British „Duel“ goes on

22. February 2011Last year the fans had to do without, but this season the races of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship will again be peppered with the special duels between the two Englishmen; the “grand old man” Stuart Oliver and “youngster” Chris Levett – the age difference between those two pilots is 20 years. Today Levett announced officially that he had signed a two-year contract with the Czech Buggyra Team. About a week ago he already dropped a hint during a private conversation, whereby he stressed the fact that the three-time team champion had granted him rather favourable conditions; he would only have to pay his own share. Thus Levett counteracted any speculations that – backed up by the means of the family-owned forwarding firm “Birds” – he would be able to “buy into” any team he fancies. Actually, it seemed that the young Brit had thought about taking some time out after five consecutive years of truck racing. Quote: “I had not made any plans on racing this year. So I was excited when Buggyra gave me the chance to continue. I think it will be a bit
different at the start trying to learn where the front of the truck is.”, Levett jokingly referred to the fact that so far he was only used to driving MAN RaceTrucks which, because of their flat front design, allow a better view onto the track from the cockpit than the Freightliner with the bonnet. And by adding: „I would also like to thank MAN and Lutz for their support over the last few seasons”, the new Buggyra pilot concluded the personal statement he gave WebPortal „truckracing.de / truckrace.info“.
An official statement regarding Oliver’s return to the European truck racing series was not released before late afternoon, but prior to that the rumours that had been circulating for some time, had already taken shape. During the tests in Jarama / Spain today the Englishman was piloting a RaceTrucks of the Allgäuer Team. And later Chris Jones, Oliver’s PR Manager, confirmed that this season the Brit will be driving one of the Austrian team’s yellow MAN trucks.
Last year the winner of the 2004 ETRC and umpteen-times British Champion aimed for the cockpit in the second Buggyra truck – beside core pilot David Vrsecky. But as the FIA’s championship closing date had already passed, a late entry could only be accepted if all the other teams and drivers agreed to it. However one of his competitors withheld his approval: Christopher Levett. This meant that the two opponents met only in the rounds of the British Championship, and they were far from treating each other with kid gloves. But there are further particularities in their respective racer careers which could either have an associational or a separating factor. Obviously in this case it’s mostly the latter.
In 2006 Levett was Oliver’s successor at Atkins Racing, the team where the man from Hexham, a town situated near the Scottish “border”, shortly before could celebrate his biggest successes, including the 2004 ETRC title. In the years that followed Levett was mostly slightly ahead in the rounds of the European championship, whereas in the races taking place in Britain Oliver was able to turn the tables, and he won the National British title year in, year out. Not really the best conditions for a cordial friendship, but the fans can look forward to watching exciting races.