Friday at the Red Bull Ring
05. July 2013Spielberg - The Truck Race Trophy on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, is already as good as a four-day event, following in the tradition of the Truck Grand Prix on the Nürburgring. The track may only have seen stirrings of activity this morning, but some of the truck racers here for the fourth round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship were already fully in action yesterday, at an unusual PR event in a shopping centre 10 km away. While Ellen Lohr’s (GER) tankpool24-Mercedes, David Vršecký’s (CZE) Buggyra Freightliner, and the two Renaults of Anthony Janiec (FRA) and Adam Lacko (CZE) were brought to the venue on a low-loader, the two German MAN pilots Jochen Hahn and René Reinert, and the Austrian race-by-race pilot Markus Altenstrasser (Iveco) chose to drive over themselves — in their race trucks, of course. What followed was a demonstration to a crowd of exuberant spectators how a 5,5 tonne colossus can tear through narrow streets at top speed. The four other race trucks were parked conveniently for curious passers-by to poke around. Then in the evening, all teams gathered for an informal dinner hosted by the organiser on the Red Bull terraces.
Today began with the taxi rides for press and VIPs around the 2.227 km shorter circuit, and Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN) decided early to dictate terms to the competition, setting the fastest times on the track. But his MAN colleague Norbert Kiss (HUN) struck back in the obligatory free practice that followed, showing just why many still consider him a favourite for the title. In the first official free practice, then, he stepped up his pace, edging the Spaniard out with a lap of 1:05.470, the fastest of the day. In the second session Albacete managed to make it back on top, but by a wafer-thin margin.
Swissman Markus Bösiger (MKR Renault), Hahn, and his compatriot Markus Oestreich (MAN) took the next three places. At the end of the session the top five were all within 28 hundredths of a second, in no small part owing to the relatively short laps. But the short circuit benefits the spectators particularly — with 19 trucks (the Pole Gregory Ostaszewski from Frankie Vojtíšek’s MAN team won’t start here) on the track, they will miss none of the action for all the 20 laps because the grandstand affords an unhindered view of almost the entire circuit.
Even though the wind blew rather strongly and black clouds appeared in the sky, it stayed dry the whole day, with the temperature at around 30°C. The weather is forecast to remain summery, the best prerequisite for a flood of fans at the Red Bull Ring after a 10-year truckrace drought.
Supported by Meritor Translation: Eliot Lobo
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