engage in truck racing during their leisure time, which means that after the races they have to return home as soon as possible. And so the teams adopted different strategies of how to travel from Zolder to Le Mans. Many teams stayed in the Belgium paddock until Tuesday. The racing transporters can cover the 600-km route easily within 1 day, despite the ‘bottleneck’ Paris. But as officially the paddock in Le Mans will not be open before Thursday afternoon, it was agreed upon that those teams arriving earlier at the Circuit Bugatti will be allowed to enter the paddock.
Other teams departed already on Saturday evening and left their equipment with colleagues or subsidiaries of their respective car make situated near Le Mans. In Zolder there had not been any big crashes; everything that needed mending or maintenance work could be dealt with at the circuit, and in Le Mans the checking and scrutineering is not due until Friday, and that’s it – except for the mandatory drivers’ briefing at 6:30 p.m., although the pilots will not be on the track until Saturday morning.
During the two racing days the programme will be more jam-packed than anywhere else; hardly any minute passes without some action, so that the final race on Saturday will not begin until 5:45 p.m., although – according to the rules – it is not allowed to start a race later than 5:00 p.m. But at the Circuit Bugatti on Saturday the night is turned into day anyway. After a two-hour parade of the show trucks there will be a show and stunt programme in front of the grand stand. Next on the agenda is a spectacular firework display, and the evening will be concluded with a concert in the Village. Situated in that area are also the countless sales tents and stalls, were the truckers and racers can get almost everything the heart desires.
And of course there will also be some races taking place, and this stage of the championship – the penultimate round – will be a lot more exciting than in the years before. Vrsecky’s and Albacete’s scores are level at present, but Vrsecky has won 3 more races than his Spanish rival. In the battle for 3rd place Jochen Hahn, too, achieved 3 more victories than Markus Bösiger, but – in addition – he is 11 points ahead of his opponent. But all four pilots know quite well how fast a supposedly advantage can become insignificant. Maybe it will already become clear in Le Mans, which strategy the individual pilots plan to adopt for the remaining 8 races.
According to the weather services the sky will be more or less overcast all weekend, with temperatures of slightly more than 20 °C (68 °F) and a probability of occasional rain showers.