From season highlight straight into the summer break

08. August 2019The 34th Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Round 4 of this year’s FIA European Truck Racing Championship, was once again the highlight of the season thus far. The weather was fabulous, the atmosphere was superb, and the results entirely as the fans would have wished.
For home heroes Jochen Hahn (Iveco) and Sascha Lenz (MAN), the TGP was their most successful outing this year. The two also lit up the Ring with a string of stirring drives. Let’s not forget the grand guest appearance by veteran Gerd Körber in the second Schwabentruck Iveco, who nevertheless taught the up-and-coming crop of youngsters a thing –or three – about racing a truck.
Defending champ Hahn shone at the Nürburgring, a circuit at which he’s had weekends he would rather forget. Hahn also picked up the Truck Master Germany award, and extended his lead in the overall standings to 67 points.
There was some shuffling in the ranks below the five-times champ. Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN) is now Hahn’s nearest rival for the title. That could change in no time, seeing as there are only a few points, give or take, between the rest of the pack. Czech Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner), billed as a title aspirant before the season-opener in Misano, and Hungarian Norbert Kiss (Mercedes-Benz) are next in line, and even Iveco pilotess Steffi Halm and Lenz have good prospects of finishing among the Top 3 honourees at the FIA prizegiving ceremony in Madrid October 6.
Now we’re already halfway into six-week summer break. But there’ll be very few days off for most; the racers themselves will be required for PR engagements, and the technical staff will be at work deciphering the track data from the first half of the season to figure out where to wring that extra fraction of a second of performance from – there’s always something to do.
The teams get back to a packed calendar beginning with the Most weekend. Whereas the first four rounds were spread across eight weeks, the second four take place over only five. It’s better to be prepared for any eventuality.