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Friday on the Nürburgring

Friday on the Nürburgring

12. July 2013Nürburgring - The Truck Grand Prix kicks off on a Thursday, unlike most other races in the FIA European Truck Racing Championship that begin on a Friday or a Saturday. The first teams arrived in the Eifel on Tuesday afternoon to a paddock that was still being vacated by the Formula 1 teams after the previous weekend’s German Grand Prix. The handover, nevertheless, took place like clockwork: no sooner had an F1 team cleared out than its place was taken by the ETRC team that had been allotted that spot. The tent-builders, however, had a rather more difficult task setting up their massive tents overnight. As a result, perhaps, a few of the trade exhibitors in the infield seem to have somewhat smaller tents than usual, even though even these are still gigantic. And it took the whole of yesterday to erect them so that the first guests could visit today.
In any case, the paddock and the truck-trade expo weren’t much in demand yesterday — the star attraction was the taxi rides for VIPs, trade visitors, and the press. In the obligatory practice session that followed it was the usual suspects that set the pace — MAN pilots Antonio Albacete (ESP), Markus Oestreich and Jochen Hahn (both GER), and Norbert Kiss (HUN).
Their times, though, were of little consequence because many of the trucks couldn’t set any times at all because they didn’t have the transponders installed yet. Today’s first and second free practice sessions were a more serious affair, even though the picture at the top didn’t change much from yesterday. Only Czech Buggyra Freightliner pilot David Vršecký was able to match the pace of the MAN phalanx.
Even so, nobody really knew which, if any, of the truck racers was really revealing his or her cards. In the first timed practice some of the top pilots, wanting to conserve their tyres, drove only one fast lap and then returned to the pits, imagining themselves safely in the top 10 for the SuperPole — which, as it turned out, they were. Kiss, Albacete, Hahn, and Oestreich were joined in this shootout session by Adam Lacko (CZE) in an MKR Renault, MAN pilot René Reinert (GER), the Swiss Markus Bösiger (MKR Renault), Vršecký, Benedek Major (HUN) in an MAN, und the Belgian Jean-Pierre Blaise (Renault), who was able to edge the Finn MAN driver Mika Mäkinen out by a mere five-hundredths of a second.
On his first quick lap in the SuperPole, local hero Jochen Hahn ran a bit too wide in the bend in front of the Mercedes Arena, losing precious seconds, and then almost collided with Lacko as he rejoined the traffic. At this stage the defending champ was at the bottom in 10th, but that didn’t perturb him. In his final lap he turned up the pace but just wasn’t able to attain to the times of Albacete and Kiss. Vršecký was next after the three MANler, followed by Oestreich, Bösiger, Lacko, Major, Reinert, and Blaise.
There was ferment in the paddock as soon as it became known that Kiss would have all his times cancelled because the suspension on his truck was found out of conformance with the rules. This meant he was relegated to the rear of the field and all the other drivers behind him got to move up a place on the grid.
Late in the afternoon was the Go-and-Stop competition for the truck racers, both those registered for the FIA event and those participating in the Mittelrhein Cup. And it was soon pretty clear why the top drivers wouldn’t compete here, not even for the fun of it — in a standing start, the tyre-shredding torque of the 1,200PS engines can grind down or even break the production-spec drivetrain components stipulated under the rules. And sure enough, co-favourite Sascha Lenz (GER) started off by breaking the rear axle on his Mercedes, rebuilt this year as a bonneted truck. The showdown was a pure Dutch Scania affair — Erwin Kleinnagelvoort pushed Cees Zandbergen into second place, John Powell finishing third in a Ford Cargo.

Supported by Meritor Translation: Eliot Lobo

Impressions:

Friday on the Nürburgring
Friday on the Nürburgring
Friday on the Nürburgring
Friday on the Nürburgring