Trucks are a very important part of our transportation system and bringing some excitement to the otherwise large load carriers was the T1 Prima Racing Championship, India’s first ever truck racing championship held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida on 24th March, Sunday. The debut season saw an audience of 25,000 enthusiasts attending the event for the 45 minutes of action packed 15 laps. Out of the 6 teams that participated; the race was won by Stuart Oliver of Team Castrol Vecton that received the pole position followed by Team Cummins and Team Tata Technologies Motor Sports in the final team points standings.
The race saw 12 heavily modified Tata Prima 4038.S trucks powered by 370 BHP engines capable of reaching a top speed of 110 km/hr. The necessary modifications included a roll cage, side under run protection; FIA approved racing seats, fire extinguishers, steering wheel with a quick release mechanism and so on, on every truck that participated, while every team had two trucks competing each. The race was held in a specially created 2.1 kms track on the F1 circuit. The T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship comprised of two races, a 5-lap Sprint Race and a 15-lap Main Race. The Champion Award was granted to the winning driver on the basis of combined points from both the races. The Team Championship was awarded on the basis of the combined scores of the two drivers of the respective teams from both the races.
The enthusiasts were completely enthralled with the sight of mega trucks racing with each other zipping past the grand stand. The first ever Tata Prima T1 Truck Racing championship could possibly be turned into an annual event or a biennial event. The organizers see a lot of potential in the sport and so do the race truck drivers who said they would want to come back and race again. The event is certainly a major leap for Indian motorsport and we applaud the initiative taken by Tata Motors. Here are the T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship results –
POINTS |
| |||||
Sl. No. | Name | Comp No | Team | Race 1 | Race 2 | Total |
1 | Stuart Oliver | 1 | CASTROL VECTON | 15 | 25 | 40 |
2 | Dave Jenkins | 10 | TATA TECHNOLOGIES MOTOR SPORTS | 12 | 15 | 27 |
3 | Mathew Summerfield | 19 | CUMMINS | 8 | 18 | 26 |
4 | David Ball | 9 | CASTROL VECTON | 10 | 10 | 20 |
5 | Steven Powell | 7 | DEALER WARRIORS | 5 | 12 | 17 |
6 | Simon Reid | 62 | CUMMINS | 3 | 8 | 11 |
7 | Steve Thomas | 12 | DEALER DAREDEVILS | 4 | 6 | 10 |
8 | Steve Horne | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | 6 |
9 | Grahan Powell | 24 | DEALER DAREDEVILS | 0 | 4 | 4 |
10 | Paul Alan McCumisky | 30 | ALLIED PARTNERS | 2 | 1 | 3 |
11 | Ben Horne | 2 | DEALER WARRIORS | |||
