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Jarama – This and That

Jarama – This and That

06. October 2010As expected, the Jarama event was a festival in Cepsa red, even though the official number of visitors – 32,000 – was a bit sobering compared to previous years. The grand stand at the finishing straight was almost empty, but the grassy knolls and the stands which are every year firmly in the hands of the most “obstinate” truck racing fans were again fully occupied. And, as always, there was a massive spectacle that everybody who is in Jarama for the first time will be watching open-mouthed. The first visitors had arrived at the crack of dawn in order to position themselves on their favourite spots – and for many fans this is right at the fence which, however, is exactly the location where the biggest quantity of dust is stirred up when the trucks spin off the track and into the gravel bed, which happens quite often. Those fans always have a great time, even if nothing happens on the track.
In order to amplify the already deafening noise the fans had equipped the inevitable chainsaw engines with megaphones. And on Sunday afternoon the merry mood always reaches boiling point and even when during the final race it started raining – which is extremely rare in Jarama – this couldn’t dull the enthusiasm.
The unique atmosphere was so infectious that even those pilots, who usually exercise restraint, did some burnouts and donuts. But the obligatory throwing of the racing helmet into the crowd will probably continue to be reserved for local hero Antonio Albecete.
Several pilots, although they may be considered to be rather less euphoric, certainly would have liked to join in. But the Englishman Chris Levett couldn’t contest in the final race, because his MAN suffered mechanical failure, and the two MKR Renault pilots had to retire after only a few laps, although everybody had expected them to claim another double victory considering the racing conditions – a wet and slippery track and rather low temperatures. Markus Oestreich’s truck had packed up already in the second lap, and the Swiss driver Markus Bösiger was battered out of contention by his team mate for many years, David Vrsecky. The Renault was no longer manoeuvrable due to a damaged front axle.
All weekend there was a sort of “love, peace and harmony”, even though some rather spectacular stunts several pilots pulled brought about quite some additional work for some of their rival teams. For instance Team Hahn Racing spent Saturday night until nearly 3:00 a.m. – with the joint efforts of several colleagues from other teams – working on the truck of the Finnish driver Mika Mäkinen (whose MAN is maintained by the Hahn Team) to ensure that he would be back in contention. At the start of the second race Mäkinen’s truck had been pushed into the pit wall and had damaged the starting light that protruded into the track.
And in view of this ever-present peacefulness nobody was really surprised when at the victory ceremony Antonio Albacete was kind enough to show his eternal rival Markus Bösiger – whom he would have liked to drag out of his RaceTruck last year in Jarama after the momentous crash in the first race – how to open the champagne bottle with a simple trick Bösiger obviously didn’t know yet.
But in the FIA ETRC not only the European Champion and the best team are awarded, but also the winners in the Sponsors’ Challenge Cup. This contest was established by Lutz Bernau three years ago and is meant for those pilots who are not exactly front-runners – i.e., they are not among the top ten in the overall standing – and for rookies. Everybody knows that these truck racers are often the “icing on the cake” for the fans. They often put up a good fight for every inch when top pilots choose not to take a risk anymore.
The rating is quite different independently from the FIA, so that sometimes a pilot has a better position in the FIA overall ranking than his direct competitors in the Sponsors’ Challenge Cup. The first place winner will collect 20 points in every race, the runner-up gets 1 point less, the third-placed 2 points less and so on. There was a total of 30 award winners. The winner of the Sponsors’ Challenge Cup 2010 is Javier Mariezcurrena (ESP) followed by Anthony Janiec (FRA) and Jean-Pierre Blaise (BEL). The top ten were completed by Jeremy Robineau (FRA), José Bermejo (ESP), José Rodrigues (POR), Michel Bassanelli (FRA), Erwin Kleinnagelvoort (NEL), Zoltan Birnbauer (HUN) and Mika Mäkinen (FIN). Although Antonio Conejero was not among the top ten, he got the loudest applause. For many years the Spaniard is already part of the truck racing community and was always one of the most popular pilots. At the round in Albacete in June Conejero suffered a stroke. But by now he has recovered to the extend that, supported by his family, he can lead a normal life again, and was able to accept his award in the Sponsors’ Challenge Cup in person.