Jarama – This and That

13. October 2008Maybe the final in Jarama lacked a bit in excitement – but not in spirit. From the outset it was clearly evident that the title win would be a Buggyra-internal decision as, in case that David Vrsecky should gain one single point only – which nobody doubted – local hero Antonio Albacete wouldn’t stand a chance, even if he would win every race. The only one who could possibly spoil things for the Czech was his team mate, title defender Markus Bösiger. And Buggyra chief strategist Mario Kress would certainly see to it that the two title contenders did not put each other out of contention in the heat of the moment. But if Vrsecky would have been forced to retire during the race – a fact that almost cost Bösiger his title last year in Jarama – then the Swiss would have claimed the victory again, because he was only 18 points behind the front runner; and he won more races anyway.
Eventually the final did not pass off as spectacularly and dramatically as the one 12 months ago. But it was to the liking of the 35,000 spectators; after all, they could celebrate no less than four victories of their Antonio. Needless to say that the Madrilenian was the star; again and again he posed with his fans for photo shootings and finally, in his exuberant high spirits he again threw his helmet into the crowd – which is by now a ritual for Albacete when he is in Jarama.
But there were indeed some surprises. Who would have thought that David Patalacci with his aged and not really competitive DAF RaceTruck would ever be heading the top-speed list – with an unbelievably 165 km/h. The original character certainly enjoyed this rather than getting annoyed about the unavoidable disqualification, the more so as he wasn’t in a place for the points anyway.
The next surprise didn’t turn out well. Jochen Hahn achieved “only” two second positions. The man from Altensteig would have loved to finish his first MAN year just like his last Mercedes year – with a victory in Jarama. Yet the only German FIA-ETRC pilot has achieved far more than most of his opponents and truck racing experts would have credited him with after his switch to another car manufacturer. Especially after the successes in the second half of the season with the climax – the win in Le Mans – it was clear that the Hahn Team will participate next year, too – even though not everything is cut and dried yet. And with his rather limited budget this year the only German pilot, with his 4th position in the overall ranking, has even achieved the same result as in the year before.
The surprising promoted pilot of the season was certainly Markus Altenstrasser. Last year the Austrian, at short notice, joined the Renault Team as replacement for Simeon Martin who had left the team quite suddenly, and he had a really successful season. That’s why in Jarama he was awarded the Sponsor Challenge Cup. Balazs Szobi, the second one to get this trophy, became “Rookie of the Year”. Till now the Hungarian gained his race experiences mainly at the “Dakar”. But, as he said, in truck racing everything is much better, greater atmosphere, a bigger audience, and more fun – even though the races are much tougher, as the team pointed out over and over. For the next year the Oxxo Team intends to do even better. They will probably participate with the current RaceTruck of Jochen Hahn, who necessarily will have to construct a new one for himself.
And yet another newcomer, Mikhail “Mike” Konovalov, had a rather spectacular season. The ardent Zenit St. Petersburg fan from the Allgäuer team was the third winner of the Sponsor Cup. And it is no less exciting to watch Mikael Johansson scorch down the track. With his hopelessly inferior Scania bonneted Truck he often drifts through the bends with his truck pointing sidewards, and proceeded to become not only the darling of the audiences, but especially of the camera operators and the photographers, too. That’s why during the FIA party he was awarded a special trophy for the best drifts.
And of course a race in Jarama would be unimaginable without the numerous – mostly Spanish – “amateur” and private drivers in the third part at the back of the field, which consisted of 35 pilots. The moment those pilots appear there are deafening cheers from the grandstands. The fans just hope to succeed in stimulating their idols to undertake daredevil, spectacular actions – and very often they prevail.
Another one who caused a big surprise in Jarama, was José Rodrigues. Together with his father Eduardo the Portuguese took part in a FIA ETRC race for the first and only time this year. With totally obsolete material he finished several times in the places for the points – although, as a race-by-race pilot, he did not get any points. If he participated regularly and had an appropriate truck with high standard technical equipment, he would probably be a real top five candidate.