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Testing in Nogaro

Testing in Nogaro

19. March 2006Nogaro - Egon Allgäuer took the initiative and invited to a joint testing in Nogaro. No less than 9 RaceTrucks participated at the test laps in the south of France, where at the end of June the 4th race of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship will take place. Aside from Guntram Muther and Marks Altenstrasser – the 2 new pilots on the Allgäuer Team – Jochen Hahn, Markus Bösiger, Alain Buffa, Niko Pulic and Javier Mariezcurrena Echeverria made the tiresome journey to the Gascogne. And then there were Joseph Adua and Chris Levett, who are going to participate at the national championships in France and England. During the race at the end of June, the heat in the land of d'Artagnan is nearly killing you, but now, in mid-March, the windows had to be freed from ice in the mornings. However, on Thursday and Friday there was sunshine almost all day long; but on Friday night it started raining and it took till midday of the following day before the track was dry again. <br />
For most of the trucks, Nogaro was the first practical test of the season. But really exciting was this roll-out for Jochen Hahn with his brand new Mercedes Axor, and for Egon Allgäuer, who had constructed a completely new MAN TGA. At the end, everybody was satisfied. Nearly every pilot reached last year's fastest times, some could even top them. Was it due to the better trucks, the new Goodyear Truck Racing tyres which were available for the first time, or the course which was thoroughly overhauled? Of course, the new surface still lacked some grip.<br />
With a lot of energy, the Croatian Euroline Team started the new season. In Reijeka, SuperRaceTruck champion Markus Oestreich had already done some rounds on the black and silver Mercedes, to help the team at the further development of the race truck of Niko Pulic. And also in Nogaro the man from Fulda supported the team. In the end, Oese seemed to have done more rounds than Pulic himself. But it was Pulic who was responsible for the first exiting events. First, a hose came loose, oil splashed on the hot rear brake, and licking flames scared the audience. Later on, a burst turbo made the course disappear under clouds of smoke. And Markus Altenstrasser, too, caused an impressive smoke curtain with the burst of his turbo. The team, however, seemed to be relieved that this misfortune happened during the tests in Nogaro rather then at the start of the season in Barcelona. With Markus Bösiger not everything went as desired on the first day, but on Friday, thanks to race ingeneer Stefan Honens, it went smoothly, and Bösiger could do complete race distances without any problems, with even faster times than last year. And also in other respects the 'training camp' paid for the Swiss team. When trying to erect the new tent they bought from Daniel Seiler, it turned out that a bag containing the bolts was missing. In Barcelona that would have been a real disaster. <br />
Because of the damp track on the last day of testing, there were some more incidents. Truck racing newcomer Chris Levett ploughed through the gravel several times and damaged his radiator considerably. Neither could Jochen Hahn finish his test laps on Saturday. When speeding up after the first curve, he crashed into the barriers, which resulted not only in the damage of his radiator, but also of some other parts.