Première at the Truck Grand Prix: Six races over two days

11. July 2021Everybody that has anything to do with the FIA European Truck Racing Championship is looking forward with great anticipation to the thunder in the Eifel next weekend. Fans, visitors, sponsors, teams, and drivers have been waiting for this climactic event for months.
The TGP this year, moreover, marks the première of an all-new, alternative format - two separate events on the Saturday and Sunday with three races on each day.
The programme on both days is identical, with 15 minutes of warm-up in the morning followed by a single free practice session lasting 30 minutes and the qualifying. Races 1 and 2 will follow the traditional format, with the partially reversed grid and 10 points for the winner of the second race.
The exciting new addition is a 20-points third race, the starting positions for which will be determined by the drivers’ second-best times in the qualifying session. The points for the Top 10 finishers are the same as for Race 1.
The object is that each of the two days corresponds (to the greatest extent possible) to a complete traditional weekend. This ad hoc measure was added in the 2021 regulations to avert the possibility of last-minute cancellations reducing the number of events to fewer than the minimum needed for a meaningful championship, and will be tested at the TGP for the first time.
The spectators at the circuit and those watching the live streams are in for a bonanza, but the pressure on the teams will be enormous. Apart from the stress of having to endure another race after a normal day’s racing is done, additional service interventions could now be required before Race 3 on each day instead of only on the Saturday evening.
The mood in the paddock is excited, though everyone should have their strategies all worked out by now.