17.07.2023
Of course, the 36th International ADAC Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring was also marked by fast-paced motorsport and the best entertainment off the track in good, old Eifel tradition. The thrilling races on the shortened Grand Prix circuit, the country and party music with fireworks in the Müllenbachschleife, the campfire romance at the camping sites - all this attracted 130,300 spectators to the Ring this year to celebrate themselves and an eventful weekend.
In front of a packed crowd, the horsepower cars provided numerous thrilling moments at the season highlight of the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship. A weekend that, from a sporting point of view, was dominated by one man:Norbert Kiss from Hungary turned out to be the Max Verstappen of the racing truck scene in the Eifel. Four starts, three victories, the MAN pilot dominated at will and continuously extended his lead in the overall European Championship standings. For the German pilots it was a good weekend despite the kiss show.
Jochen Hahn wins finalThe brilliant finale in the Eifel was set by six-time European Champion Jochen Hahn. In the final race, the Iveco driver won after he had kept the energetic but ultimately unsuccessful Kiss at bay with all his routine for five laps. "I always say, it's settled at the end," Hahn said with a smile. Otherwise it was a rather mixed home race for the truck driver from Altensteig with only one more second place. MAN pilot Sascha Lenz from Urmitz/Rhein was happy about two second places in the Eifel and summed up: "We are completely satisfied. Twice on the podium at the race in our home country, that's not so bad," Lenz remarked with a wink.
Country & Schlager Stars Created a Great AtmosphereThe atmosphere in the Müllenbachschleife was exuberant on Friday and Saturday evening with the respective music acts. While Friday was all about country music with the bands Gone Country, Tom Astor and Jessica Lynn, Saturday was all about party. With Mallorca hits and other catchy tunes by Lorenz Büffel, Tobee, Schürze, Julian Benz and Markus Becker, a young and young-at-heart audience cavorted in front of the stage. Together they celebrated an exuberant party that culminated in a brilliant fireworks display on Saturday evening.
Truck Grand Prix under the sign of sustainabilityDespite all its tradition, the ADAC Truck Grand Prix keeps up with the times and is in a state of change. For the ADAC Mittelrhein e.V. and the European Truck Racing Association (ETRA) the issue of sustainability is one of the most important strategic goals - on and off the track.
strategic goals - on and off the track."This is the social change. And we are not moving in a vacuum here in truck racing, neither as an organiser nor as the Goodyear FIA European Championship," said Georg Fuchs, Managing Director of ETRA, adding."Basically, our goal is to reduce emissions. We also want to become one of the leading platforms for sustainable technology in the commercial vehicle sector. To this end, we have committed ourselves to achieving net emissions by 2038."On the track, a lot has already been done to protect the environment. Two years ago, the Goodyear FIA Truck Racing Championship became the world's first racing series to use the synthetic standard fuel HVO diesel.(Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), which can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90 per cent.
World premiere: Presentation of the first fully electric race truckThe Truck Grand Prix also offered a world premiere in terms of sustainability: Iveco and Team Hahn Racing presented the Iveco eTruck, the world's first electrically powered race truck. The new Iveco eTruck is an electric Iveco S-Way tractor unit equipped with an eAxle from FPT Industrial. The axle delivers a maximum power of 840 kW. A full race distance on all ETRA circuits could be completed with it."We are pleased that Iveco, as one of our long-standing and valued partners, is also driving the sustainability change in motorsport," said ETRA Managing Director Fuchs. And Rudi Speich, Chairman of ADAC Mittelrhein e.V., Rudi Speich, Chairman of ADAC Mittelrhein e.V., said: "The launch of the first all-electric race truck is another important building block in the sustainability transformation of ADAC and the Goodyear FIA ETRC to make motorsport more sustainable and to reduce the CO2 footprint.However, it will take some time before the eTruck is ready for series production. For this to happen, other manufacturers have to follow suit and the prerequisites have to be created in the environment as well. "That takes time, but we are taking it. We are on the right track. And at some point we will experience great motor sport with electrically and thus sustainably powered trucks," Jochen Hahn is sure.
ISO Certification for Truck Grand PrixThis also applies to the entire International ADAC Truck Grand Prix, which is organised on the basis of a sustainable management system to obtain ISO 20121 certification. This is the international standard for sustainability management of events. This means that ADAC is committed to observing the basic principles of sustainable development in the conception, planning and implementation of the Truck Grand Prix: from raising awareness and involving all stakeholders in issues of ecological, economic and social sustainability to minimising waste and promoting the circular economy to the sustainable design of the supplier chain.The team of experts from TÜV Nord Italia commissioned for the ISO certification examined the event according to these internationally defined sustainability criteria, all of which the ADAC Truck Grand Prix was able to fulfil.Marc Hennerici, Managing Director of ADAC Travel & Event Mittelrhein GmbH, emphasised at the certification ceremony: "In the past weeks, we have adopted a comprehensive sustainability package together with our partners and suppliers.sustainability package. In addition to fuels from renewable sources and recyclable tyres, we were able to implement a plastic bottle-free paddock and recycling islands for consistent waste separation. The ISO certificationis also an incentive for us to initiate further measures so that we can continue to be successful in the future with sustainable motorsport."
Top decision-makers at commercial vehicle show, TruckSymposium & Innovation CampThe 16th TruckSymposium organised by ADAC Mittelrhein and TÜV Rheinland also dealt with tomorrow's solutions. 120 representatives from industry, associations, authorities, politics and the media exchanged views on current developments and challenges in the industry.current developments and challenges in the industry. Among other things, the experts addressed the question of how realistic the change to electric mobility is for road freight transport.Whether battery-electric drives can actually be used economically depends heavily on the area of application. Of course, hydrogen and electric drives will be the most important low-carbon drive concepts in the medium and long term.low-carbon drive concepts in the medium and long term. But the road ahead will be long - because of the technological challenges and the lack of vehicle availability. Bridge technologies would certainly be needed.A basic prerequisite for the expansion of renewable energies is planning security. This can only be created by politics and administration.In general, the experts spoke out in favour of technology openness and against dirigiste requirements on the part of politics.What is needed immediately, all participants at the symposium agreed, are parking spaces for professional drivers nationwide. The shortage of parking spaces for trucks is significant; at present, there is a rough estimate of about 40,000 parking spaces missing along the nation's motorways. The unanimous tenor: the expansion of parking spaces is urgently needed, procedural cuts are indispensable.The ADAC Truck Grand Prix is not only the most important truck motor sport event in this country, but also one of the largest industrial fairs in the commercial vehicle sector.On all days, national and international truck manufacturers, suppliers and hauliers presented themselves to the public on around 10,000 square metres in the exhibition park. Around 60 national and international manufacturers (including.MAN, Iveco, Ford, Scania, Goodyear, Michelin, Hankook) were on site and presented the drive technologies of today and tomorrow.Numerous people interested in careers at Job Expo
At the same time, the ADAC Truck Grand Prix was also a meeting point for people interested in a career, who met potential employers at the exhibition stands of the forwarding and logistics companies in the ring°boulevard and exchanged information about career perspectives. They could have their application documents checked by the employment agency and experts gave specialist lectures: from training and further education opportunities to the Qualification Opportunity Act.The Job Expo, organised by ADAC Mittelrhein and the Rhineland Road Transport Association (SVG) in cooperation with the Koblenz Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Federal Employment Agency and Nürburgring GmbH, took place for the second time and will be held again next year due to the positive response."Our expectations were exceeded" Looking at the event as a whole, Rudi Speich, Chairman of ADAC Mittelrhein e.V., drew a positive conclusion:"The triad of motorsport, trade fair and festival is unique in the European racing calendar and drew the crowds to the Nürburgring this weekend. In the run-up to the event, we expected 100,000 fans, and we are even moreWe are even more pleased that we were able to increase the number of spectators by 30,000 on the weekend of the event. Our expectations were exceeded. I would like to thank the numerous visitors and our hard-working volunteers who contributed to the success of the 36th International ADAC Truck Grand Prix. An event of such magnitude would not be realisable without this energetic support."
