Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Outlooks

Outlooks

17. December 2010On the occasion of the Essen Motor Show earlier this month the leading teams in the FIA European Truck Racing Championship got together again – the best opportunity to talk shop about the prospects for the coming season. And after having listened to their statements you can only hope that in future there will still be as many top teams competing as in the photo shown above, because the possibilities for the teams seem to differ widely.
Lutz Bernau, the team boss of the reigning European Champion, will definitely continue working with Antonio Albacete; the contracts with CEPSA, the main sponsor of the Spanish pilot, are already tied up. The question about Truck Sport Bernau’s second MAN RaceTruck is not yet settled. By time the team was at the Essen Motor Show the vehicle had already been dismantled to an extend that it can be refurbished for the 2011 season. However, in regard to the pilot Bernau couldn’t tell anything specific, but it’s probably safe to assume that the liaison with the Englishman Chris Levett will not be continued.
Hahn Racing has got two ready-to-use MAN RaceTrucks, too. But at present their first priority is to ensure that there are sufficient financial means available for the first truck before looking for a pilot for the second vehicle. Both Jochen and Diana Hahn were in Essen, but they didn’t really radiate excessive optimism. And it wasn’t only because Jochen has not yet fully recovered from an unpostponable shoulder surgery. The Swabian and his chief technician Stefan Honens do almost all the repair and maintenance works on their truck themselves, and now Hahn could hardly raise his arm, let alone work on the truck. “But I’m on the mend” the pilot feels certain.
What the Hahn family is a lot more worried about is the financial situation. The team did a thorough cost analysis and the result is almost paradoxical. If they considered only the economical point of view, neglecting the sporting aspect, the team would be a lot better off by solely participating in the Truck Grand Prix at the Ring, because that’s the event Hahn’s partners are fully committed to. Moreover, they invite their customers to the event and are prepared to share the costs accordingly. With the financial excess gained there they cover the additional costs for the other events. And when suddenly an extremely cost-intensive venue is added – such as the Smolenskring – which had not been taken into account at the time of the budget-planning, the limit is soon reached.
Of course this applies to most of the other teams, too, whose respective “budget administrators” bemoan yet another matter. In the times of crisis, when many sponsors had to cope with deep financial cuts, too, the teams and most of their partners agreed upon reducing the monetary contribution. The teams tightened their belts even more, always having in mind the better days the sponsors expected to come. Now these better days seemed to have dawned – most of the companies are more optimistic than they were for a long time – but so far this did not have any impact on the contributions to the teams.
That’s exactly what Heinz-Werner Lenz experienced, too. The three time European champion from Plaidt had displayed his Mercedes Axor and the Mercedes do Brasil in Essen. He would like to be able to register again for the whole season, no matter whether he himself or his son Sascha would be piloting the truck. Lenz also told that, apart from the Truck Grand Prix at the Ring, it is rather difficult to get the sponsors enthusiastic about the other rounds. Currently Lenz conducts negotiations about the sale of the Iveco RaceTruck, possibly even together with the trailer. The proceeds of the sale should serve as the basis for another RaceTruck. But the matter is not yet sewn up. If everything goes according to plan – especially in view of the funding – the Lenz Team plans to participate in at least seven rounds next year.
But, same as Diana and Jochen Hahn, Heinz-Werner Lenz wants to await the outcome of the discussions with his sponsors before commenting on his plans for the coming year.
Mario Kress’ statements, however, are much more concrete and a lot more optimistic. True, the MKR boss is also in frequent touch with his sponsors, but all in all the German and his Czech team feel rather positive about the coming year. With Kress’ newly developed Renault RaceTrucks they took everybody by surprise – even themselves. After their first season they are already beyond the designated target aimed at for the end of the second year in their three-year plan. Kress is going to continue with his two “keys to success”, the Swiss pilot Markus Bösiger and Markus Oestreich from Germany, and he will possibly compete with a third Renault RaceTruck. In regard to the pilot for the third truck the odds are in favour of the Czech driver Adam Lacko and the Frenchman Anthony Janiec. Lacko’s pros are, apart from his driving ability, his Czech nationality – in a Czech team. Janiec’s pros are his having worked in the Renault Team 14 for many years and the fact that during the extensive test drives both candidates had been carrying out the Frenchman’s performance improved considerably. But eventually the funding for the third Renault as well as the PR and market policy will probably tip the balance.
Notwithstanding the above, Kress is waiting eagerly – thrilled like a child in a sweet shop – for his new engine test bench to arrive. First thing he is going to do is find out why his Renault engines were more prone to problems with high outside temperatures than the racers of their opponents. “And I have already got some ideas” the successful RaceTruck constructor – five individual wins and three team titles – added with a wink.