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Friday in Misano

Friday in Misano

17. May 2013Misano - It`s not quite summer yet in Misano. Although May in this town on the Adriatic coast is usually warm and pleasant, the weather earlier this week was anything but, and the strong winds and heavy showers made it a struggle for the first teams in the paddock to set up their tents. The skies finally cleared on Thursday; the squalls may continue, but the forecast for the weekend is largely dry weather.
Today the 21 trucks (the Dutch Scania team of Erwin Kleinnagelvoort has dropped out) had to undergo a once-over for technical approval before they can herald the start of the 2013 season of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship season tomorrow with the martial roaring of their 1,200hp engines.
The highlight of the evening`s programme was the eagerly awaited presentation of the new Renault racetrucks, for which the 70-odd invited guests and journalists had to wait for quite a long while. Renault Trucks was at pains to reiterate the high value it sees in its truck racing engagement. Its dealers across Europe invite customers to the race weekends in their respective countries — a good 16,500 Renault customers were at the race weekends last year.
MKR Technology`s two new Premium Course racetrucks, a completely new design from Renault`s Halle du Design, will continue to be powered by the potent DXi 13. This engine is also available to the two other Renault outfits — Team 14 and BJP Racing. By the looks of it, Mario Kress and his team have bigger ambitions this year than just defending their team title. But they will face formidable resistance from MAN, the other big manufacturer in the ETRC.
Nearly the same time the German manufacturer was entertaining teams and media in its own massive tent. The Bavarians made no bones about their ambition to win not just all four races in Misano but, indeed, the team championship at the end of the season. (That`s in addition, of course, to the driver`s title — they already took that in the last season.) These two manufacturers will dominate in 2013, as they did last year — eleven of the 21 FIA-registrants are MAN drivers and six are sitting in Renaults.

Supported by Meritor Translation: Eliot Lobo

Impressions:

Friday in Misano
Friday in Misano
Friday in Misano
Friday in Misano