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Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season

Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season

15. October 2017Albi - The weather on this final race day of the Coupe de France Camions in Albi in the south of France was identical to that on the two days so far – simply fabulous. The warm-up was scheduled for very early, even before the sun was up, and not all trucks were seen out on the track. An hour and a half later it was time for qualifying, and now everyone – including those hard hit in yesterday’s crashes – had to be up and going.
Fans who’d made their way to the circuit early were in for a real treat. The lap times kept dropping, and Renault pilot Lionel Montagne stayed atop the timing monitor throughout, going even faster on his last lap, only to see Thomas Robineau stepped up and snatch pole away by more than three tenths. Gregory Ostaszewski was 3rd.
After the noon break and the customary “gymkhana” – similar in concept to the “Go & Stop” competition at the Truck-Grand-Prix on the Nürburgring, – and numerous contests for the mechanics, the first race of the day was ready to be flagged off. It was now almost 30°C in the shade.
Polesitter Robineau may have been three tenths faster than Montagne in qualifying, but it was the Renault pilot that won the sprint to the first corner. Robineau’s MAN kept closing in, especially in the curves and in the two chicanes, but Montagne left not the slightest gap, didn’t allow himself to be forced into an error, was always a tick quicker out of the corners. His fluent start-to-flag victory was wholly deserved.
Behind the top duo Ostaszewski had a rather uneventful race. He wasn’t able to keep up with the two ahead, and there was no pressure from the field behind either. Jose Teodosio (PRT) was so far behind in his Renault that Ostaszewski’s could comfortably sail to a 3rd-place finish.
The Portuguese had grabbed 4th place from Téo Calvet at the start, and held it till the flag. Calvet now had Lion teammate and Anthony Janiec on his tail. The new French champion’s #6 Lion MAN was resplendent in a striking new livery, and since Places 5 and 6 meant a first-row start for the subsequent heat, the final race of the season, he refrained from any spectacular move that might have jeopardised the prospects for both of them.
Race 4, watched by 18,500 spectators, should have been an exhibition race, what with the championship rankings having already been decided. It was anything but. Polesitter Janiec expectedly beat teammate Téo Calvet to the first corner and outgoing champion Robineau, with the #1 MAN, soon started putting Calvet under pressure. Just before the low-hanging bridge, which the race trucks just about squeeze under, and which, for obvious reasons of safety, is in the middle of a permanent yellow-flag (no-overtake) zone, last year’s champ slipped ahead of the Lion cub for 2nd place. Not long after he caught up with Janiec, and was now looking for a way past.
First place wasn’t the only one being fought hard for; Calvet too was feeling Teodosio’s hot breath down his neck. But just as the most exciting battles for the podium were unfolding, the red flags suddenly made an appearance – the first interruption of the day, the fifth of the weekend already.
Aurelien Herrgott, third on the podium for newcomers yesterday, had turned turtle in his DAF without any external contact. The truck had glanced off a tyre barrier, the youngster evidently losing control as the DAF hit the armco at an angle and flipped over. Herrgott himself emerged without a bruise.
This was on Lap 5 and we were already some way off schedule, the gymkhana originally slotted for yesterday evening having had to be accommodated in today’s programme. But the recovery of Herrgott’s truck went off smoothly, allowing enough time for a restart.
Now the field was much tighter. In truck racing the individual times of the two (or more, as the case, may be) runs are added, and so it was imperative for the pursuers not only to overtake the trucks ahead of them but also to gain as much time on them to be able to finish with a good position in the final classification.
While leader Janiec effortlessly parried Robineau’s every thrust, Teodosio soon cracked the resistance of the young Calvet. The race was really coming alive again when the red flags were flashed – the sixth interruption this weekend.
The occasion this time was relatively harmless – a race truck had inadvertently dragged a track-delimiting tyre barrier right into the middle of the track. Now that the minimum race distance had cumulatively been completed, a restart was decided against and the respective times in the two runs were added for the final result.
New champ Janiec climbed the top step of the podium. Robineau was second and Téo Calvet third, his added times putting him a nose ahead of Teodosio.
The winners of the gymkhana and the mechanics’ competitions were then given their prizes, before everyone broke off to get ready for the evening’s championship gala in the Albi Grand Theatre.

Impressions:

Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season
Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season
Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season
Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season
Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season
Coupe de France Camions in Albi, Sunday – Janiec wins the last race of the season