Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Preliminary Report for Istanbul

Preliminary Report for Istanbul

06. May 2012In the double sense of the meaning, truck racing is a premier in Istanbul. This will be the first time this year that the truck racers will meet on one race track, which none of the drivers have been driven on before. The most recent entry list lists 12 drivers total. Originally, it should have been 14 trucks, but the three MAN trucks from Frankie Oxxo Truck Racing could not be finished in time for the race. They are said to have had problems with the suppliers which means that Frankie Vojtisek (CZE), Norbert Kiss (HUN) and Alexander Lvov (RUS) will first be able to step in the race at the second race in Misano. The British MAN – driver Matt Summerfield has just recently signed up as a race – by – race driver so that the symbolic number of 12 drivers could still be reached. As required by the regulations the race could still be canceled if there are less than 12 drivers signed up. On the other hand, die-hard truck racing fans will probably remember the last racing season with the SuperRaceTrucks in 2004. Three Buggyra were racing against two VW – Constellation plus the truck racing legend Maurice Monfrino from Paris, who however didn’t have a lot of chances. The others were definitely equally well and showed the fans that they were able to entertain even with only 5 race trucks during an exciting season. All the same, a starting grid should contain 12 drivers. Especially at the race track in Istanbul, which is longer than 5,3 km (3.3 miles) the fans can get bored easily if there are times where no race truck passes for a while.
The truck racers are currently anything but bored. The trip to Turkey is probably just as exhausting as the one to Smolensk. On Monday at noon a whole train of trucks of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship is supposed to be in the port of Trieste. There the trucks will be but on a ship, which will dock at the port of Istanbul on Thursday. The teams themselves are not allowed to go on the same ship as their trucks. They will have to fly via Ljubljana to Istanbul where they have to pick up their trucks once they arrived. The weather is supposed to be better (at least on the race weekend) than it will be here in Central Europe, but it will definitely be better than for most of the teams at their previous tests. It’s supposed to stay dry and they are expecting temperatures between 20 and 23 C°. For Friday there are extensive press and VIP drivings planned and afterwards an additional training of 60 minutes. This will be good for the truck racers, as they will have the opportunity to get used to the route in Istanbul.