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Jarama – This and That

Jarama – This and That

16. October 2007In our reflections about the races there is always a brief summary where we go especially into those things that didn’t work out so well or could have been better. In regard to Jarama 2007, this event could furnish matter for several summaries. But let’s start with some pleasant news. Frankie Vojtisek is back. The 46-year old Czech is not only one of the senior pilots of truck racing, but he is also one of the most popular drivers. This became apparent when Frankie was received with cheers when the trophies were presented to the pilots at the FIA ceremony in the evening. And Jochen Hahn was a popular figure, too. Not many people would have thought that – despite having a lot of stress caused by the uncertainty about the coming season – the Swabian would carry off two more splendid victories at his presumably last performance in his Mercedes Axor.
And then there are those fans.
There was a crowd of certainly more than 70,000 people. 46,000 weekend tickets were sold – day tickets are not available – for the circuit that admits 55,000. And on Sunday the circuit was packed. In addition, there are the paddock, VIP and honour tickets that are distributed directly by the organizer and hence are not listed in the statistics of the box office. So there were certainly several thousand people more than stated – all of them being a part of this unbelievable ambience that is beyond all description, you have to see it to believe it.
However, despite the buoyant spirit at this festival in red you now and then get the impression of watching a Cepsa special with an international attendance instead of an international FIA event. For instance, one of the sponsors was not allowed to set up a flag on a fully pulled out mobile crane on the grounds that this was too dangerous. At previous races this posed not a problem. Cepsa, however, as in all the years before, had erected an even bigger crane which was also right at the track. In the past years there were even entire trucks dangling from this crane, this year it was a huge flag.
But even more the attitude of several subordinate marshals gave cause to wonder. For instance, some Buggyra mechanics – still agited – told late in the evening that, only a few minutes before the start of the final and title-deciding race, the people responsible for the correct start grid had tried to urge Markus Bösiger – who had to start from the back of the grid anyway – to drive back to the pit lane in order to start from there. This would have been an even more adverse impact for the Swiss.
But in fact there was no reason to sharpen the situation to such an extent. After all, the front runner arrived in Jarama with a comfortable advantage of 26 points. Why – just during the final race weekend – the Freightliners, which worked dead reliable all season, almost incessantly were affected by mechanical failures in some way or other, is something the Buggyra team will certainly sort out among themselves.
Eventually Markus Bösiger was crowned European Champion at the FIA gala, while the Cepsa team with runner-up Antonio Albacete failed to appear at the gala. But in the long run it will certainly come to an armchair decision in Paris – with a “stop-over” at the Spanish association in Madrid – who will ultimately become the winner.
With the necessary distance to the past events it should be possible to approach the occurrences more objectively. And already on Monday morning during the leave-taking in the paddock the pointed remarks caused by the wrought-up emotions were almost forgotten. For instance, Mario Kress and Ivan Cruz – two who had a fierce quarrel only several hours before – were hugging. People know each other rather well and esteem one another. After all, up till 2004 Cepsa and Buggyra built one team at the SuperRaceTrucks.