Friday in Most

31. August 2012Most - For the 20th time the FIA European Truck Racing Team visits the Czech city of Most and the organizers definitely deserved better weather for the 20th jubilee. Since yesterday night it was raining heavily and not until the training session started in the afternoon the rain stopped a little bit. However, it never completely stopped raining. That is why the results of the first two free practices were not all too informative; some race trucks even “crept” over the wet race track. However, the MAN drivers Antonio Albacete (ESP) and Jochen Hahn (GER) who have been setting the pace during the whole season were also having the lead this time.
The Spaniard was even the one who had the edge over Hahn. It could also not be seen if the two Renaults from the MKR team were able to catch up on the two MAN during the 5-week long break. MKR stated that they were not focusing on a comeback during the rest of the season, but were rather making plans for next year. The three race trucks from Markus Bösiger (SUI), Markus Oestreich (GER) and Adam Lacko (CZE) are not on the same state of technology. Obviously MKR has not yet found its final setup, because in the internal team fights, sometimes Oestreich and sometimes Bösiger was leading.
The only Iveco driver, Gerd Körber (GER), would as well be able to get involved at the top. The multiple European Champion drives in only 4 races as a race-by-race driver for the Schwabentruck-Team, but would certainly be able to rain on the contender’s parade for the Championship. This is what “Mr. Truckracing” showed at the Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, where he stood on the podium twice. For the grand dame of truckracing, Ellen Lohr (Mercedes), this will remain to be wishful thinking after the training session today. For the German from the tankpool24-team it will be the biggest goal to remain in the top ten. For the fourth German driver, René Reinert (MAN) the winning of points will be his biggest goal in the field of 22. However, after a surprising victory in the second race on Saturday at the Smolenskring, his personal claims could be a little higher.
For many of the German truck racing fans, the race weekend in Most is a home race, because for the fans coming from east and south of Germany, the drive to Most is indeed a lot shorter than to the Nürburgring. This is also why the commentaries are in German and Czech. Due to the fact that the weather forecast for the weekend is significantly better than for this Friday (no forecasts for rain), a lot of German fans could get ready to come and visit the jubilee race in Most.

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