Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Saturday - Anthony Janiec is champion on a day with three restarts

14. October 2017Albi - For the second year in a row the town of Albi, 80 km northeast of Toulouse, is hosting the finale of the Coupe de France Camions. The entry list is packed with 24 pilots, including the only lady, Laurine Orsini. Circuit d’Albi has a long history. Seventy years ago it hosted a Grand Prix of France; in subsequent years it was Formula 2 and Formula 3 that dominated the scene, followed by club races for both cars and motorcycles and vehicle presentations.
The layout of the 3,551m circuit encloses (for the most part) an active airfield, except at its west end, where the runway extends out of the loop. No flight operations can take place when a race event is in progress, and vice versa.
In the last few years a private group of motorsport enthusiasts from the south of France have gotten together to elevate the sporting stature of Circuit d’Albi, and holding the finale of the Coupe de France Camions here is vital to that endeavour. All along Albi has been a magnet for tourists, who are maybe less interested in motorsport than in everything else that this picturesque town of 50,000 is famous for. The episcopal city, around the Cathedral Sainte-Cécile, is a Unesco World Heritage Site. There are also many museums, the best-known of which is the Toulouse-Lautrec, which houses the largest public collection of art in the world devoted to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the city’s most famous son.
But now a concerted effort is being made to burnish Albi’s motorsport heritage. The truck races today and tomorrow will be the most visible manifestation of that.
In the run-up to the fifth and concluding round of the Coupe de France Camions the crowning of Lion MAN driver Anthony Janiec as champion was considered just an outstanding formality, his points lead unassailable. Then Janiec met with an accident at the start of last week, causing his withdrawal from the finale of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Jarama. But truck racers are like modern-day gladiators and, looking at how Janiec struggled to climb into his cockpit, one was transported back 20 years. Then it was Gerd Körber, who after an accident had to be heaved into his race truck, only to go on and show the world that he’d lost not one ounce of fight. Even Janiec, who only really needed to finish in the points, demonstrated in free practice that he wasn’t prepared to let his first French championship slip out of grasp. His qualifying essay was good enough for 3rd place on the grid, right behind his closest follower Thomas Robineau MAN, who had Renault pilot Lionel Montagne alongside him.
If Janiec were to hold on to his place in the race, the title would be his. But standing right behind him was the VTR Renault of José Teodosio and Pole Gregory Ostaszewski, neither known for backing out of a good scrap. Only behind them was a Lion teammate in 16-year-old Téo Calvet (MAN) who could have provided the rear cushion for Janiec’s “Project Championship”.
As things turned out, Janiec had absolutely no need for team assistance, and was duly crowned champion of France. He did make way for Teodosio in the early stages, but then defended his 4th place stoutly till the finish.
On the fifth lap, Lion’s third pilot Louis Meric – the team from Lyons has four trucks in the fray – came off the track on the exit of the Virage du Parc (the penultimate corner) yet again. The previous times the MAN cub had managed to wriggle back onto the track without difficulty; this time he skimmed the gravel, lost control, and shot back out into the path of the oncoming trucks. A massive cloud of dust arose, out of which we could hear the sounds of squealing tyres and metal against metal. What actually happened is best left to the imagination.
Right behind Meric were Téo Calvet and Florian Orsini, driving a tankpool24 Mercedes as a guest. When the cloud cleared, the three trucks were found badly damaged and their pilots had to drop out forthwith.
The race was restarted with a reduced strength, the trucks lining up in an order corresponding to that at the end of the lap preceding the crash. Robineau was on pole, ahead of Montagne and Teodosio. Janiec started this rerun of Race 1 from fourth.
This time the MAN turned the tables on Teodosio, snatching 3rd place back on the first lap and holding it till the race was interrupted again – a truck had shot straight off into the gravel at the Virage du Parc and dug itself in. Considering that two-thirds of the race had already been completed, it was decided to end it right there. Running 3rd behind Robineau and Montagne, Janiec finally sealed his first Coupe de France Camions.
Everyone must have hoped for the rest of the day to go off smoothly, but that was not to be. Of the trucks that had been caught out in the spectacular crash earlier, only Meric’s wasn’t ready to race. Orsini was last on the grid in the tankpool24 Mercedes, and Téo Calvet’s MAN hadn’t made it to the formation in time and so the youngster would have to chase the field after it had swept past.
It took both just one lap to overtake a whole column of competitors, but they were cut short in full fight by the third abrupt interruption of the day. A truck had stuck in the gravel in a dangerous position. The restart followed the order of the original formation, but this time Téo Calvet wasn’t banished to pit lane. There were no immediate problems. In accordance with the reversed grid, the polesitter was Jean-Charles Maurie in the fourth Lion truck, a Renault. Again, though, he was passed by a number of competitors right after the start. Teodosio was in the lead, followed by new champion Janiec, Montagne, and Robineau. The quartet pulled away from the rest of the field, while Orsini and the young Calvet stormed up the field all over again to finish 5th and 8th.
The race was as good as done, when on the last lap Janiec’s MAN suddenly clapped itself onto the Teodosio’s Renault like a magnet, sending both trucks grinding off into the gravel. The red flags were waved again, but obviously there would be no restart this time. We were already more than an hour behind schedule, and dusk was gradually descending. Janiec was held responsible for this latest interruption and, in keeping with French regulations, promptly disqualified.
Teodosio was the winner, ahead of Robineau and Montagne.
Ostaszewski was cited as the best newcomer, with Téo Calvet and Aurelien Herrgott (DAF) following.

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