Grand Prix Camions du Castellet – Saturday
03. June 2017Le Castellet - On Friday afternoon were the taxi rides for the press and VIPs. Boije Ovebrink and Volvo’s Iron Knight, the most powerful truck in the world with 2,400 hp and a top recorded speed of 276 km/h, made a surprise appearance, doing a lap of honour at a moderate – by Iron Knight standards – pace with Anthony Janiec on afterburners in pursuit.
That was it with the fun and games; on Saturday things got a bit more serious. French racing legend Noël Crozier, who turns 70 this year, was honoured for his long service to the sport. The multiple ex-champion took the wheel of one of his ’80s-era trucks and tore down the pit straight.
Franck Conti had thrown a party the evening before to celebrate the 20th year of his truck racing team. He too was fêted in front of the crowds of fans.
The felicitations were preceded by qualifying for the first race of the weekend. Janiec in his Lion truck took pole by two tenths from marque-of-a-MAN rival Thomas Robineau.
Many expected a somewhat more even contest race after the first faceoff between the two at Circuit de Charade in mid-May turned out to be a display of total dominance by Janiec.
But Janiec took the lead straightway in his MAN-in-yellow and was, surprisingly, way ahead of the rest of the pack at the end of the first lap. He proceeded to victory, 13 seconds clear of Robineau, who had his hands full defending 2nd position from Portuguese José Teodosio and Lionel Montagne (both Renault). They tailed him across the line in intervals of a second each. Lionel Daziano followed the trio home in the second Lion MAN a solitary 5th. Finn John Hemming (Mercedes) led a duo of Portuguese José Sousa (Renault) and the third Lion MAN driven by Louis Meric across the line. His 6th place would have meant pole in the following race – had he not been docked three spots on the start grid for exceeding track limits. Sousa thus inherited pole and the Finn found himself back in ninth behind Franck Conti. Stephane Languillat (Renault) finished 10th.
The second race of the day in the Coupe de France Camions also starts with a partially reversed grid, but with only the top six finishers from the first race starting in reverse order; the rest of the trucks start from a position corresponding to their place in the classification. Sousa had pole, and Janiec would start from sixth. Teodosio, who was to start in 4th, had to take up the chase from pit lane; his Renault wasn’t race-ready at the grid formation.
The best preconditions for an exciting display? Maybe, but things started to look predictable pretty soon as Janiec stormed his way up to 2nd in the first lap. His Lion teammate Daziano had taken the lead initially, but was forced to make way for Janiec in the second lap itself. He then managed to hold up MAN colleague Robineau for just one more lap before the leading duo from the first race were back with a reprise. Janiec built out a handsome lead and one could be forgiven for concluding that it was all over, all over again. But Robineau had other ideas this time. Over the course of the race he reeled Janiec in steadily till, a few laps to the finish, he was right on the rear crash guard of the yellow MAN. But catching up and overtaking are two different undertakings. Janiec was clearly quicker out of the narrow curves, and used that advantage to win his second race of the day, albeit by less than a second this time round. Daziano was 3rd, with plenty of daylight before him and also between him and Montagne, who led third Lion pilot Meric across the line.
There was a furious battle throughout for 6th. Teodosio, having started from pit lane after the 25-strong field had crossed the pit exit, made up ground lap after lap, till he’d reached 9th place by mid-race. But then his progress was impeded by stronger competitors than the ones he’d overcome, and it took him several laps to subdue Conti and set his sights on Hemming. When he’d dispatched the Finnish Mercedes pilot he set upon teammate Sousa, who’d started from pole, and deftly seized 6th place from him.
Hemming finished less than half a second behind the Portuguese in 8th, followed by Conti and Languillat.
Impressions:
