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Le Mans This And That

Le Mans This And That

21. October 2016The final weekend of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Le Mans with 56,000 lively spectators was certainly not the climax of the season one might have hoped for. With his relatively large lead going into this round, nobody was in any doubt that MAN driver Jochen Hahn would win his fourth championship. But Hahn himself remained cautious, despite a 35-points advantage.
That reticence stems from bitter experience – headed for the title 10 years ago, one bad weekend turned his entire season on its head.
Also fresh in his memory are the events of the season following, when Swiss racer Markus Bösiger led local hero Antonio Albacete by 26 points at the start of the final weekend in Jarama. After an avalanche of DNFs, time penalties, protests, and a marathon four-hour deliberation by race control, Bösiger was pronounced champion by just one point at the FIA gala. But further appeals against that decision meant that the title could only actually be confirmed as Bösiger’s shortly before Christmas.
Nobody in truck racing would want to relive a nerve-wracking experience like that.
Hahn was totally focused on winning (back) the championship, but the pressure wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t really need to win again; the ball was now in Czech Adam Lacko’s court, so to speak. That the new champion finished three of the four races on the podium – twice, indeed, atop it, and those were the races with 20 points for the winner – and collected 54 out of a possible 60, testifies to the mental strength of the bantam from Altensteig.
That he was voted by his competitors as the best driver of the season is evidence of the high esteem he’s held in – on and around the racetrack. The quadruple champ is the go-to guy for advice and encouragement, and he and his team have always rushed to the help of any competitor in straits.
Seven of the trucks in this year’s field were either built or been worked on at the Hahn workshops in Egenhausen. And rare’s the truck that Hahn and his merry men haven’t had a hand in.
The weekend took off smoothly, but the second race on Sunday was like an abrupt crash-landing. In fact, it was the most impact-ful race of the season, pardon the pun. The outcomes of all the battles down the order were decided in this one.
The first lap had scarcely been completed when Anthony Janiec underestimated the momentum of his Lion MAN – or overestimated its braking capacity, whatever. The consequences were disastrous and led to an immediate stoppage of the race.
The restart, which took place 45 minutes later, proved to be another disaster. Lacko, struggling with a jammed gearbox on the approach to the lights, was hit from behind, precipitating a series of collisions further behind and alongside.
The race appeared to be jinxed.
After a further delay of half an hour, the race was restarted for the final time, with just eight trucks instead of 16 originally. The atmosphere was understandably grimmer, even if nobody was hurt in the smash-ups. Instead of enjoying the superb shows at the various stages set up around the circuit, most of the teams were hard at work trying to get their trucks raceworthy for Sunday. The fans also turned night into day, albeit for completely different reasons…
The ambience is the same as prevails during the legendary 24 hour sportscar race, even if there’s no action on the track after the massive fireworks display. The focus of activity instead was in the Village, where hundreds of festively lit show trucks were on display and a variety of stalls set up offering everything that can make a trucker’s heart beat faster, where rows of kiosks and tents overflowing with food and drink and all kinds of fairground attractions awaited fans, and where those who were up to it could dance the night away to the beats from a profusion of bands and DJs.
Those souls who’d wearied themselves there could saunter through the paddock and watch the teams at work – and there were many.
The weather all along was Le Mans magnifique – cold and dry. The truck racers have had it far worse at Circuit Bugatti at this time of year.
All trucks were back on the grid Sunday morning. All with the exception, of course, of the Mercedes of the young German André Kursim, which had broken down in qualifying with irreparable engine damage, and the Scania of Dutchman Erwin Kleinnagelvoort, which was a total writeoff after the previous evening’s crash.
The excitement was missing now; the proceedings were more sedate.
But when, in the concluding race of the season, the German WOW! pair Steffi Halm and Ellen Lohr in their MANs drove a race that would put many of their male competitors to shame, the stands and the paddock burst into life again.

Impressions:

Le Mans This And That
Le Mans This And That
Le Mans This And That
Le Mans This And That