Friday in Jarama - 2015 calendar outlined

03. October 2014Jarama - The first teams arrived in Jarama as early as Wednesday, even though this 8th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship only really kicks off on Saturday. Most of the setting-up had been done with on Thursday, and so today a holiday atmosphere pervaded the paddock. Of course, the fabulous weather in Madrid played no small part.
This afternoon the teams were summoned for a meeting to discuss, among other things, the new ruling by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) that, from 2015, the points scheme for each day’s first race would also apply for the “handicap” race, in which the top eight finishers start in reverse order.
In addition, a new draft calendar for 2015 was presented, but even this is maybe not the final version. According to this draft, the season begins in Valencia (ESP) at the end of April. The races in Spielberg (AUT) take place in mid-May, the event in Misano (ITA) following a week later. There’s another pair of rounds on the last two weekends in June, Nogaro (FRA) and then the TGP on the Nürburgring.
After a nine-week gap the racing resumes in Most (CZE) at end-August. The next hop is the Hungaroring (HUN) a week later. The next three follow in customary sequence - Zolder (BEL) on the third weekend of September, Jarama (ESP) two weeks later, and then the finale in Le Mans one week thereafter.
Four times next season the truck racers could be on track racing within a week after a previous round. This prospect, and the nine-week mid-season interval, weren’t well received by the teams either. They would rather have more space before the Truck Grand Prix to prepare for this climactic event. The journey from Nogaro to the Eifel itself covers almost 1,300 km and takes all of two days. And since the TGP is a four-day event that starts with a full programme on the Thursday itself, many of the teams traditionally start their paddock activities two days earlier just so that they can get their trucks fully race-ready for the ’Ring.
Bernie Ecclestone has already laid claim to the traditional TGP slot at the Ring, and the truck racers would prefer to bring their thunder to the Eifel a week later. But till now – ostensibly – even that slot is not available.
None of this is set in stone; the final shape of the 2015 calendar will only be known after the WMSC sitting in December.

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