An early trophy for Huthwaite truck race ace Mark Taylor

The Huthwaite-based Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship team returned to their Germany base with a Promoter’s Cup trophy where they are currently in fourth spot after two rounds of the prestigious FIA championship.

The 36-year-old Taylor and the team travel to Tor Poznan Circuit this weekend for the third round of the championship.

A new venue for the series, that will be a learning curve for all the teams with its 4.083 miles of tarmac and its 14 corners to encounter.

Again the team were happy coming away from Slovakia Ring Circuit, Slovakia after a mixed weekend of results and possibly the most demanding circuit on the seasons calendar reaped rewards, but also Taylor's biggest challenge being new kid on the block was to keep the beast of a new truck’s 5.3 tonnes on track to the chequered flag.

Taylor flew into Slovakia a day early on the Wednesday, to a fully set up paddock by the team ready for his duties that commenced early Thursday morning that took in final checks, scrutineering and driver briefings.

Friday saw Taylor in readiness for VIP and Press Rides followed by three 30-minute testing sessions.

One of the weekend’s highlights was Taylors Transport’s managing director and team principal with his wife were literally ‘taken for a ride’ by son Mark, the ride of a lifetime around the 6km track with Alan staying in the hot seat for a good number of laps.

Unfortunately, during the second round of press rides the truck suffered an engine shut down due to fuel starvation and had to be towed back to the paddock, a quick fix by the team got Mark back out on track for the first test session.

In this session Taylor’s chances of getting some experience and laps in was halted again by a snapped front left spring.

Taking a little longer than planned, they missed the second test session, but was back out on track for test session three which went flawlessly. Taylor put in some flying laps with times to match and all was going well.

Saturday’s warm up laps went well, the truck was as rapid.

Qualifying followed that saw Taylor miss out on the Super Pole Session by two seconds and having to settle with a back of the pack to start race one that was to come up soon.

It went well and during the 10-minute session Taylor kept up with the regular current and previous European Champions and giving them a run for their money.

Saturday’s race one was an horrendous one for the team. It was very hot, and the truck went out on a fully dry set up and just before the start, the heavens opened and were subjected to a tropical rainstorm.

Within minutes the racetrack and paddock were completely flooded up to four inches deep in water.

As the rain subsided a little, the race director instructed all teams to ensure the trucks lined up on the grid were on a wet set up.

The team sprang into action, so on the grid, the support team had to alter tyre pressures, shock absorber settings and anti-roll bar settings.

The race eventually started under yellow flags over one hour late, and with Mark at the back of the grid it was almost impossible to see.

Cautious, he remained there till the end with good experience gained.

It was a tough race but the main thing the truck was in one piece, it was difficult piloting the 5.3 tonnes, with 1,100bhp around on the wet track.Lining up at the back for race two, the weather had turned very hot again and the trucks set up changed back to a dry setting.

Heavy rain half way through the session saw the yellow flagged waved and no overtaking and race stopped. That saw Mark finish in 12th.

Sunday saw warm up and qualifying, Taylor excelled in both with a 12th start again for race three, Taylor had a good start and has made up a number of places on the first lap to see it red flagged due to a beached truck in the gravel at turn one and the trucks having to re-start in their original places, so Taylor restarted back place again.

As the pace truck peeled off, Taylor was on it, however he was pushed off track by another driver, Taylor managed to recover the #81 and carry on in the race to finish ninth.

Following a lengthy meeting with the race director and stewards, two drivers were pushed back, leaving Mark in seventh, and a podium second place in the Promoters’ Cup - his first trophy of the season.

A reverse grid race four saw Mark start in second and held third place in the Promoter’s Cup until the last bend where he overcooked it and fell back to fourth and 11th overall.

“The weekend has again been great, as a team we are learning all the time but at the same time becoming more confident on and off track, with the new truck that’s faster, new set ups to drive to and learning completely new race circuits,” he said.

“I’m well pleased with getting a Promoter’s Cup trophy from the weekend.

“We made a good start in race three despite a red flag and restart, we then got knocked off track to re-joined and got a seventh after the stewards enquiry.

“Its just great teamwork again by all the crew and look forward now to Poland.”

The Team aims to please their UK fans when they return to racing in the UK, mid-August in between a busy European calendar for their fans in the popular Convoy in The Park at their local circuit, Donington Park contending in the International Truck Prix, and will see #81 Taylor’s Trucksport Racing in action for the four international races.

Next up after this weekend is Nürburgring Circuit in Germany, on 15th and 16th of July.