Grand Prix Camions du Castellet – Sunday

04. June 2017Le Castellet - The sun continued to smile on the truck racers at Circuit Paul Ricard near the Côte d’Azur commune of Le Castellet, and there was no hint of the heavy rainfall that some other parts of southern France were aswim under this weekend. The fantastic summer weather drew more than 40,000 spectators to the expansive, park-like environs of this storied circuit. There was much to delight the many thousands of fans, although the races of the Coupe de France Camions were the main attraction – with Anthony Janiec at the centre of it all. The MAN and his Lion seems very strong, even if Thomas Robineau in his MAN was every bit his measure for pace in yesterday’s second race.
So it surprised nobody that qualifying was effectively a two-horse race between MAN and MAN, yielding Janiec pole position by a three-tenths advantage. Lionel Montagne, who qualified third in his Renault, was a yawning 1.8 seconds slower than the polesitter.
Sunday’s first race was another Janiec-Robineau double act; there was no question of the rest of the field having so much as a look-in. Janiec was on top of his game, leading the race from start to flag, Robineau following close on his heels just one second behind. The only possible threat, Lionel Montagne, was eliminated after just two laps, his Renault retiring with mechanical failure. His place was taken by Portuguese José Teodosio, another Renault pilot, who finished 3rd some 25 seconds behind.
Further down, the trucks were more evenly matched. Louis Meric and Lionel Daziano in the two other Lion MANs crossed the line a second apart in 4th and 5th. Right behind them, Finn John Hemming in his Mercedes and Portuguese Renault pilot José Sousa fought tooth and nail for 6th place and pole position for the final race. Hemming deftly countered Sousa’s every attack, before technical problems laid the Portuguese low on the last lap, slowing him to walking pace as he crossed the line.
Pole Gregory Ostaszewski (Renault) took 8th ahead of Volvo pilot Franck Conti and Florian Orsini (Mercedes).
In the weekend’s final race Hemming couldn’t delight in his pole for long; he was passed in the early stages by Daziano, and then by Janiec, who’d stormed up from 6th. Another lap later the Finn had to allow that he wasn’t going to be able to hold up Robineau, Meric, and then even Teodosio, whose trucks are a step-up in performance compared to his. At the end of it all the Mercedes pilot had the Renault of Sousa loom large in his rear-view mirrors. But Hemming handily held this Portuguese off and, towards the finish, even pulled away again for his second 6th-place finish of the day.
At the front, meanwhile, Janiec had taken the lead and turned it into his fourth win of the weekend. For several laps everything pointed to a Lion one-two, but four or five laps to the flag Daziano could keep the red-and-white Robineau MAN behind him no longer. The reigning French champ thus racked up his fourth 2nd-place finish, while Daziano was content with his 3rd place on the podium.
Teodosio was 4th, ahead of Meric. Hemming and Sousa were followed home by Conti in 8th, ahead of Orsini and Renault pilot Stephane Languillat.

Impressions: