The Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship race offered fans an exciting mix of trade fair, music and festival in addition to thrilling motorsport. Mostly sunny Eifel weather, thrilling motorsport and a varied entertainment program: the 37th International ADAC Truck Grand Prix attracted 130,000 truck fans to the Nürburgring this weekend.
Like no other event, the Truck Grand Prix combines the possibilities of the legendary Eifel circuit. In addition to thrilling racing on the shortened Grand Prix circuit and one of the largest commercial vehicle trade fairs, the Müllenbachschleife once again hosted a music festival with country and party music, including fireworks.
"The spectator response shows that our new concept of motorsport, trade fair and festival was a complete success. My thanks go to our numerous helpers, who contributed to the success of our 37th Truck Grand Prix with their tireless efforts," said Rudi Speich, Chairman of ADAC Mittelrhein e.V.
The sporting highlight was the thrilling and exciting races of the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship. In their 1000 hp trucks, the drivers from Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Spain and Portugal once again showed why they are the measure of all things in their sport.
Truck racing: Kiss dominates the European Championship races
The first of four European Championship races at the Nürburgring was won by Hungarian Norbert Kiss. Jochen Hahn crossed the finish line just under five seconds later. Local hero Sascha Lenz completed the podium in third place. Stefanie Halm won the second race ahead of Hahn and Kiss. The gaps here were much smaller: all three finished within just one and a half seconds of each other. The finish in the third race was the same as in the first: Kiss again won ahead of Hahn and Lenz.
Antonio Albacete, Hahn, Lenz: That was the podium of the fourth and final race at the Nürburgring. Lenz had to fend off persistent attacks from Kiss, especially on the final lap, and crossed the finish line just a few meters ahead of the Hungarian.
The three races of the Dutch Truck Racing ADAC Mittelrhein Cup were won by Craig Reid (races 1 & 3) and Erwin Kleinnagelvoort. The second race had to be stopped due to an accident.
In addition to the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship drivers, the ADAC GT Masters drivers once again showed off their skills on the Grand Prix circuit. In their 550 hp Lamborghini, Mercedes AMG, Porsche and McLaren, they delivered thrilling races. Salman Owega and David Schumacher won the first race on Saturday ahead of Tom Kalender/Elias Seppänen and Marcel Marchewicz/Julian Hanses (all Mercedes).
In the second race on Sunday, the podium looked like this: Owega/Schumacher again took first place, second place went to Finn Wiebelhaus/Jannes Fittje and third place to Leon Köhler/Maxime Oosten.
Top atmosphere in the Müllenbachschleife
There was a great atmosphere in the Müllenbachschleife on Friday and Saturday evening with the respective music acts. Tom Astor and Big S on Friday and DJ Lestraight, Nancy Franck, Julian Benz, Isi Glück and Peter Wackel on Saturday performed at the music festival in the Müllenbachschleife and created a great atmosphere for the fans. In front of the music stage, a young and young-at-heart audience sang and danced to country and party music. Saturday evening was rounded off with an impressive fireworks display.
Truck Grand Prix in the spirit of sustainability
Last year, the Hahn Racing team presented the world's first electrically powered race truck, the Iveco eTruck, to the public in the paddock. This year, the truck drove for the first time in the Iveco parade on the Grand Prix circuit, and Scania also used its Battery Electric Truck in the Knorr-Bremse Go&Stop competition.
Sustainability also plays a very important role for the organizer. Georg Fuchs, Managing Director of ETRA Promotion GmbH, said: "Sustainability is one of our most important strategic goals both on and off the race track. We want to establish the Goodyear FIA ETRC as a leading platform for the promotion of sustainable practices and technologies and have committed to net zero emissions by 2038. We are delighted to have achieved the highest possible environmental standard set by the FIA just before the Truck Grand Prix. The FIA's three-star environmental accreditation confirms our diverse sustainability initiatives in motorsport."
Stars to touch in the paddock
Chatting with the truck stars, getting autographs, watching the mechanics wrenching, denting and repairing: Spectators at the ADAC Truck Grand Prix were once again able to do all this in the paddock.
The huge area was divided into three sections: the paddock, the event area and the exhibition park. In the paddock, the teams presented their race trucks, while in the Event Area and the Children's Area, families got their money's worth and visitors could also take part in competitions.
Top decision-makers at the commercial vehicle trade fair & truck symposium
On all days, 60 national and international truck manufacturers, suppliers and freight forwarders presented themselves to the public on around 10,000 square meters in the exhibition park.
With Daimler Truck, Ford Truck, Iveco, MAN, Renault Truck and Scania, among others, six of Europe's leading truck manufacturers were on site. They presented their latest innovations and invited visitors to take one or two souvenirs home with them.
On Friday, 124 representatives from politics, business and science discussed current developments and challenges in the transport industry at the Truck Symposium organized by ADAC Mittelrhein and TÜV Rheinland. The topic was climate-friendly logistics between the market and technology.
The tenor of the experts: politicians must listen more to business and science and support the transformation in an unbureaucratic, long-term and technology-open manner. To this end, it is imperative to provide more funds to modernize the infrastructure of rail and road freight transport, promote sustainable drives, create incentives for private investors and better market conditions overall. For example, politicians must do more to expand charging networks and hydrogen refueling facilities along long-distance transport routes if the climate targets for road freight transport are to be achieved by 2030.
Numerous people interested in careers at Job Expo
The ADAC Truck Grand Prix was also a meeting point for people interested in careers, who met potential employers at the Job Expo in the ring°boulevard at the stands of freight forwarders and logistics companies and discussed career prospects. They were able to have their application documents checked by the employment agency and experts gave specialist presentations: from training and further education opportunities to the Qualification Opportunities Act.
Looking at the event as a whole, Rudi Speich, Chairman of ADAC Mittelrhein e.V., drew a positive conclusion: "The ADAC Truck Grand Prix's triad of motorsport, trade fair and festival is unique. We are very grateful for the enormous popularity and are already looking forward to the next edition in 2025."
The 38th International ADAC Truck Grand Prix will take place from July 10 to 13, 2025.