Thursday, 28.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Friday in Jarama

Friday in Jarama

30. September 2016Jarama - One thing we can be reasonably certain of at this penultimate round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship on Circuito del Jarama at the gates of the Spanish capital Madrid - there won’t be any racing in the wet.
The first teams arrived here on Tuesday, and they’ve enjoyed a week of clear skies and splendid summer weather. Day temperatures are a pleasant 25°C, though it does get rather hot in the sun. The nights, by contrast, are bone-chilling. The warmth of the day is gone in no time, and given that the circuit is situated around 700 metres above sea level, the temperatures here hover around the low single digits in the early morning.
It’s not just the beautiful weather that the teams are enjoying, it’s also the peace that pervades the paddock, the trucks being the sole focus of quiet activity.
Late afternoon yesterday there were sad tidings for Frenchman Anthony Janiec and his Lion Truck Racing team. They were informed that the MAN pilot’s appeal against the 30 second penalty he was awarded in Most four weeks ago had been turned down.
This meant Janiec would not only lose the points he’d picked up in that race; he also dropped to 11th place, the first out of the points in the classification – which, moreover, disqualifies him (retrospectively) for the second race that day. Pending the ruling on his appeal he’d been allowed to start that race from a position it’s now clear he didn’t deserve.
This changes the pecking order in the four-cornered fight for third place. German MAN driver René Reinert has had two points added to his account, while Janiec has lost a couple. Now in sixth, the Frenchman is 23 points adrift of Reinert, with Hungarian Norbert Kiss (Mercedes-Benz) and Reinert’s protégée Steffi Halm in between.
Janiec is staring at an uphill battle for that prized spot on the podium at the FIA ceremony in Le Mans.
Yesterday afternoon there was a press conference with about 50 representatives of the media in attendance. The organiser was at pains to emphasise Circuito del Jarama’s long association with truck racing, and introduced all the truck racers one by one – not in person, of course, because many of them had yet to make it to Madrid, which they all did today.

Impressions:

Friday in Jarama
Friday in Jarama
Friday in Jarama