Hungaroring This And That
15. September 2015It was 25 years ago that the FIA European Truck Racing Championship (then the European Cup) last featured a round in Hungary. A quarter-century is an age — an entire generation in fact. And Czech MAN pilot Frankie Vojtíšek was the only truck racer in this year’s field who was also at the start at that last race.
But there was also a lot else that was very different from what the truck racers are used to at the other weekends.
Everyone was surprised by the large number of security guards at the circuit and sometimes also by their decisions.
Photographers and cameramen of the FIA ETRC were a bit unhappy with the access they were allowed, or rather not allowed, and the variety of pictures and video grabs suffered as a consequence. But there’s another year till the FIA ETRC returns to the Hungaroring, time enough to work to avoid misunderstandings of this kind.
But there were other differences as well.
So much hype around a single driver, like we saw for homeboy Norbert Kiss, is something foreign to the FIA ETRC. The Hungarian, worshipped here like a pop star, also stood on every prizegiving podium. Only the surprising win of his German MAN colleague Steffi Halm managed to evoke somewhat comparable excitement.
Kiss, of course, capitalised on the partisan home support to extend his lead in the championship. Going into this round the defending champ had 76 points more to his FIA account than Czech Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner); after the Hungaroring weekend he now has 119 points more than Jochen Hahn (MAN), the German thrice European champion overtaking Lacko in the standings by one point.
It’s possible that a single driver could still win 240 points till the end of the season, but the only realistic outcome is that Kiss will be king again. It’s extremely unlikely that he will fail to score in more than one or two races - but that’s what people also said about Hahn in 2006.
In that year the German ceded 93 points over a few races to the eventual champion Antonio Albacete. While the Spanish MAN pilot made up ground race after race, Hahn lost ground steadily because of mechanical problems with his truck.
Even Swissman Markus Bösiger can tell a tale about how a supposed unassailable lead can collapse, the 2007 champ winning his title by a single point.
Even if all indications are that the championship is headed for another Kiss landslide, the fact is that it’s not over till it’s over.
Impressions:
