Friday at the Hungaroring
26. August 2016Hungaroring - The second half of the 2016 FIA European Truck Racing Championship kicks off tomorrow at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest. The “56-osok tere” (1956 Memorial Square) in the centre of the Hungarian capital, commemorating the revolutionaries of 1956, was the first stop on the truck racers’ agenda before their campaign on the Hungaroring begins. On Thursday afternoon a long convoy that included the GT racers of the Blancpain series and the Suzukis from the Swift Cup took off towards the city under police escort. The cacophony of snarls from 40-odd race engines created no small stir, and passing motorists on the autobahn could be forgiven for fearing an invasion of some bizarre sort.
The pilots, for their part, played to the gallery, or in this case the hundreds of wide-eyed watchers-on at the roadsides, stepping up their pace – and the din by several decibels – regardless of a speed radar along the way.
The ensuing parade by the racers on the 1956 Memorial Square pulled in the fans in flocks. In no time they had lined up by their hundreds for autographs. It was already dark by the time the racers were able to return to the paddock.
Today it was right back to business.
At noon, braving the summer sun that beat down merciless from a steel sky, visitors and pressfolk queued up in thick racing overalls and head-hugging helmets for their three-lap adventure of a lifetime in an oven-hot race truck cockpit.
Then, at the start of the one-hour supplementary practice session that the teams are allowed as a reward for ferrying VIPs and press around on the taxi rides, the Hungarian fans went berserk. Their idol Norbert Kiss was quickest in his tankpool24-Mercedes, a whisker ahead of thrice-champ Jochen Hahn (GER).
In the regulation free practice that followed immediately after – and this session only lasts 20 minutes – Hahn set a time of 2:17.330s that nobody could match.
On the other hand we’re certain not everybody played his or her hand. After all, there’s one more free practice session to come tomorrow.
Fifteen race trucks have been entered for this event. From among the 14 season starters two names are missing - the two MAN pilots Eduardo Rodrigues (POR) and René Reinert (GER). The Portuguese had already exercised his “joker” option for this round, while Reinert was called away at short notice on an urgent business engagement.
The field will have three race-by-race pilots - Englishman Ryan Smith in the OXXO truck, who was third-fastest in free practice today, his compatriot and MAN colleague Shane Brereton, and French Mercedes driver Dominique Orsini.
Impressions:
