Friday in Misano
20. May 2011Misano - Actually, on Fridays there’s nothing much happening in Misano – except for the scrutineering. Yet many of the teams had arrived at the gate of the World Circuit Misano already on Thursday morning, as the paddock was supposed to be open as early as 8:00 a.m. But due to a motorcycle event the paddock was almost fully occupied. However, the weather was fantastic so that the truck racers parked their vehicles on one of the many parking lots and went to the beach or did some shopping in the town. And the erection work that had not been done by Thursday evening was completed today. After all, the teams had a lot of free time on their hands and everybody was relaxed and easygoing. And the weather gods still meant well for the truck racers, although now and then some clouds were gathering in the sky, but the temperatures were again around 30 °C.
As there wasn’t anything to get excited about in regard to truck racing, somebody else – or rather something else – suddenly became the wow-factor in the paddock: Roland von Hoerner, long-time MAN executive for the truck racing sector, whose advice is still frequently asked, was at the circuit with his exactly 100-year old Ford T, as he and his wife had participated in a classic-car-rally. And von Hoerner had no choice but to serve as a sort of “taxi driver”, chauffeuring his “customers” around the paddock time and again. Rarely ever before has there been such a furore in the paddock about a car – not even a new RaceTruck – as in the case of the Ford T model.
Even Stephanie Halm, the only lady in the RaceTruck cockpit who had been missed by many people during the round in Donington, could not really compete with that car. Nevertheless, both the newcomer and the “old hand”, Gerd Körber, were the most sought after people for interviews.
There was a shooting of a short TV documentary featuring Steffi, and “Mr. Truck Racing” gave his new colleague a lot of good advice, after all, the young Swabian has not yet covered a single meter in a her truck under racing conditions.
Apart from the above mentioned things only the obligatory tyre lottery for the top ten pilots took place in the morning, and there were several meetings and press conferences on the agenda. In the TRO unit Fabien Calvet, who is FIA coordinator and TRO boss simultaneously, gave first instructions in regard to the upcoming journey to Smolensk. In the evening MAN convened a press conference and presented their new hospitality unit “power station” which is again a two-storey glass palace, where more than 3000 invited guests will be welcomed and can treat themselves to quite some culinary delights.
Impressions:
