Last weekend saw what is arguably the highlight of the season, the Truck Grand Prix at the famous Nürburgring in Germany.
The team arrived nicely ahead of time, giving us plenty of time to set up and make the preparations for an action-packed weekend. The Nürburgring event saw us bring an extraordinary set-up to the paddock to welcome large numbers of guests and partners visiting us at the paddock to get involved in the action. We also took part in the press rides on Thursday where journalists take part in passenger rides.
The on-track racing action would take a slightly different form to other weekends with the first practice, qualifying and super pole sessions all taking place on Friday instead of the normal early morning Saturday slot. This would provide 3 days of on-track action for spectators and fans to immerse themselves in.
The qualifying session soon came around. After some fantastic laps Antonio managed to secure 5th place on the grid for the first race of the weekend on Saturday. A great start to the weekend.
After having time on Friday evening to service and prepare the truck, the team were keenly anticipating the start of the racing action on Saturday. The race got off to a great start with Antonio fighting hard to maintain his position off the start. Fighting within the leading pack throughout the entire race, Antonio managed to gain a position finishing in 4th place, narrowly missing out on a podium finish. The usual reversed-grid format for the second race saw Antonio start from 5th position on the grid once again. A fantastic race for our guests and spectators to watch saw a lot of close racing at the front. Antonio took advantage of some great opportunities and some fantastic racing moves saw him make up places – finishing the race in second place, only a few seconds behind the winner Lukas Hahn. Overall a fantastic day with some silverware and some great championship points in the bag.
Sunday morning would take the normal format with qualifying and super pole taking place early in the morning to determine the grid for the first race of the day. After a few overnight improvements to the set-up, Antonio managed to secure 4th place for the start of the third race of the weekend. Shortly after the start of the race, he managed to move up to 3rd, a position he managed to hold onto throughout the race, securing his second podium finish of the weekend. The last race of the weekend saw Antonio line up in 6th position on the grid. After a fantastic getaway, Antonio made up a place off the start, promoting him to 5th place at the race. However, after a hard-fought battle, Antonio found himself with a punctured tyre, ultimately meaning we had to take the decision to withdraw the truck from the race.
Overall, Antonio and the team are very happy with the results of the weekend and are glad to be able to be consistently fighting at the front of the pack. Our guests and team partners appeared to really enjoy the weekend, soaking up the atmosphere and cheering on Antonio from our VIP areas overlooking the track.
The team will now travel back to our workshop in the UK to service the truck and to prepare for the next round of the championship which will take place in Most, CZ at the first weekend in September.
Comments