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Antonio Albacete again in an MAN in 2015

Antonio Albacete again in an MAN in 2015

14. February 2015While news out of Formula 1 continues to get motorsport fans here in a state, for followers of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship the scene is, by contrast, one of total calm.
The FIA had extended the application deadline for prospective promoters for the ETRC to 31 January; and while it was certainly premature to expect any update till the FIA sat in session in the first week of February, we continue to await official information from the governing body more than a week after that sitting.
What we do know is that thrice champion Antonio Albacete will be back in 2015, for the first time in his own MAN race truck - or so he has notified his fans.
In the 10 seasons since the sunny Spaniard switched over from the SuperRaceTruck category in 2005, his team has run an MAN leased from Lutz Bernau. For Albacete, it’s been an extraordinarily successful collaboration with the band from Bavaria, one that has resulted in three European championships, five runner-up finishes, and two third places. There hasn’t been a single season-concluding FIA prizegiving ceremony without Albacete on the podium. Along the way the partnership has also collected three team championships and one runner-up spot.
Following the withdrawal of the last two officially engaged truckmakers, Renault Trucks and MAN, in successive seasons, the teams are now on their own.
Albacete had established his own team last season, having all along raced for Spanish petroleum company Cepsa, which remains his primary sponsor. Now the Madrilène has bought the truck he drove in 2014. While the technicians from Truck Sport Bernau will continue to support the Albacete MAN, the Spaniard’s team will henceforward function more independently of TSB.
One possible impulse for this is the fact that Piedrafita Sport S.L., also based in Madrid, has taken over service support for MAN race power, something MAN’s own mechanics from its engine factory in Nuremberg were responsible for all along.

Impressions:

Antonio Albacete again in an MAN in 2015
Antonio Albacete again in an MAN in 2015