André Kursim new pilot at tankpool24 - Ellen Lohr will drive a Buggyra in Jarama

30. September 2013This may come as a surprise for some; others have expected it for a while — the tankpool24 Mercedes-Benz team and German driver Ellen Lohr have parted ways. But what surprised us was the timing, because we’d all assumed that Lohr and Markus Bauer’s Mercedes team would see the season out together. Only on Sunday afternoon did Bauer announce that he’d just been informed by Lohr that she would be entering the 9th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship a few days from now in a Buggyra Freightliner instead of the tankpool24 Mercedes. Hints from Buggyra on Friday itself suggested that Lohr would indeed be switching to the Czech team soon. Lohr drove her first laps in the Freightliner at Autodrom Most on the Monday after that race weekend. On the track at the same time, tankpool24’s new pilot André Kursim was doing his first familiarisation laps in a race truck. The young German is a trainee from Markus Oestreich’s academy, coached and supported by the truck race veteran, and comes fresh out of karting. Together with Oese and his son Moritz he’s also driven races in the VLN Endurance Racing Championship Nürburgring and in the Mini Cup. The young Hessian’s circuit racing experience has been mostly in Minis, but Kursim has been careful not to neglect his “first love”, karts.
That he now faces a far more daunting challenge was apparent to him in Most, where he drove a couple of test laps in Oestreich’s Bernau MAN. Kursim has since also tried out his new workplace, the cockpit of the tankpool24 Mercedes. The German, who is 22 today (30 September), knows that his truck is significantly down on power compared to the leaders, but he is convinced at any rate that it is the smartest-looking. And in former European champion Markus Oestreich he has one of the most experienced drivers in the field to turn to for guidance and help.

Impressions: