Zolder This And That

27. September 2015Zolder - The 8th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Zolder, Belgium, suffered somewhat on Saturday from the changeable weather. For many truck racing fans the trip to Zolder is a spur-of-the-moment decision, and these would naturally be put off by the prospect of rain. It’s true that the spectators have clear views of the action from most places around the track, but there are very few stands except for the grandstand and, of course, the terrace atop the pits, which is crammed beyond capacity. The many sand dunes around the circuit offer excellent views, but choosing this option requires sturdy footwear.
In the end there were 13,000 spectators who witnessed Hungarian Norbert Kiss set the stage for the defence of his title. With a deficit of 150 points, his German MAN colleague now has only an improbable chance of winning, even if there are still 240 points that a single driver could theoretically collect. Hahn will now likely be concentrating more on his direct pursuer, Czech Adam Lacko (Freightliner), who lies only three points adrift. And only 23 points behind Lacko lurks his compatriot and Buggyra teammate David Vršecký.
And so the fight for the two open podium places for the FIA ceremony in Le Mans will go down to the wire.
In any case, the Zolder weekend was a complete contrast from the riotous “Kiss fest” in Hungary - maybe because there were no local drivers to cheer.
Nevertheless the racing was spectacular, and the truck racers were more than fortunate on a few occasions. The spectators along the pit straight will have held their breaths on several occasions, and some team bosses would have had their hearts in their hosen. How well all truck racers and fans know how much scrap the scraps here can produce!

Impressions: