Thursday, 28.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Nürburgring – Preliminary Report

Nürburgring – Preliminary Report

08. July 2008The Truck Grand Prix at the Ring has always been the highlight of every truck racing season. This means that paddock manager Wolfgang Schumacher has his work cut out to place all the teams that want to participate, all the more so as, due to wide-ranging rebuilding operations, there is less space available, and everything has to be organized differently. This season there will be a total number of 58 truck racing teams (FIA and Mittelrhein-Cup) – 11 more than last year. Of course all the FIA pilots are going to come to the Ring, although there is still a big question mark in case of the Spaniard Javier Mariezcurrena, as his MAN had ploughed into the wall during the final race in Nogaro. The RaceTruck was a wreck and the pilot suffered an injury of his shoulder. The field of the pilots for the races of the European Championship is completed by the two Dutch race-by-race pilots, Rainbow Worrier“ Cees Zandbergen and Erwin Klein-Nagelvoort, the Go-and-Stop-King of the Nürburgring.
Another “King of the Ring”, Heinz-Werner Lenz, will take part in the Mittelrhein Cup together with his son, Sascha. For these races the competition will be keener than hardly ever before. Not only Hans-Joachim „Strietzel“ Stuck, another driver who knows the Nürburgring inside out, plans to thrill his fans once more as a guest driver in a MAN RaceTruck, but furthermore – as the results of these races count towards the British Truck Racing Championship – there will be two more excellent drivers with two top RaceTrucks, former European champions Stuart Oliver and Chris Levett, competing as well. On the other hand, just for these two teams and these pilots a very busy weekend is lying ahead with a total of 6 races.
The temperatures will not exceed 20 °C (68 °F), the rain probability is around 80 % - or so the weather forecast says.
But the spectators at the Ring know from their own experience that nothing is as unpredictable as the weather at the Nürburgring, which means again this year: umbrella and suntan lotion. Because due to the clear mountain air of the Eifel there is a high risk to get sunburns if the sun breaks through the clouds now and then.
Same as every year at the TGP, Thursday will already be action-packed. In the morning the press drivings are scheduled, followed by the VIP drivings. As the contingent was increased once again, some tickets are still available. However, there are already applications for next year. And after that the truck racers still have ample opportunity to adjust their set-ups to the Ring during the drivings for the people from the industry and the sponsors, and during the additional free practice.
Again an audience of about 200,000 is expected to come to the Ring, but that depends a bit on the weather, too. For most of the grandstands there are still some tickets available, although many fans spend most of their time in the paddock during the day, and at night they stay at the concerts or watch the fireworks at the Müllenbachschleife, anyway. Because, as is well known, a ticket for the TGP always includes free admission to all these attractions.
And for all those who cannot be present at the Ring, there will be, for the first time, a complete truck racing event as video live streaming on the internet. On this web portal and also on the TGP website there will again be a TGP special, where not only press reports and results will be released shortly after the races, but there will also be a link to the video live streaming.