Nogaro – Preliminary Report

25. June 2008The truck racers always rated Nogaro among their more favourite circuits, even though the last kilometres over the narrow and sometimes rather bendy country roads of the Gascogne are not really a picnic for the big trailers. And now the small town in the south of France could even be granted some more points: the weather service predicts temperatures between 25 and 30 °C (77 – 86 °F) and bright sunshine. That’s just what the truck racers wish for, since the weather gods had no mercy on them so far. And the teams were always delighted with the atmosphere in Nogaro, when on the natural grand stands there are ten times as many spectators than the small town has inhabitants. The narrow exit from the narrow pit lane, where some pilots had to go back and forth several times with their – compared to other racing vehicles – huge trucks, and the small pits, that were rather designed for motorbikes, were not really to the liking of the drivers, but there was sufficient prospect that this would change for the better. And last year the time had finally come, for the first time the truck racers could use the new paddock with pits that would even meet the requirements of the Formula 1, and everybody was delighted.
In Nogaro we will again have a 3 days event. Already on Friday the press drivings will take place; with the additional practice this means more than 2 hours for tests and checking, followed by the two mandatory free practices. This will please those teams the most, that had used the first somewhat longer break between two races for improvements and adjustments.
For the first time this season all 25 FIA pilots are registered, and in addition as race-by-race pilot, Jennifer Janiec, at the moment the only lady among the truck racers.