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Jochen Mass will drive Euroline Mercedes in Le Mans

Jochen Mass will drive Euroline Mercedes in Le Mans

14. October 2006Oldies but Goodies, and a very special “goody” is the Croatian Euroline Mercedes team going to present at the final round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Le Mans. Mercedes, Le Mans, plus Jochen Mass, that’s a promise for a very successful combination, because the Bavarian already won the legendary 24 Hours for Mercedes in 1989. And the former Formula-1 pilot, who ran 105 F1 races between 1973 and 1982, is not completely unaccustomed to driving a 5-tons race truck. At the Truck Grand Prix 1994 on the Nürburgring Jochen Mass drove the Mercedes guest truck, obligatory in those years.
And if he handles the truck as expertly as at the Ring, his opponents will be in for a tough fight. Back then, at the second Cup race of the SuperRaceTrucks he was defeated only by Steve Parrish, Slim Borgudd and Fritz Kreutzpointner, but ran rings around experienced truck racers, such as the European Champions Noel Crozier, Heinz-Werner Lenz and Gerd Körber.
The engagement of the former F1 pilot for the final in Le Mans certainly is Mercedes’ answer to the participation of Hans-Joachim Stuck on the Allgäuer MAN at the Ring. The most amazing thing for the fans would certainly be, if Stuck and Mass would not only take part as guest drivers, but would enlist as FIA pilots for an entire season. Then two pilots would come together again who fought a good many battles when competing in Formula 1, because, naturally, Stuck ran a lot of F1 races, too – 73 altogether between 1974 and 1979.
At the moment, Egon Allgäuer at least moves heaven and earth to convince his guest pilot of the race on the Nürburgring, to drive his MAN race truck for a complete truck racing season.
At Mercedes it is customary that such things are not so much discussed in public, but beforehand it must be decided in Stuttgart, how they will proceed with their commitment to truck racing for the coming season.