Test weekend in Nogaro

08. May 2021Only a fortnight after the tests at the Autodrom in Most, the French motorsport federation FFSA and truck enthusiast magazine France Routes hosted another weekend session at Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro in the south of France. Although primarily intended for the participants in the
Championnat de France Camions, truck racers from the other series were obviously most welcome to join.
Among the 18 pilots that took up the invitation were six who have registered for the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. Buggyra had already made its first outing in Most, albeit with only two of its trio of Freightliners, the No. 29 and No. 55 of its Czech drivers Aliyyah Koloc and Adam Lacko. The No. 20 was at the time already in the south of France, so Téo Calvet had taken turns piloting Lacko’s DV50.
For the teenaged Aliyyah and her barely older teammate Calvet, the tests at Circuit Paul Armagnac provided an ideal opportunity to tune up for the French championship, which they both will be contesting, parallel to their participation in the ETRC.
The three other FIA pilots in Nogaro – Antonio Albacete and Luis Recuenco from Spain, and Sascha Lenz from Germany, MAN pilots all – will race in the ETRC only.
The weather conditions were a mixed bag. The morning of the first day was very wet, with a couple of hailstorms. In the afternoon, by contrast, the conditions were almost ideal, and the forecast for Day 2 too was very promising. So the lap times could hardly be said to be declarative, and in any case you wouldn’t expect any of the teams to be laying all of their cards on the table.
The ETRC contingent also tried out the new HVO fuel, which the FIA WMSC has prescribed for this season and those to come, and were altogether satisfied with the results.
The teams now have plenty of time to make further developementon their trucks before the start of the season at the Hungaroring in just over a month.