Misano This And That
24. May 2013The truck racers were rather fortunate with the weather. They arrived at this town on the Adriatic coast to torrential rain, and it started raining again as soon as they`d departed. That holiday mood we`ve often talked about in these columns was, for the most part, missing. But apart from the few raindrops on Sunday morning, you couldn`t have wished for better conditions through the race weekend.
After the almost interminable winter break it was like the truck racers had been unleashed - a good half-hour before the first free practice they were already rolling towards the pit exit. Which, of course, was still closed because at any normal race it`s unusual for the trucks to line up for entry onto the track more than 10 minutes before the session is opened.
This enthusiasm calmed down during the rest of the weekend, the racers and their teams engrossed throughout in fine-tuning the setups of their new trucks.
But enthusiastic it will have been inside the Finn Mika Mäkinen. The MAN-pilot, one notices little time an emotion – there he is like his compatriot from the Formula One, Kimi Räikkönen – won two races and has the third place in the ranking.
That his German team mate Jochen Hahn would lead the championship after the first round was only to be expected. But you`d never dream that the Czech David Vršecký, whose Buggyra Freightliner is now getting on in years, would come off only two points worse.
You might instead have expected, as we certainly did, MAN pilots Antonio Albacete (ESP), Markus Oestreich (GER), or Norbert Kiss (HUN), to finish close at Hahn`s heels. After all, weren`t they all as quick at the MAN tests in Nogaro.
The fact is, things didn`t go awfully well for the MAN trio. First some were caught out by multiple crashes and thus severely set back. And then further disadvantaged by being – controversially – ordered by the race commission into the pits to have loose panelling removed.
This new regulation, raised ostensibly to prevent injuries to spectators from flying parts that come loose during impacts, was hotly contested throughout the weekend.
And more tellingly, had the rule been consistently enforced, more than half the field would have had to be called into the pits, reducing some of the races to spectacles of absurdity.
This issue certainly needs to be settled quickly. Truck racing is a contact sport like no other, and that`s precisely what thrills the fans. But there has never, in all the 30-old years of the sport`s existence in Europe, been a truly serious incident. Despite the fact that – or indeed, perhaps because – they weigh five and a half tonnes, the race trucks are significantly safer than the lightweight machines that are raced in most of the other FIA series.
The performance of the MKR duo of Adam Lacko (CZE) and Markus Bösiger (SUI) was more than a little disappointing. After the grand presentation of the brand-new race Renaults on Friday even team boss Mario Kress must have hoped for a few more points. The Czech-based German truck racing guru is known to be extraordinarily ambitious, and the rigour and meticulousness of his pre-season preparations are the stuff of legend. And so, not surprisingly, his trucks had closed in on the competition ahead by the second day.
The team was also one of the first to leave Misano, departing the paddock with uncharacteristic haste. This tells us one thing: Mario has hit upon some compelling ideas and he`s not going to rest till he translates them into improvements on his trucks before the next race in Navarra.
Most of the remaining teams were more leisurely in their departure. The ban on truck movement in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland on Whit Monday meant some would have had to apply for special approval. Some teams, particularly from eastern Europe, are now directly on their way to Spain.
Readers who`d like to savour the action at the race weekend in Misano on TV can tune into TRO TV`s half-hour report on Sport 1 at 10:45 am on Saturday, 25 May.
Supported by Meritor Translation: Eliot Lobo
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