ETRC – 7th race Le Mans, France – Race Report
By Melanie Derflinger – www.t-sport-bernau.com
Last weekend the T Sport Bernau team took part in the penultimate round of the 2023 Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship in Le Mans, France.
This weekend is usually a little quieter at our hospitality area. Nonetheless, we are a lot busier out on the track. Saturday is the busiest day of the weekend as it hosts the standard racing programme during the day while the night plays host to a night race and a stunt show, all rounded off with a fireworks display.
We headed into the weekend planning to close the gap on the championship standings since Antonio is still chasing third place on the standings.
On Saturday morning, Antonio put in a fantastic effort at the first qualifying session, easily progressed to the superpole session before securing fourth position on the second row of the grid for the first race of the weekend. The first race soon began and Antonio fought hard, successfully defended his position throughout the race and brought the truck home in fourth position. Our biggest competitor in the battle for third in the championship standings didn’t score any points due to a technical error. This made these hard-earned championship points even more valuable. Race 2 came around and Antonio lined up in 5th position due to the reverse grid format. After a brilliant race with Antonio showing all of his talent and experience, he managed to work his way up to 3rd position on the line. Fortunately, one of his competitors ahead received a penalty which promoted Antonio to the second step on the podium to collect some more silverware for the collection along with a great haul of championship points.
Sunday‘s qualifying saw a very close battle at the superpole session with all of the drivers posting very similar lap times. Antonio once again managed to secure fourth position for the start of the next race.
The third race of the weekend got underway and Antonio got off to a fantastic start moving up to second position. Unfortunately for us, the race had to be halted and restarted after another truck suffered a technical issue shortly after the start. Having shown his tactics in the first start, Antonio was unable to repeat the same move a second time. He was however able to hold his position and fought hard throughout the race. Ultimately, he finished where he started, at a respectable 4th place, again earning some great championship points.
At the final race of the weekend, Antonio once again lined up in fifth position on the grid. After another fantastic display of Antonio’s talent behind the wheel, he fought hard to gain places. After defending hard against Norbert Kiss, who is now officially 2023 champion, Antonio was rewarded with another trip to the podium finishing in third position. With all of the fantastic results and championship points collected throughout the weekend, there is cause for celebration as T Sport Bernau and Revesz Racing have secured enough points to win the 2023 team championship. A fantastic result for all of our efforts throughout the season. Going into the final round of the season, Antonio’s home race at Circuito del Jarama in Spain, he is now only 2 points behind Sascha Lenz for third place on the championship’s driver standings. The entire team is excited to see how the final weekend of the season will unfold in only a week’s time and to see whether Antonio can beat Sascha to win third place on the final standings.
