Téo Calvet wins ETRC Truck Racing Promoter’s Cup
A record crowd of 70.800 fans watched an action-packed weekend of truck racing at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, as the battle in the Promoter’s Cup got even tighter ahead of the final round of the 2022 season.
Going into the penultimate round of the Championship, local hero Téo Calvet had a 23-point lead over his closest rival Jamie Anderson. The Frenchman truly delivered on home ground, as he took a podium in the first race, which he topped off with an Overall and category win in Race two on Saturday.
Starting from second on the grid, he made short work of André Kursim ahead of him. Jamie Anderson and Norbert Kiss behind him, turned up the heat as the trio spent most of the 11 laps glued to each other. However Calvet stayed calm and drove home the victory.
“It’s amazing, I’m so happy,” said Calvet after the race. “Norbi and Jamie behind me pushed really hard, but I managed to stay ahead. To win here is a big redemption, it’s magical at Le Mans.”
Calvet rounded off his weekend with another two podiums on Sunday.
Jamie Anderson was on a mission at the French round and clocked up some quick lap times in Super Pole 1. Track limit infringements however meant his fastest times were deleted, which demoted him behind Calvet on the grid for the first race. The Brit lost no time though to get right behind Calvet within the first few laps, and passed him for the lead to take the Promoter’s Cup win.
Race two saw a repeat of a fierce battle with Kiss, similar to the Slovakia Ring earlier this year. Anderson managed to defend from the Hungarian throughout the race, however it all changed just before the chequered flag fell. He tried to make his signature last corner move on Calvet ahead, but racing wheel-to-wheel with Kiss, Anderson got squeezed to the inside, going a little wide, and after a poor exit from the final corner Kiss managed to get the drag on Anderson to the chequered flag, beating him to second overall.
It seemed like Anderson had additional fire in his belly on Sunday morning, as he qualified a sensational fourth overall and on Promoter’s Cup pole. He got a great start and moved straight into third past Sascha Lenz. It was certainly not an easy cruise for the Brit, as Adam Lacko and Lenz behind tried everything to get past him. However Anderson defended brilliantly and drove home his second Promoter’s Cup victory and overall podium of the weekend.
Jamie took another podium in the last race, shortening the gap to Calvet by 8 points to 15 ahead of the final four races.
Shane Brereton’s good fortunes from previous years at Le Mans continued on the weekend, as the Brit took his first Overall win this season, a Promoter’s Cup win as well as two category podiums. Race four was the one for the Apollo Tyres Tor Truck racing team, which had somewhat struggled with different gremlins in the truck throughout the season. Brereton got the advantage off the line over Téo Calvet next to him, and disappeared into the distance to secure a double win for his team.
A mixed weekend for José Rodrigues at the Bugatti circuit saw him miss out on a Promoter’s Cup podium, as he was penalised for overspending in Race One. This played in the hands of Steffen Faas, who inherited third place and his only podium on the weekend.
Clemens Hecker’s weekend started with a turbulent first race. An opportunistic move down the inside of Steffi Halm saw the German make heavy contact with the IVECO driver, which ultimately put her out of the race. Hecker received a drive through penalty, which put him back into last place. The remaining races were less eventful with the German driver taking the chequered flag in all of them.
British racer John Newell had a good first outing in the ETRC, as he finished every race in the penultimate round of the Championship. He will join the grid again at the last race of the season in Jarama this weekend.
