Jarama Preliminary Report

01. October 2015Jarama - This year the FIA European Truck Racing Championship will run over 10 weekends, the finale – in theory – taking place over the second weekend of October at Circuit Bugatti in Le Mans, France. In actual fact, the champion could well be crowned this weekend itself, at the 9th round on the Circuito del Jarama at the gates of the Spanish capital Madrid. Norbert Kiss has a virtually unassailable lead, and the MAN pilot would only be denied his second title in a row if he fails to finish every single one of the eight outstanding races, an extreme improbability.
That’s the necessary condition, but not sufficient for his only two rivals still in the running, German Jochen Hahn (MAN) and Buggyra driver Adam Lacko (CZE), who’d each also have to win all the remaining races for either to take the championship.
If everything goes as it should, the Oxxo team will be throwing its first party to celebrate a dominant double on Saturday evening itself.
And so Hahn and Lacko won’t necessarily be concentrating on Kiss, but eyeing each other instead - in the face-off for first runner-up. At the same time they’d be well advised not to forget Lacko’s teammate and compatriot David Vršecký. His Freightliner’s been terrific in recent races, while Lacko’s truck has given him some problems.
Home hero Antonio Albacete completes the Top Five, champions all except for Lacko. Albacete has always been the crowd favourite in Jarama - the Spaniard is as good on this circuit blindfolded! Things haven’t quite gone with the Cepsa MAN pilot the way he’d have liked, but the darling of the Spanish fans will doubtless do all he can to delight them.
Six more Spanish pilots in the fray as race-by-race entrants can be counted on to spice up the show with their on-track antics. Like Albacete in Jarama, they will be chasing points for the Spanish championship.
The one driver missing from the list of 12 full-season pilots is once again Portuguese MAN pilot Eduardo Rodrigues, whose broken leg hasn’t fully healed. Rodrigues has made it known, however, that even if he’s still wheelchair-bound, he will be coming to Jarama to cheer on his son José, a race-by-race entrant.
The 21-strong field will be rounded off by an MAN race-by-race armada with Frankie Vojtíšek (CZE) and the two Germans Sascha Lenz and Steffi Halm. All eyes will be on racegirl Halm after her stellar performances in Most and Budapest, climaxing in her win at the Hungaroring.
Were it not for the forecast of clear weather with temperatures of around 25°C, the gentlemen racers would do well to come warmly clad.

Impressions: