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Friday in Jarama

Friday in Jarama

05. October 2012Jarama - Usually the Friday is a rather quiet day to relax, because only the administrative work and the technical acceptance are on this day’s agenda. On the 10th race of the FIA European Truckracing Championship, many people made use of the quiet day to sunbathe under a clear blue sky and temperatures above 25 C°. This would have been probably the last opportunity this year to do so, but some preferred to sit in the shade as well.
There was a press release by the FIA which talked about many things concerning the FIA ETRC (see decision by FIA World Motor Sport Council – 12 races in 2013, dated Oct. 4th 2012). This caused some upheaval on the otherwise quiet day. Especially the announcement that there will be 12 races, from which 10 will count for the Championship fueled a big debate. Some wondered which races will be without the distribution of points, but the majority understood it totally different. It was said that there will indeed be 12 races, but that only 10 out of these 12 will count.
Christoph Gerlach, head of the Truck Racing branch at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, was not so happy about the vague formulation. Ellen Lohr presented her notes from the last driver’s briefing, in which Permanent Race Director, Tony Iddon, had suggested a calendar after the teams and drivers had voted. According to this calendar there would be 10 race events. The season would start in Misano, followed by Spielberg, Nogaro and then Donington. In mid-July there would be the race at the TGP at the Ring, followed by the Smolenskring, Most, Zolder, Jarama and Le Mans. What becomes also obvious is that despite the number of races, compared with the calendar that has been published after the meeting of the truckracing commission in September, that Istanbul as well as the new race track in Navarra (in the north of Spain) are not even listed anymore. However, Donington is on the list again, even though it was said that the Brits had not applied until the end of the deadline on July 31st. The final round would take place in Le Mans again. Due to several contradictions it is questionable if the responsible committees just wanted to leave doors open – also because the discussion about a general promoter has not ended yet and nobody would know what the promoter’s final plans would look like, or if they really do not know what the calendar is supposed to look like in the end. One way or the other, the drivers and their teams are extremely unhappy about the current situation, because now the decisive negotiations with the sponsors are about to take place. And in this case it is crucial whether we are talking about a budget for 10 or 12 race events. Everyone hopes that it will become more obvious on Sunday evening.
Whoever was sick of the seemingly never-ending discussions could take the time and take a sightseeing tour through Madrid or take a look at the arriving show – trucks at night. The races in Jarama have always been the local event for Cepsa, the biggest Spanish sponsor in the FIA ETRC. This time the Spanish mineral oil company came up with something special. After Cepsa participated in our video-live stream at the Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, they want to pull the same together in Jarama. Under www.cepsa.com/Jarama every fan has the opportunity to watch the races online.

Impressions:

Friday in Jarama
Friday in Jarama
Friday in Jarama