Friday in Misano

24. May 2019Misano - The weather is the topic du jour at this season-opening round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at the Misano World Circuit. Every weather service has a different forecast – they’ve predicted heavy rain, bright sunshine, and everything in between. Today we had clear blue, almost cloudless skies.
The atmosphere in the paddock was very deliberately laid-back; everyone wanted to bask in the Italian summer sun. Following a leisurely last-minute detailing of the trucks with their final sponsors’ decals, they were driven out into pit lane to be weighed. There, some were ballasted and others had weights removed so that each would meet the weight regulations that stipulate 3,150 kg at the front axle and 5,300 kg in total.
Late in the afternoon it was time for business. The trucks had to be lined up on the grid for the obligatory group photograph – with the respective driver standing next to each. Getting 17 colossi into perfect formation takes some doing, the effulgent sunshine making it a more strenuous effort. The shoot lasted about an hour.
Of the full-season pilots, Englishman Terry Gibbon (MAN) has withdrawn at short notice because of illness. His French MAN colleague Anthony Janiec has been drafted in as a late full-season entrant.