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Le Mans – This and That

Le Mans – This and That

24. September 2009Once again this year the truck racers were fortunate with the weather, the more so as for Sunday rain showers had been predicted. On the opening lap of the final race the pilots noticed some rain drops on their windscreen, but fortunately that was all. On Friday, however, there was heavy rain, and as in Le Mans there is a slight slope in both paddocks, particularly the tents of the teams in the lower part of the support paddock were several centimetres deep in the water. And in other respects, too, the topics worth mentioning in a follow-up review were actually mainly off-track incidents.
It is not for nothing that the organizers in Le Mans call this round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship ’24 Heures Camions’, the reference to the most famous race on the Circuit de la Sarthe is not unintended. Apart from the motorsport events the big races in Le Mans are, above all, a massive spectacle and public festival. Although the famous big wheel was not there this year, there were still more fairground attractions around than on many small town fairs. On Saturday evening there was a great show on the finish straight at the grand stands, however, the noise level – which could have easily drowned out the sound of a RaceTruck – was almost unbearable. And the more the noise swelled, the more the speaker felt impelled to raise his voice. And all that noise was transmitted in full blast to the paddock, where the loudspeakers almost cracked. Several people were so fed up with the whole shebang that they took flight. And those, who found the way into the historic old quarter of Le Mans, could enjoy a real alternative programme – ‘La Nuit des Chimères’. This weekend it was the last time that the ancient buildings functioned as screen for a – in the true sense of the word – fantastic representation of mystical and legendary creatures by using video projectors.
Apart from the Saturday night events there were some – less pleasant – occurrences which, however, took place ‘backstage’. Already in the first race Stuart Oliver felt he had been treated unfairly when he was disqualified for overspeeding, which cost the Englishman 6 valuable points in his fight for 7th place championship position. Seemingly the ERTF GPS control system in his MAN RaceTruck did not work. Later Oliver told that his telemetry data was checked and the officials declared that there had not been any overspeeding. But the officials did not reverse their decision.
No less irritated was Markus Bösiger after the final race. He incurred a drive-through penalty for bumping against the truck of the Russian Alexander Lvov – in the view of the observers an occurrence that happens umpteen times during a race. This penalty saw the Swiss relegated to the back of the field.
Another possible overspeed incident – however, with reverse effect as this time the driver did not incur a penalty – was probably the trigger event for the most upsetting topic of the weekend, Fabien Calvet’s resignation as FIA Technical Delegate with immediate effect. But the responsibilities of the former French truck racer did not only comprise the technical control of the RaceTrucks. He not only attended to the paddocks, together with the local organizers, but was always the first person to turn to in case of a problem arising during the events. And then, in the final race on Saturday, there was an overspeed report that allegedly was forwarded by Calvet to the people in charge who, however, did not follow up on it. This alone would certainly not have been a reason for the Frenchman to step down, but already in Most it got out that the FIA Technical Delegate will probably resign from office at the end of the season in order to apply himself to other tasks in the truck racing business. Theoretically the European Truck Racing Championship is now without a technical delegate in the finale. But perhaps Calvet could be persuaded into remaining in office until the end of the season – just for the sake of truck racing. Perhaps now the Truck Racing Commission should take steps, and maybe an inquiry could be made into the whereabouts of the overspeed report. After the round in Jarama there should be ample time to solve problems and questions.
Compared to the above mentioned incidents the races were less eventful. A bit lost in the whirlpool of events was the fact that in Le Mans the positions in the team championship were already determined. With a bit of luck a team can achieve a maximum of 108 points, but already now – before the finale in Jarama – the margin between the individual teams is even wider.
Team Champion is again Buggyra with David Vrsecky and Markus Bösiger, ahead of the newly established Team HahnOxxo with Jochen Hahn and Balazs Szobi. Same as last year, Team Frankie with Frankie Vojtisek and Markus Altenstrasser gained third position, followed by Team Bird’s-Bernau – who had entered the team championship contest belatedly – with Chris Levett and Dominique Lachèze
In the drivers’ ranking the battle between the four top drivers turned into two separate duels – two pilots contesting for the title and two drivers fighting for 3rd position. David Vrsecky is only 10 points ahead of Antonio Albacete, while Jochen Hahn holds a more comfortable 24 point lead over Markus Bösiger. There are still 60 points up for grabs, and every pilot knows quite well how fast, especially in truck racing, an almost unassailable lead can dwindle away.
On Saturday, September 26, at 10:45 a.m. DSF will air a report about the Le Mans event, and soon the ‘schweiz5’ report – with even more background information – will be available as video streaming on this WebPortal.