Thursday, 28.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Outlook

Outlook

21. January 2009A few days ago the FIA term of application for the European Truck Racing Championship started. And again the number of pilots is limited to 26. Should the number of registrations exceed this limit, there will be an ingenious allocation scheme. But now it is doubtful whether there will even be as many as 26 entrants, because – due to the current economic situation – the teams and pilots are markedly worried; and even long-standing sponsors are rather reluctant to give their commitment. But the German fans can be assured that Jochen Hahn, who received the title ‘most popular truck racer’ at the Truck Grand Prix on the Ring, will participate. Same goes for the other three pilots of last year’s top quartet, David Vrsecky, Markus Bösiger and Antonio Albacete – even if not all the contracts may be definitely signed yet – so that a starting grid like the one shown in the photograph above can be seen again in future.
However, the Team Hahn Racing doesn’t hide the fact that they are glad they already signed a new contract with their main sponsor at an early stage – some parts during their presentation at the ‘IAA Nutzfahrzeuge, Hanover’ in September. As things stand today, this would certainly have been much more difficult.
And that’s exactly what many other pilots experienced meanwhile – among them one of the top drivers. He would have loved to return to the truck racing business; he had exploratory talks with manufacturers and big sponsors, but – as he said – at the present state nobody wants to make such firm promises that he could pre-plan for an entire season. But the former champion thinks that perhaps there will be the opportunity to participate as a guest driver every now and then.
All the worse it is for the ‘second rank’ pilots, not to mention the private drivers, to get enough money from sponsors. And so nobody was surprised to hear that probably last year’s Mercedes duo, José Bermejo and Steve Horn – both of whom renowned for highly spectacular performances – will no longer be present in future. The Spaniard offers his RaceTruck for sale, and the saying goes Horne also wants to sell his Mercedes for personal reasons. And there is yet another RaceTruck waiting for a new owner, ‘drift king’ Mikael Johannsson’s Scania. But the confirmed Scania fan wants to enlist in any case, and together with his team he will construct a completely new RaceTruck which maybe will not have that spectacular drift in the bends, but instead is expected to get more points for the Swede.
On the other hand, the FIA deadline is still four months away, and until then a lot can happen.

Addendum:

José Bermejo, one of the darlings of the fans and the camera people because of his spectacular way of driving, decided to have another try, after all. According to the latest information the team will reconstruct their Mercedes
Benz RaceTruck.