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Nogaro This And That

Nogaro This And That

23. June 2015Nogaro - Even as the truck racers tear 1,200-plus kilometres across France to get to the Nürburgring in time for the Truck Grand Prix, the showpiece event of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, it’s time for a short recap. There will be 12 racetrucks that raced in Nogaro that will be going directly to the ring. They include the MAN of Englishman Ryan Smith, who will be taking part in the Mittelrhein Cup, at which points towards the British Championship are to be won, and Frenchman Jérémy Robineau. The tight gap between the 4th round of the ETRC in Nogaro at the southwestern corner of France and the TGP put some teams off participating in the races on Circuit Paul Armagnac - in their calculations, the risk of having to start at the Ring with a severely damaged truck was simply too great.
Even so, this round was a veritable feast for the fans, the excellent weather playing no small part.
While the Formula 1 camp complains about steeply dropping spectator interest, the truck racing fraternity has no gripe on this count, even if – excepting the TGP, of course – the trackside viewership doesn’t quite compare.
Nogaro – we emphasise once again that this tiny town has only 3,000 inhabitants – recorded 39,000 spectators this year, a good 10 percent more than in 2014.
There were 31 race trucks in action in the FIA ETRC and the concurrent rounds of the French Championship. A whopping 152 trucks participated in the ‘Decorated Trucks’ parade on the circuit, an essential part of the programme here in France. And then on Friday there was the parade in their race trucks through the town, the pilots’ parade on heavy metal from Harley-Davidson, the spectacular motorcycle stunt show in the paddock. All in all, a thoroughly engaging weekend. With terrific truck racing, of course.
Home hero Anthony Janiec, who’s usually battling for sixth or seventh place, finished atop the podium in the second race each day – second on Saturday and first on Sunday, – cause for exuberant celebrations in the stands.
Quite apart from Janiec’s victory Sunday, the final race was a genuine climax in the finest truck racing tradition. Seven trucks finishing just three seconds apart, and the thrilling duel between “returnee” Steffi Halm and her Hungarian MAN colleague Norbert Kiss for fourth place, were greeted by thunderous applause.

Impressions:

Nogaro This And That
Nogaro This And That