FIA Ceremony 2009

07. October 2009When the final round of the FIA-European Truck Racing Championship is held in Jarama, the closing ceremony and the presentation of the FIA trophies traditionally take place at the Finca Peñarrubia Country Estate near San Augustin de Guadalix, about 15 km north of the Circuito del Jarama. During the welcome drink in the lobby you already got the impression that it was not nearly as crowded as in the years before. And also afterwards during the dinner several tables were not occupied, as some of the teams and drivers had already left.
But before the trophies were awarded, Permanent Race Director Tony Iddon FIA gave Chief Technician Fabien Calvet an official farewell, and thanked the former French truck racer for the excellent job he had done in the last four years. It is customary at the FIA ceremony that every pilot, including the drivers who did not gain any points, will receive a trophy. Especially the many – often multitudinous – Spanish teams erupted with jubilation over every trophy they received. And the Alvi Team – the Vila brothers – collected a special award for the biggest and ‘most vociferous’ team.
And there were some more special awards, for instance for the best private team – Javier Mariezcurrena, the best drifter – Mikael Johansson, the most spectacular accident – Erwin Kleinnagelvoort, the best father/son team – Dominique and Florian Orsini, the best DAF Team in the field – Michel Bassanelli, etc. Stefan Honens of Team Hahn Racing – because of his long hair – was at the receiving end in a sketch featuring the T.R.I.P.A. journalists Oscar Hoogendoorn and Jonathan Reeves, where they also poked fun at some of the FIA officials, although this time the topic was quite the opposite – their rather sparse hair.
None of the attendees gave a speech – but actually, there was not anybody providing a microphone. Finally the first three winners in the championship ranking posed for a group photo, while others took the obligatory team photos. Soon afterwards everybody returned to the paddock, where there were several rather quiet celebrations in small circles right into the early morning.