Le Mans Preliminary Report
06. October 2016Le Mans - There are only nine rounds in this year’s FIA European Truck Racing Championship, so this coming weekend’s event at Circuit Bugatti in Le Mans will be the finale.
Le Mans holds a special fascination for all motorsport enthusiasts, and, in the style of one of the world’s most famous races, the truck racing weekend here has also traditionally been known as the “24h Camions”. We’ve explained many times that the trucks here do not race round the clock like the sportscars and prototypes do in June, and it’s not the longer loop over public roads that they use but only the permanent racetrack.
The FIA ETRC has a normal programme in Le Mans, four races of 45 km each with corresponding practice and qualifying sessions as at any other event on the calendar. Anything more than that wouldn’t be doable anyway. You have to remember that a race truck carries, in addition to about 50 litres of diesel, more than 250 litres of water to cool the brakes, and the water tanks are usually empty at the end of 45 km of racing at the limit.
But everything else that happens here is reminiscent of the legendary 24 Heures du Mans – a packed-to-overflowing programme without even a minute’s break, spectacular displays on Saturday evening of trucks on the track and of fireworks on the infield, followed by an all-night concert bash. If you’re up to it, you can party from Saturday morning right through Sunday evening.
The ETRC pilots won’t be celebrating Saturday night, even if the driver’s title should have been decided that day itself.
The team champions were already crowned in Jarama. Reinert Adventure, consisting of German MANler Jochen Hahn and René Reinert had an unbeatable advantage.
Hahn also leads in the drivers’ standings, by a comfortable 35 points. It’s possible that his only remaining rival, Czech Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner), could win all four races and take the maximum 60 points. But if Hahn still has an advantage of more than 30 points on Saturday evening, Hahn Racing will be taking it easy on Sunday. The real celebrations, whether at Hahn Racing or Buggyra, will only break out on Sunday when it’s all over. Respect for the other competitors demands it.
The fight for third-place honours at the FIA prizegiving ceremony Sunday evening is close. As it now looks, René Reinert has the best prospects. His Reinert Racing protégée and compatriot Steffi Halm has 18 points fewer, Hungarian defending champ Norbert Kiss (Mercedes-Benz) is a further 9 points behind, and homeboy Anthony Janiec (MAN) trails him by another 4 points.
The contests for the other Top 10 places too are close. MAN pilot Sascha Lenz is striving for seventh in his first full season. But the German youngster has a very experienced oldie to contend with – compatriot Gerd Körber, whose Schwabentruck Iveco team skipped Jarama.
Even the race for ninth place will go down to the wire. Czech rookie Jiří Forman is going to do all he can to dislodge Ellen Lohr (GER), never mind that the grande dame of truck racing is 9 points ahead.
The weather forecasts for the weekend are all splendidly positive – clear skies and no rain, but bitterly cold overnight. The temperatures this morning were in the mid-single digits.
Impressions:
