Truck Grand Prix – Preliminary Report / Part III

07. July 2011Nürburgring - Every year the Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring is the highlight of the truck racing season. Already in the run-up to the TGP there are a lot of things to report about, and now, in our last preliminary report, the truck racers are in the focus of attention. On Tuesday evening it was unusually quiet in the paddock with only a handful of teams around. The traditional 4-day Truck Grand Prix has turned into a 3-day event so that most of the teams were in no rush to arrive. But on Wednesday morning it got rather crowded and sometimes even a bit frantic, because not all the teams were satisfied with the spaces assigned to them.
Most of the teams would have liked to have the chance to do some additional practice sessions – as in the previous years – particularly those pilots who at present can’t keep up with MAN pilot Jochen Hahn (GER), who now has a 49 points advantage on his nearest rival, the Spanish title holder Antonio Albacete (also MAN) and sits even 78 points clear of Renault pilot Markus Oestreich (GER). But Hahn stated time and again that he himself knew how fast the tables can turn. And that’s certainly what his opponents hope for, and first of all the Renault pilots of Mario Kress’ MKR team.
But the expected 200,000 visitors of the TGP are not only interested in the handful of title contenders, because also the rest of the field consists of high-quality truck racers, although not all trucks registered will take part. Dominique Orsini (FRA) is out of action because of a broken leg, and father and son Rodrigues (POR) had to cancel their participation. But the German fans are anyway more interested in Gerd Körber and his Schwabentruck-Iveco, Steffi Halm and her tankpool24-Mercedes and, of course, the Lenz family who is an “institution” at the Ring. Both Heinz-Werner and his son Sascha will be driving race trucks with the three-pointed star. Sascha is going to participate in the FIA series, too, and his father Heinz-Werner in the Mittelrhein-Cup, where the “King of the Ring” will again have a chance to delight his fans.
And yet another tradition is to continue in the Mittelrhein-Cup, there will again be a guest driver piloting one of Egon Allgäuer’s MAN RaceTrucks. Hans-Joachim Stuck had already been a sort of “permanent” pilot, but as he officially announced his withdrawal from active motorsports some days ago at the 24 Hours event, his son Johannes will now follow in his footsteps. But “Striezel” can’t help joining in somehow, and in the supporting programme he will compete against Egon Allgäuer – the Austrian in his race truck and Stuck in the Lamborghini he had been driving in his last races. But Allgäuer’s race truck will not be an ordinary one. The Austrian pilot always had a soft spot for Brazil and his “Samba” MAN will certainly rather resemble a Brazilian race truck than a European one. In any case this RaceTruck has got some more HP than usual and the former European champion seems to be confident that he has a good chance of winning against the Lamborghini lightweight.
And also the Mittelrhein-Cup races promise to be a massive spectacle for the fans. The points gained in these races also count towards the British Championship and, as we all know, the pilots fight tooth and nail. Furthermore, there are several drivers who will participate in both the FIA races and the Mittelrhein-Cup, and for those pilots the weekend is going to become more than stressful.
But at the Ring there some more awards will be presented. There is a trophy for the German Truck Master and in a combined survey – people can vote via internet and also the visitors at the circuit can take part – the most popular truck racer is elected.
Although the Eifel weather is known for its unpredictability, there seems to be a rather stable weather condition this year, so that the event is really worth a visit in any case. Tickets are still available at the box offices.
And those people who really can’t make it to the Ring, can at least watch the races via video-live-streaming on this WebPortal, on truckrace.tv, and on the internet sites of all sponsors involved:
Lutz Bernau TruckSport – pilot Uwe Nittel
Team Hahn Racing – pilot Jochen Hahn
tankpool24Racing-MB-Motorsport – pilot Steffi Halm
Renault Trucks – pilots: Markus Oestreich; Markus Bösiger; Adam Lacko
Cepsa – pilot: Antonio Albacete
Meritor – pilots: Markus Oestreich; Markus Bösiger; Adam Lacko
and the TRO-TruckRaceOrganisation.

Impressions: