Friday, 29.03.2024 | Deutsch | English

Silver Arrows are back

06. May 2010The Silver Arrows have re-entered not only the Formula One series – soon they will return to truck racing as well, although, for the time being, there will only be one single ‘arrow’. On the photo above, shot in Le Mans in 2008, the RaceTruck of José Bermejo – with Mercedes brand colleague Steve Horne in pursuit – is still jet-black, but soon it is going to shine in vivid silver. Some Mercedes Benz enthusiasts around Markus Bauer bought the RaceTruck from the Spaniard and they now plan to make their debut with the Mercedes truck in the European Championship races at the Truck Grand Prix on the Nürburgring.
The Mercedes Axor was completely taken apart, and is at present being sandblasted, adjusted to the new technical regulations and getting its new paint.
And after that it will get its finishing touch. Naturally Bauer doesn’t believe that with his ‘elderly’ vehicle he will pose a serious thread to the top pilots. But after having talked to a lot of truck racing fans he learned that what they missed was a RaceTruck from the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles, Mercedes Benz, contesting in the European Truck Racing Championship. His performance at the world’s biggest truck race event is meant to be just the beginning. The German team boss feels certain, that afterwards also the official interest will gradually increase.
The pilot chosen for the truck is Roland Rehfeld, who already drove a Mercedes SuperRaceTruck in 2001. The 32 year old native Berliner – a race car driver, test pilot and defensive driving instructor – has already piloted almost all kinds of sports cars and several formula racers. This season Rehfeld drives a GT3Ascari, among others, in the ADAC GT Masters. And this could lead to conflicting schedules in late August, because Bauer plans to participate not only in the ‘Ring’ event, but also in the rounds in Most and Zolder – i.e. all those events frequented by a particularly large number of German fans. Bauer, the old hand in truck racing – before finishing 3rd with Rehfeld in the 2001 European SuperRaceTruck Championship, he had already gained several years of experience, with the Swede Johan Stureson piloting a Mercedes Benz RaceTruck – has still more options. As the team boss stated, in the first place it’s important to again arouse people’s interest in a Mercedes RaceTruck – particularly in Germany. And – budget permitting – he could well imagine taking part with his new team in even more events than the three rounds scheduled so far. But for now he will set his sights low in order not to pitch the fans’ – and also his own – expectations too high.