Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Mercedes Benz and Truck Racing

Mercedes Benz and Truck Racing

03. September 2007A photograph as above – three Mercedes Benz trucks being in the lead at a race last year in Le Mans – could soon be history. As we all know the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles announced to hold their commitment to truck racing in abeyance – but obviously this applies only to European truck racing. But a lot of fans and people refuse to believe this and cling to the fact that this was not a decision coming from the executive board. Mercedes Benz was actively involved in European truck racing right from the beginning. And it’s not for the first time they decided to withdraw from truck racing – this was 6 years ago and affected the SuperRaceTrucks; at that time the RaceTrucks, which are more adapted to the production cars, were considered by many people as a kind of support programme. Then MAN, who had announced their withdrawal from truck racing – that is SuperRaceTrucks – some weeks ahead of the Stuttgart manufacturer, redeployed their truck racing activities on the “small category”. And gradually the commitment of Mercedes to truck racing increased again, which was certainly also attributable to the Hahn Team’s constant fidelity to the three-pointed-star, the continuous enthusiasm for truck racing by several important gentlemen in not exactly subordinate positions, as well as the undisputed big success of the events which entertained big crowds of enthusiastic spectators. Last year there were three pilots – Jochen Hahn, Markus Oestreich and Nico Pulic – who not only were good for a place on the podium anytime, but were serious title contenders just up till the final. In the end Mercedes secured third, fourth and seventh position.
This year, however, surprisingly Jochen Hahn was the only Mercedes top pilot competing for the championship. Nevertheless, the manufacturer’s commitment was as strong as in the year before, and also the marketing departments were more than ever present at the truck racing events. The performance of the Stuttgart manufacturer at the Ring was gigantic, the trucker cult band “The BossHoss” was included in a big publicity campaign; in Most for the first time there was a big marquee for the guests, and for the remaining races in Le Mans, Misano and Jarama similar performances are planned. For many people all these facts do not fit in with the decision to opt out, so more so as from Mercedes, too, in the past there were now and again digs at the major manufacturers of commercial vehicles, who attend all the events and present huge PR campaigns, but on the other hand flatly refuse to get actively involved in truck racing.
Despite everything the truck racers had some difficult times since the withdrawal of Mercedes in 2001, there wasn’t a lobby anymore. Reputedly comparisons have been drawn with the DTM and the F1, whose budgets, however, according to report, are far more than 40 and 420 Million Euro, respectively. Compared to those figures, Mercedes’ financial support for truck racing is nominal. It’s said that the crucial factors why truck racers are neglected a bit are, first of all, the lack of media presence, especially on TV, but another point is that the audience coming to the races is not big enough. But in view of the crowd at the circuit, the FIA European Truck Racing Championship can absolutely cope with the DTM, and at almost every event – whether in Germany or abroad – where both series participate at the same circuit, truck racing can even boast the bigger number of spectators. If somebody should make a comparison between the expenses and the PR and advertising effect – which would actually be impossible to do – then this would turn out pro truck racing. And nowhere in motor sports there is a better contact between manufacturer and end-user, who – contrary to other series – recognizes his own vehicle when looking at the trucks on the circuit.
Nonetheless, it could certainly be markedly difficult to induce the Mercedes Management to reconsider the decision to withdraw. Petitions were already planned; the truckracing.de contact form is used at present primarily to send remonstrative emails, but the decision-makers at Mercedes will probably go by other criteria.
Nevertheless, we have made up our mind – admittedly not purely unselfish – to conduct a poll concerning this subject; after all, a web portal like this one relies on the support from companies such as Mercedes Benz.