Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Misano – This and That

Misano – This and That

27. May 2011„I’m back from MisHahno“ one team manager announced on Facebook and with this wordplay he hit the nail right on the head, because the second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship turned out to be a veritable Jochen Hahn festival. On the first day of the opening round in Donington the German MAN pilot didn’t even make it into the SuperPole – and now, four weeks later, he won all four races so that on Sunday evening it was time to celebrate, taking the party on into the early hours, because the Swabian’s performance will go down in the Misano history. Since the revision of the regulations in regard to the second race of the day, where now the top eight finishers from race 1 have to line up on the grid in reverse order, no pilot succeeded so far in scoring 60 points which is the maximum number a driver can get. Both David Vrsecky (CZE) and Antonio Albacete (ESP) had once managed to gain 59 points – but 60 points, that was a novelty.
On Saturday evening after the spectacular crash involving MAN pilot Uwe Nittel (GER) and Buggyra driver Vrsecky nobody really felt like partying. There was rather a subdued mood and there was quite a bit of Nittel bashing going on – particularly after some people had watched the video footage provided by TRO.TV and when shortly after the race the first photos – taken from the said video – were put online on a Czech internet site. The Bernau team took great pains to analyse Nittel’s telemetry data as well as the photos of the onboard videos from the pilots who had followed behind the two damaged trucks and afterwards they were no longer of the opinion that Nittel had behaved like Rambo. According to Lutz Bernau, Nittel had braked at exactly the same spot – while driving at the same speed – as before, and the Bernau people assumed that at that crucial moment Vrsecky had stood on the brakes much earlier, then eased the force applied to the brake pedal just a little bit for a short moment, and then again jammed on the brakes. And Lutz Bernau stated that the telemetry data as well as the video photos had clearly refuted the accusation against Nittel that he crashed into Vrsecky’s Buggyra without braking, as claimed by several commentators.
On our Truck Racing VideoPortal www.truckrace.tv you will find a detailed analysis about the crash in Misano with photos and original comments passed by the parties involved and several observers. And there it can be seen and heard how differently the one and same incident was perceived and interpreted.
Indisputable is the fact that as result of the accident there were heaps of scrap and a very long and busy night for the mechanics – for Truck Sport Bernau as well as Buggyra.
More than 30,000 visitors enjoyed fabulous summer conditions and, apart from some short stunt shows during the breaks, the only thing they saw was truck racing, trucks and everything concerned with trucks. Otherwise there was absolutely no supporting programme, but on the other hand there was a lot of activity in the paddock. In the MAN hospitality unit as well as the ones of Renault and Meritor there was a constant bustle, and those people who didn’t have the privilege of belonging to the invited VIPs ambled past the tents of the teams. The focus of attention was clearly on two pilots, two German ones by the way, Gerd Körber and Steffi Halm. You couldn’t be sure whether “Mr. Truck Racing“ himself – the truck racing legend Körber – was the cause of the great interest or rather the fact that his Schwaben Truck Iveco was the only Italian vehicle in the field.
But in case of Steffi you could be dead sure that the fans – and also the media – were obviously more interested in the petite young Swabian with the long blond hair than in her Mercedes Benz which – admittedly – is a bit past its best. It didn’t bother the pilot (at least not yet) that due to her truck’s level of performance she could not hold a candle to most of the other drivers. Nonetheless did she manage to outpace some of the pilots who are more experienced than her. But unfortunately she had a bit of tough luck in her first truck racing weekend. On Saturday she had to retire due to a defective accelerator and on Sunday an opponent sliding across the grass collided with the tankpool24 Mercedes and caused a flat tyre on Halm’s truck. Above all, these early retirements prevented the newcomer from gaining experience; and to learn, learn, learn – that’s her highest aim, as she stated time and again.
As already mentioned above, by collecting 60 points Jochen Hahn created a novelty and it cost race truck constructor Stefan Honens his flowing mane. On www.truckrace.tv please click „Haare ab!” video and you can watch Hahn cutting off with relish his colleague’s ponytail.

Impressions:

Misano – This and That
Misano – This and That