Tankpool24 Racing unveils its 2018 truck
08. May 2018Markus Bauer’s MB Motorsport team was “Back in Black” this week, unveiling its brand new tankpool24 Racing challenger for the 2018 European Championship before representatives of the team’s sponsors and a gaggle of reporters from Germany and Hungary at the customer centre in Mercedes-Benz’s Wörth am Rhein complex.
Norbert Kiss (HUN) and Steffen Faas (GER) slid the cover off, and the cloud of mist slowly cleared to reveal a Merc in black and red, the jet black cabin contrasting superbly against the distinctive scarlet-and-black wraparound fender, the bright red continuing as a racy taper across the side panels and over the rear mudguards.
Black is the colour of the team’s newest partner RoadStars, Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ official online community for truckers and enthusiasts. In prepared comments later, Irina Boller from Mercedes said truck racing provided a powerfully evocative core to the world’s largest truckmaker’s customer engagement platform, which registered upwards of four million visits last year.
Executives from the team’s long-standing sponsors tankpool24, Meyle, and Speedline also emphasised their enthusiasm for the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, and related how individual rounds provide their companies the unequalled opportunity to offer customers and employees alike the experience of a lifetime, as it were, strengthening the bonds. No less, collaborating with MB Motorsport has also helped them dramatically accelerate the pace of work on technical advancements for their respective markets.
A new star in the constellation – not just as team partner but, indeed, to truck racing itself – is the Hegelmann Transporte Group, a large logistics company with a 2,000-strong fleet and bases in 10 countries across Europe and the CIS. Explaining what sold him on the deal, managing director Siegfried Hegelmann spoke of the rare opportunity truck racing represented not just to enhance the visibility of his business but also – echoing the other sponsors – to offer customers and employees the thrilling experience of being at the races... live.
In conclusion, Markus Bauer recounted just how much the “business” of trucksport has changed over the 24 years that he’s been at it. Earlier as team boss he’d be 90 percent of the time involved with the actual racing and 10 percent with marketing and sponsors; today it’s the inverse. And that’s why, he said, it’s so rewarding to see the team’s partners exploit – to the fullest extent – the demonstrated effectiveness of truck racing in their advertising strategies.
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