Hungaroring Preliminary Report

03. September 2015Hungaroring - The pilots of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship are congregating for the second time in just a few days, this time at the Hungaroring near the Hungarian capital Budapest. The circuit is actually located in a town called Mogyoród. The name might be difficult to pronounce if you’re not strong in Hungarian, but the fact is nobody from outside the country has heard of it, even if it’s situated only 10–12 km from inner-city Budapest.
There’s an enormous sense of anticipation among the Hungarians. Everywhere you can’t help notice that it’s not only the home Oxxo team that’s feverishly awaiting the big event. The interest from industry and sponsors is immense; after all, it’s been 25 years since a truck race was last run here.
A total of 14 trucks will take the start. From among the full-season pilots Eduardo Rodrigues will not be racing. The Portuguese MAN driver had to pull out of Most as a consequence of an injury to a leg that he suffered in the summer break while climbing down from a truck - not his race truck, be it emphasised. The entire truck racing family wishes him a speedy recovery and hopes that he will be back in action for at least the final races.
There are three race-by-race entrants - Steffi Halm and Sascha Lenz (both GER) and Frankie Vojtíšek, all in MANs. The Czech is the only one in the field who’s participated in a truckrace at the Hungaroring. But past achievements won’t count for anything; everything (and everyone) at the Hungaroring favours a Norbert Kiss triumph.
Half of Hungary would be more than disappointed if the defending champ doesn’t drive his MAN onto the podium at least twice - preferably the top step!
But his rivals couldn’t be bothered by the overwhelming partisanship, because each one is determined to get as far ahead as he or she can, to collect as many points as possible.
Mind games were still far in the future yesterday evening, as the circus arrived at one of the massive parking lots outside the main entrance while another event took place on the track. The family feeling for which truck racing is so famous was once again very much in evidence. The Truck Race Organisation (TRO), to which many of the drivers and teams belong, ordered two carloads of pizza, and when they had all been consumed it was time to trickle into the paddock.
By then it was dark already, and there wasn’t much more to do.
As an aside, the Hungaroring turns 30 this year, and the organisers wanted to treat themselves to something really special. They couldn’t have done any better than host the 7th round of the FIA ETRC.

Impressions: