Truck Grand Prix at Nürburgring – the highlight of 2019!
by Melanie Derflinger, T Sport Racing
The much anticipated ADAC Truck Grand Prix 2019 at Nürburgring proved to be a successful weekend for the T Sport Racing Team. As always, it is the highlight of our race season, as a large proportion of our partners come from Germany, such as PE Automotive, the BPW Group and Lunau GmbH.
Our team arrived at the circuit on Monday afternoon after we had a great weekend at the ProfiParts event in Koblenz and we immediately started building our set up in the paddock. As Nürburgring is our biggest event of the season, and we were expecting a large number of guests from our team partners, this year T Sport Racing adopted the ‘go big or go home’ motto and our hospitality set up at the circuit reflected this. Not only did we have our catering tent adjacent to our workshop tent in the paddock so our partners and VIP guests could feel like part of the team, by immersing themselves in the behind the scenes action of an FIA ETRC race weekend. We also welcomed our VIP guests and their families into our T Sport Racing VIP lounge which directly overlooked the start-finish line.
The weekend got off to a fantastic start and on Thursday, Terry managed to spend a good amount of time out on the track conducting press rides for some of our VIP guests from our partner Lunau GmbH. He also received some very positive sector times in the free practice session and the team was very hopeful for a successful weekend after Terry finished the final practice session on Friday in 12th position overall.
Saturday proved to be a busy and positive day for the team after a rather disappointing qualifying on Friday, and the T Sport Racing team were confident that Terry and the truck had the pace to gain some places during the races. In the first race, Terry lined up in 17th position on the grid and managed to hold his place well, gaining a few positions in the first couple of laps after some of his fellow drivers had a collision, allowing Terry to move past them. After defending his place to Luis Recuenco throughout most of the race, Terry managed to make a pass on fellow brit, Oly Janes, near to the end to secure himself a podium in the Grammer Truck Cup. Finishing 12th overall and 3rd in the Grammer Truck Cup. Between the first and second race of the day, some of our guests were able to take advantage of a technical tour of the race truck. Where our chief mechanic, Tim, explained some of the more technical aspects of the truck and how the many parts our partners supply us with are used throughout the race weekend.
The second race of the day started with Terry on the 6th row in 12th position. Terry started well once again, making up places at the start. Terry found himself defending from Recuenco before being able to move clear of danger. After catching Téo Calvet an intense battle ensued, with Terry and Téo swapping places a handful of times. Eventually on the final corner of the race Terry made a late lunge down the inside of Recuenco, trying to move up to the second step of the podium in the Grammer Truck Cup. However, after the race the stewards deemed that Terry’s move was a little too ambitious and they handed him a 5 second time penalty which ultimately demoted him to 4th place in the Grammer Truck Cup.
Sunday started on a very promising note for the T Sport Racing Team, as the track conditions were good and the truck was performing well. Terry managed to get three hot laps in during the qualifying session and finished in the top 5 of the Grammer Truck Cup, 15th position on the grid of 26 trucks. This put him in good position to start the first race of the day, Terry got off to a great start in the race and held this place well throughout, steadily battling with the drivers in front of him to move up the field. Unfortunately, despite competing well in the first few laps, a small part inside the power steering pump failed meaning Terry had to retire from the race. Due to the early retirement in the first race of the day, Terry started the second race in 22nd position, near the back of the grid. This meant he had a lot of ground to make up. Terry fought valiantly throughout the race and managed to work his way through the pack, climbing up the rankings. By the end, Terry achieved a great result by finishing the race in 14th position overall, 4th in the Grammer Truck cup, narrowly missing out on a Podium finish. This was a fantastic effort after starting from the back of the field and the team was very pleased with the result.
All in all, the ADAC Truck Grand Prix 2019 at Nürburgring proved to be a successful and positive weekend for the T Sport Racing Team as Terry’s performance with the new engine is improving with each race weekend. Furthermore, we welcomed almost 300 people from our German partners, PE Automotive, the BPW Group and Lunau GmbH. All of whom had a fantastic time throughout the weekend, as they got to experience the exhilarating and electrifying sport of truck racing at one of the most famous circuits in Europe. We look forward to returning to Nürburgring next year, but for now we are eagerly anticipating our next race on home soil, as we compete in the British Truck Racing Championship at Donington Park on the 10th and 11th of August. Stay tuned, this is just the start of a brilliant season for the T Sport Racing Team.
