Calendar 2012 - Now Official

16. December 2011Last Thursday the FIA released the official dates for the FIA European Truck Racing Championship – in total there are 11 events in 9 countries
The opening 2012 Rounds will be held in Istanbul, Turkey on the 12th and 13th of May and just a week later the truck racers will be competing in Misano, Italy.
Despite these at first sight favourable constellation the costly trip to Turkey could exceed the budget of some teams - so it’s possible that a lot of smaller teams may prefer to start their season in Italy.
Three weeks later on the 9th and 10th of June teams arrive in Albacete, Spain for the next stop of the season which will entail a long journey for most teams.
The traditional date was moved from the first weekend of June this year. Previously many teams combined this race in Spain with a weeks holiday break because the next race at Nogaro in the south of France traditionally took place at the third weekend of June and was on the way back home for most of the teams. It could have been convenient for teams to go from Albacete to Nogaro directly. But now Nogaro takes place on the 23rd and 24th of June with a gap of 2 weeks after Albacete rounds.
The British Truck Grand Prix in Donington takes place a week later on the 30th of June and the 1st of July.
If a team would wanted to combine all these 3 races they would need to commit to 4 or 5 weeks away from home. For small teams, which only have freelance collaborators and technicians who often use their annual holiday for truck racing, this could be especially demanding and costly.
July the 13th and 15th sees the climax of the year, the Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
Two weeks later at the 29th and 30th of July the race in Smolensk, Russia will take place.
The journey to Russia is long and logistically complex so it maybe some teams will not go home after the race in Germany.
However, after a long trip to Smolensk there’ll be a welcome break before the next races at Most in the Czech Republic on the 1st and 2nd of September.
After this race the final phase is as last year. On the 22nd and 23rd of September Zolder, Belgium is next on the schedule. After this race in Belgium the teams head south to Spain and France for their second time this year.
These last races, in Jarama, Spain on 6th and 7th of October and the Championship finale at Le Mans, France on the 13th and 14th of October.
The week gap between the two last rounds mean it’s likely many teams will travel directly from Spain to the in the northwest of France.