2012 – A brief outlook
29. January 2012The fact that there will be eleven race weekends this year, doesn’t necessarily make everyone happy. Initially, it was our goal to have 10 races in 10 countries. The race in Istanbul will again require a huge investment of time, logistics and expense. Although most teams will have to manage it with the same budget as last year, it is the goal of the Truck Racing Organization (TRO) to create a marketing platform for companies that are interested in truck racing and series sponsors for the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. This is already common in other motorsport branches, and the smaller teams would especially benefit from this. Meritor, a manufacturer of drive units and braking systems for commercial vehicles, has been a committed sponsor of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship for two years now -and has also become a sponsor partner of the web portals www.truckkracing.de and www.truckrace.info. So far Meritor has mainly focused its commitment on the Renault trucks from MKR, but this season the new Mercedes- Benz from Markus Bauer’s tankpool24 –mb Motorsports team and the “Iveco” truck from Schorsch Glöckler will use Meritor axels. Malte Raddatz, president of Meritor Trucksport and Director of Communications, is known for his spontaneous and unbureaucratic decisions. As we already know, MKR-Renault is building a new race truck, although the old lineup with Markus Bösiger (SUI), Markus Oestreich (GER) and Adam Lacko (CZE) will remain the same. The fourth car is mainly expected to serve a representative function, as MKR CEO Mario Kress has often mentioned the stress that arises when PR truck shows and races overlap. This year the biggest commercial vehicle show (IAA) will take place in Hanover, Germany, which will be at the same time as the race in Zolder, Belgium. Renault will certainly want to exhibit at least one of its small dark-grey racers. However, that does not mean that the fourth MKR-Renault cannot compete in one or two races with a guest driver behind the wheel. Mr. Kress gave possible aspirants a thorough test last fall.
The “Schwabentruck-Team” from Ulm is also building a new “Iveco”. While the new truck will be put on the speedway by Gerd Köber (GER), the old vehicle from last season will be ready for PR shows. At least for the Truck Grand-Prix at the “Ring“, the use of a guest driver is being considered. Hahn-Racing in Altensteig is also planning on building two new MAN trucks. Jochen Hahn (GER) hopes to defend his title with one of these vehicles, while the other one is intended for a truck racing rookie named Rene Reinert, a German forwarding agent. Mika Mäkinen (FIN) is going to drive the championship truck from last season. No matter if it’s for PR shows, exhibitions or show dates, Mr. Hahn always has a race truck on hand. Even before his victory the Swabian had been one of the most booked truck racers. The rumor has been making the rounds that the truck racing legend Frankie Vojtisek will be sitting behind the wheel of a truck again. There are even reports that three new drivers are in planning, as two teams/drivers that which were busy elsewhere last season could now be able to complete the new power from the East. Lutz Bernau will apparently count on his duo consisting of Uwe Nittel (GER) and Antonia Albcete (ESP) again in 2012 and will also be building two new MAN trucks. According to many competent observers, both trucks from the Bernau team looked rather totaled after this horrible crash. In addition, a MAN driver from Spain, Jose Bermejo, who earned twice as many points in the second -last -race of last season as in all the races before, will be racing again. Even if, according to his PR consultant, all the sponsorship agreements haven’t been signed, sealed and delivered yet. Then again, the FIA list won’t be opened until tomorrow (Jan. 30th) and then the drivers and teams will still have almost 11 weeks until the registration deadline expires on April 13th. There is still a lot that can happen before then.
Impressions:
