T Sport Bernau MAN’s first taste of HVO biodiesel in pre-ETRC test session
The T Sport Bernau team travelled from England and from Spain to the Paul Armagnac Circuit at Nogaro in the South of France for pre-season testing on the first May weekend, reports Melanie Derflinger.
“We were all very excited to finally get to a circuit and take the race truck out on the track, testing the upgrades and adaptations we have been busy making throughout the winter break.
On the first day of testing the weather was very unsettled with a mixture of rain, hailstones and a bit of sunshine in between.
We were fortunate enough to make the most of the dry spells to test all the fundamental systems of the truck: engine, gearbox, brakes & steering. We quickly discovered one small bracket on the new front axle had to be slightly modified, but apart from that the MAN TGS truck was running very smoothly.
Also, Antonio and the mechanics were very pleased to finally test the updated steering system, which was working exactly as we hoped. A big thank you to our team partner FTL Steering Systems for their support with this development!
Once we knew that that all the main systems were working as expected, we were able to focus on testing some different setup changes and smaller modifications on the second day of testing.
This would also be the first time that we would run our race truck with the new HVO biodiesel, which was introduced into our championship this year, helping us to become more environmentally friendly.
We can’t reveal too much information, but the setup changes and some parts that were produced specially for us by PE Automotive worked all as planned.
We can however reveal, that we were nearly 2 seconds per lap faster around the Nogaro circuit in comparison to the lap times from last year. Looking at the timing screens, we were definitely one of the fastest trucks that attended the test weekend.
With a good and positive feeling, we will now return back to our main workshop in the UK where we will make our final preparations to the truck for the season opening race at the famous Hungaroring in Hungary on the 12th and 13th of June. Stay tuned!
