Nogaro – This and That

23. June 2011Nogaro, the tranquil small town in Gascony, praised by gourmets for its pâté de foie gras, Armagnac and Floc, and by the motorsport fans for the Circuit Paul Armagnac – as the race track is officially named – has only a little more than 3,000 inhabitants. But in the second half of June suddenly more than ten times that number of people flock to the small town, and that’s the truck racing weekend. Well beyond the gates of the town cars are parked wherever possible, and on the large meadows surrounding the circuit there are lots of motor homes and tents standing close together.
And when the weather cooperates to a certain degree, the enthusiasm is almost boundless. And this year nearly everything was perfect. A few rain drops now and then on Saturday could not dampen the spirit.
But at present the spirit in the MKR Renault team is probably by no means euphoric. On both days all three podium places were taken by MAN pilots in the respective first race where a lot more points can be scored, which has an impact on both the drivers’ and the teams’ ranking. But it’s not for nothing that team boss Mario Kress with his nine ETRC titles – 5 in the drivers’ championship and 4 in the team ranking – is the most successful RaceTruck constructor. And what’s more, the workaholic – in the most positive sense – is an absolute perfectionist and automobile nerd. And two out of the three weeks between the round in Nogaro and the Truck Grand Prix at the Ring will certainly be spent doing extensive work back in the workshops of the man from Rheinau residing in the Czech Republic.
But the MAN pilots won’t sit back and take things easy, either. Certainly top pilot Jochen Hahn does currently drive in another league, but the other MAN top pilots are on a level with the three MKR Renault drivers. This means that the two “Markuses” – Bösiger (SUI) and Oestreich (GER) – as well as their Czech junior partner Adam Lacko could easily turn the tables in no time. And that’s why, as MAN chief technician Artur Klein said, they would go on working with the aim to bring all MAN RaceTrucks up to the level of Hahn’s black MAN. However, in his efforts forerunner Klein is somehow at a disadvantage compared with his Renault counterpart Kress. The different MAN teams see each other as opponents and are hardly willing to share all their secrets. But the three Renault top pilots all belong to the Kress team which means there won’t be any problem to apply all new insights gained regarding the performance to all three trucks – if it comes in useful to the driver. But it seems that this might be the weak spot – if you believe the statements of several experts to be true. Because, according to them, the driving styles of the three pilots is quite different so that the same insights one pilot benefits from might not necessarily be useful for the other.
And finally, we must not forget the Buggyra Freightliners. In Nogaro David Vrsecky proved again that he is still a driver to be reckoned with. For a second time in a row the Czech scored more points in an ETRC round than the two Renault top pilots Oestreich and Bösiger.
No less satisfied than Team Hahn Racing and Buggyra was probably the MB Motorsport team – although the tankpool24 Mercedes cannot compare with the afore-mentioned trucks. Steffi Halm could improve her performance enormously and is on a level with pilots who not only have the advantage of years of truck racing experience over her, but whose trucks mostly have got up to 150 HP more than the Mercedes. And the media hype about the only lady in the FIA field consisting of 20 pilots increases steadily. And there is an almost endless coming and going not only of television crews who want to shoot some pictures for a few minutes in the MB Motorsport tent.
And during a break Jennifer Janiec, who is also a truck racing pilot and belongs to the Janiec dynasty – her father, Jean-Pierre is her opponent in the French Championship and her brother Anthony has participated in the FIA ETRC with the Renault of Team 14 for years – came to the MB Motorsport tent with a flock of French photographers in tow.
But for the young lady from Ammerbuch in Swabia that was only a foretaste of what is to come at the Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. There, at her home track, the media people and fans alike will probably stand in line, the more so as Steffi does also act as ambassador for the TGP – there is a large sticker plastered to the windscreen of her Mercedes Benz RaceTruck saying www.truck-grand-prix.de.
The happiest guy in Nogaro was certainly Javier Mariezcurrena. The Spanish contractor has been with the FIA ETRC for many years and was always chuffed to bits whenever he made it into the points in his blue MAN. For lack of time he will only take part in four rounds this season – as race-by-race pilot. And now the man from Navarra not only took a podium place, but lifted the first place trophy for the first time in his long truck racing career. And there was more to come, he also won the trophy in the sponsor challenge where all those pilots participate who did not make it into the top ten in the last season.

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