Friday in Spielberg
15. May 2015Spielberg - The organisers of the second round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Spielberg had already informed the teams in advance of the driving ban on trucks for the Ascension holiday, but there were also massive traffic restrictions ahead of the AC/DC concert near to the Red Bull Ring, attended by a horde of 100,000 the evening before the Truck Race Trophy weekend. And so most arrived at the circuit on Wednesday itself, some getting an early taste of the extreme temperature swings that abide the Styria region. It was a sweltering 32° in the shade at noon; a short, sharp storm later the mercury had plunged to 20°.
Thursday being a day for R & R, many AC/DC fans took their chance to explore the open paddock and get a close look at the 1,200hp race trucks.
The Thursday-evening barbecue that the Ring hosts in “Bulls Lane” is somewhat of a tradition now, at least according the Rhenish definition, but this time there was a thoughtful extra for the teams afterwards — the entry to the spectator stand in the first corner was opened, allowing them an excellent view of the huge concert stage, even as the Australians filled the whole circuit with their sound.
On Friday today everyone seemed to have recovered fully from their nocturnal exertions. But the heavens had other plans. It drizzled steadily all morning while journalists were ferried around on the taxi rides, the temperature stuck at around 13°. There was no way to tell what performance reserves the individual trucks packed, not even during the one-hour practice session at noon.
The first free practice only began in the evening, and it was defending champ Norbert Kiss again who promptly set his stamp on the proceedings. But the yawning gap between the Hungarian and the rest made it clear that everyone wasn’t giving it everything.
When the second free practice session kicked off at 6:30 the rain had all but stopped, and the track began to dry out. Lap after lap the times tumbled, but Kiss was up there throughout. Everyone was clocking massive improvements over their afternoon times — 15 seconds and more in a few cases. But at the end the Hungarian was still at the top of the heap, with Buggyra pilot Adam Lacko (CZE) and Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN) a half-second slower. The entire remaining field lay a tick over one second further back.
German tankpool24 driver André Kursim wasn’t one of them. His Mercedes is effectively undergoing what amounts to its first shakedown here in Spielberg, and the crew used every opportunity to fine-tune the setup. And so, while the other drivers were out finding increasing traction on the drying circuit, Kursim’s truck still wasn’t ready to roll.
Teammate Roland Rehfeld, meanwhile, was lapping at the level of (the majority of) the rest of the field, which left Kursim ruing what might have been. Rehfeld’s performance was surprising in itself, considering that the man from Berlin last raced a complete season in trucks only in 2001.
Impressions:
