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Nogaro This And That

Nogaro This And That

27. June 2014Friday evening’s event in the centre of Nogaro was an effectual lead-in to the third round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. This tranquil town of 3,000 inhabitants in the southwest of France is, of course, better known as a stopover for pilgrims and wayfarers on the Way of St James, just like Los Arcos, where the truck race circus congregated just two weeks earlier. The Gascony is a gourmet’s paradise famous for foie gras. For epicureans, foie gras must be accompanied by Floc de Gascogne, a vin de liqueur relatively unknown to outsiders. The aperitif, made of fresh grape juice mixed with armagnac, is also prized by the truck racers. It’s almost obligatory now for them to take back a couple of bottles or, indeed, a few cartons of Floc.
The ETRC round in the Gascony has traditionally been scheduled for the second half of June, at the Circuit Paul Armagnac. The circuit has nothing to do with the eponymous brandy; it was named after the town’s most famous son, a race driver who was largely responsible for its coming into being. But it’s the even more famous son of the region, Charles d’Artagnan, who confronts the visitor at almost turn. Anyone who’s read their Alexandre Dumas carefully would know that the “fourth” musketeer was also called “the Gasconian”.
This time the truck racers didn’t restrict their activities to the track or paddock — they also took the town centre of Nogaro by storm. On Friday evening 20 race trucks, two pace trucks, and motley outriders took to the narrow, closed-off lanes in a thundering parade that was a visual and aural feast for every motorport fan. The roar of the 1,200PS race engines had the walls quaking and set off antitheft alarms in a number of parked cars. But the townsfolk all loved it, and the truck racers had a great time too, only too happy to oblige the crowds of fans that lined up for autographs on copies of this year’s TRO poster that had been handed out.
The exuberant atmosphere carried over into Saturday’s barbecue. Also The drivers were given an altogether new perspective of the circuit as pillion riders behind members of a local Harley Davidson club. And of course, they raced too…
But even the races were a picture of harmony and discipline, highly unusual for this otherwise scrappy bunch. Penalty markers, the subject of so much controversy in the first two rounds, were of absolutely no consequence in Nogaro. In any case, if you were looking for the bright orange tubes in our photographs or video, you wouldn’t find any — this time they were blue. Perhaps the drivers didn’t find the blue markers very attractive. Indeed, there was only one penalty awarded in all four races. This one went to Markus Bösiger (SUI) in Race 2 for putting two wheels off the track while overtaking his German MAN rival René Reinert and then going on to collide with Reinert, by virtue of which he was able to take third place shortly before the finish.
There were, in fact, more situations that in some people’s opinion deserved closer attention from the authorities, like when Spaniard Xavier Mariezcurrena’s MAN ended in the embrace of the tyre barrier, or when José Rodrigues’s (POR) Renault was forced off the track shortly after the start — like Steffi Halm’s MAN also was. The young German was at least able to keep racing; for the other two it was curtains.
There will always be different ways of looking at a situation, and there’s really no question of blaming anyone when a refereeing decision is required to be taken so swiftly.
All told, we had an extremely pleasant weekend in Nogaro, and there was nothing of importance to discuss. To the oft-repeated question “How’s it going?” the answer in most cases was, “H-o-t!” — and no wonder, because it was up to 35° in the shade and up to 59° on the track.
A few impressions of Nogaro are available as a video on our Facebook site www.facebook.com/TruckRacingInformation.

Impressions:

Nogaro This And That
Nogaro This And That
Nogaro This And That