Sunday in Le Mans – part 1

14. October 2012Le Mans - The last racing day of the season of the FIA European Truckracing Championship definitely deserved better weather. At around 4:30 it started to rain – and it simply did not stop anymore. We had single digit temperatures and therefore everyone would have rather stayed in bed – especially because the majority had not gotten a lot of sleep the night before. First of all the award ceremony for the sponsor-challenge took place, in which all drivers attend that did not make it into the top ten in the previous season in the overall rating and also do not belong to any listed team. The Fin Mika Mäkinen won ahead of the German truckracing rookie René Reinert (both MAN) and the Renault driver Jean-Pierre Blaise (BEL). From there they immediately continued with the seemingly never ending parade of show trucks and the stunt show at the start-finish line until the big firework and a concert made an end to the official program on the agenda. The teams kept celebrating with fans and spectators and even after midnight the paddock was still filled with people. It was cold, but also dry.
What a difference compared with this morning, because when there was the warm-up session at 8:30, it was still dark outside and it was raining heavily. The paddock was empty and the few spectators that showed up and sat of the bleachers, which had been filled with people the previous day, were now almost empty. The condition of the race track was rather bad and slippery so that everyone tried to take it really slow. While the Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN) tested his chances, his German brand mate Jochen Hahn (the old and new European Champion) was 10 seconds slower and placed 15th. During the timed practice that followed, it continued to rain and the results were also surprising. Drivers that stood on the podium yesterday did not make it into the top ten for the Super Pole today. And no one tried to gamble either. In the end the pole for the first race was won by the Swiss Markus Bösiger ahead of his German team mate Markus Oestreich (both Renault). Albacete and his MAN-brand mate Norbert Kiss (HUN) were in the second line of the starting grid. The other places went to Adam Lacko (CZE/Renault), Hahn, Mäkinen, Gerd Körber (GER) in the Iveco and the Czech Frankie Vojtisek (MAN).

Impressions: