Truck Racing Dates 2010

28. September 2009Although the dates for the FIA European Truck Racing Championship are only provisional and not yet definitely confirmed, it already became apparent that the schedule will principally be almost the same as this year – however without Barcelona – so that there are only nine instead of the envisaged 10 rounds. It is planned that the championship commences again in Assen / Netherlands early in May; the second venue on the agenda is Misano at the Italian Adriatic, where the truck racers traditionally meet at the 3rd weekend in May. But as there are 5 weekends in May next year, probably the next round will be held at the penultimate weekend in May – during Pentecost – at the Misano World Circuit, as the Autodromo di Santamonica was renamed. Two weeks later the pilots will compete in Albacete / Spain, and at the 3rd weekend in June they will meet in Nogaro in the South of France.
The traditional date for the Truck Grand Prix at the Ring is the second weekend in July. This year the truck racers had to yield to the Formula One, and next year this date would interfere with the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which means that again the last weekend in July is under discussion, but that’s the weekend when traditionally the big trucker festival in Assen takes place. And evidently there are plans to combine this festival with the races in Assen.
On the last Saturday in August the truck racers always compete in Most / Czech Republic, and 2 weeks later they are supposed to meet in Zolder / Belgium, and from there they proceeded to Le Mans in the last two years. But while the date for the round in central France seems to have been set already, there is still a big question mark in regard to the date for the Zolder event. The Belgian automobile association will have to wait for Bernie Ecclestone to appoint a date for the F1 race in Spa, because there is a rather limited number of experienced marshals in Belgium, and they will be on duty both in Spa and in Zolder.
So there is not much leeway left; the only option would be to set a date for Zolder after the event in Le Mans – but for the first weekend in October the final round in Jarama is scheduled. Presumably the Belgians would enjoy having the final round in Zolder once in a while, but in Spain they would not be too happy about that, because they had to forego the opportunity to hold this prestigious event already in the years 2002 – 2006, when the final rounds were held once at the Lausitzring and four times in Le Mans. And in Jarama they would not be overjoyed about a suggestion to postpone their event a bit.
All this needs some clarification, which means there is no need to rush into booking hotel rooms or flight tickets yet.
And there is still the matter of the invitation race – in Smolensk / Russia – hanging in the air. In the past two year it was always said that there would again a round being held at the Hungaroring soon. As on this circuit some races had already taken place, not even an invitation race would have been necessary. However, as Hungary was hit extremely hard by the financial and economic crises, these plans had to be shelved for the time being.
Yet in the paddock there was always a call for an additional round in Eastern Europe. And suddenly there was Smolensk under discussion, where a completely new circuit is under construction which will be a bit more than 3 km long. But so far this suggestion apparently met with little approval from the teams. In recent years the Lausitzring was the easternmost circuit for the truck racers.
Now they would have to travel another 700 km across Poland, 600 km across Belarus, and 100 km through Russia with two border crossings in non-EU countries. And to travel there by plane is no piece of cake either. In Smolensk there is only a domestic airport, so that you would have to travel to Moscow, which is about 400 km away from Smolensk, or to Minsk in Belarus – about 340 km away from Smolensk – and then you could try to get a rental car in order to reach the circuit. Smolensk is not really a popular tourist destination, and consequently the number of Hotels is rather limited.
Most of the automobile insurers – at least in Germany – exclude liability for insurance events occurring in Russia. This means the teams would have to take out additional insurance. Considering the disproportionate expenses and the quite unfavourable boundary conditions, you can sense that most of the teams approach this subject with great scepticism.
Totally independent of the dwindling purchasing power and the slowdown in consumer spending, the statement “the market of the future is located in the East” is becoming less significant due to the extremely restrictive import policy particularly in the passenger car and truck business since the beginning of 2009. Neither MAN nor Renault, Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Scania, Iveco, DAF or who else is involved or will be involved in truck racing in future, will be particularly keen to financially backing a promotional event – such as truck racing – in Russia under these circumstances.
As an alternative the truck racing commission broached the subject of an invitation race at the very south of Portugal. But this suggestion did not get enthusiastic applause either. In Portugal the economy is a lot more shaken than in many other countries, and thus not necessarily the immediate objective for big PR campaigns during the events of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. And what’s more, for most of the teams this would be the longest journey of the whole season.
And, basically, at the moment it is already problematic to determine an acceptable timeframe for the 9 rounds.