Friday in Nogaro

10. June 2016Nogaro - After the early withdrawal of Iveco pilot Gerd Körber’s German Schwabentruck team from this, the 3rd round of the European Truck Racing Championship on Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro in the south of France, the tankpool24 Mercedes of André Kursim and the MAN of Czech Frankie Vojtíšek were the latest to drop out. The young German’s truck had come away from an exhibition last weekend with evidently irreparable damage to its engine’s electronic controls, and finding a replacement for the ECU at such short notice was impossible. Vojtíšek’s MAN too reported technical problems.
That leaves just 11 trucks for the FIA ETRC races in Nogaro.
As the first teams trickled in on Wednesday the skies were crystal clear with ambient temperatures at around 36°C, and the asphalt in the paddock was measured at 52°.
None of that was in evidence today. As the press taxied around the track this morning the sky was lowering - but there was no rain. And so, at the concluding press lunch, everyone was cautiously optimistic that it would stay dry. After all, that’s what the weathermen had suggested as well.
But immediately after, the heavens opened.
Nevertheless, the one-hour supplementary practice session, for those drivers who’d offered the taxi rides, kicked off on the dot.
At the start itself René Reinert (GER) in his MAN slid off into a tyre barrier. When activity was allowed to resume the track had dried somewhat and the lap times duly dropped. At the end it was Mercedes pilot Norbert Kiss (HUN) quickest, followed by Germans Jochen Hahn and Steffi Halm (both MAN).
It wasn’t clear yet, however, whether – given the circumstances – everyone had really gone flat out.
The times in first free practice were up to 20 seconds better, and it was the same trio that led the field, this time with Hahn on top. Hahn was unbeatable in second free practice as well, a good half-second quicker than anyone. But the top three had now expanded into a quintet, the MAN pilot followed in intervals of one-tenths of a second by Steffi Halm, Buggyra pilot Adam Lacko (CZE), Kiss, and Reinert.
The happenings on the track were only the prelude to the evening’s highlight, the racetruck parade through Nogaro. But even here the rain was determined to have a look-in.
It came down the very moment the fans started lining up at the long tables set out in the Place Jeanne d’Arc, the picturesque town square of this community of 3,000, for autographs. But that did nothing to dampen the upbeat mood, certainly not of the racers. Some of them showed on the drive back to the circuit how a race truck can stand still with its wheels spinning, even in the narrowest of bylanes.
The burnouts, of course, were a big hit with the fans. For those responsible for the upkeep of Nogaro’s streets, perhaps not quite so.

Impressions: