The statistics speak clearly, though. The driver winning the opening race of the European Truck Championship in Barcelona in the past three years eventually became European champion in the end of the season. In seasons 2005 and 2006 this applied to Antonio Albacete and last year the Barcelona tradition was confirmed by Markus Bosiger!
David Vršecký, who dominated in the capital city of Catalonia this year, does not believe in statistics too much, though. "I cannot say it is not a pleasant prospect, but there are still nine difficult races ahead of us all before the championship ends," says the Roudnice trucker, who has first appeared at the top of the European Championship hierarchy as individual after a decade of his racing career. In his opinion the championship is going to be very dramatic. "Before the Barcelona event hardly anybody would have predicted that Antonio would lose 20 score points and Frankie would win the first cup race. And on top of that Egon and his team had to leave on Sunday and Barcelona was not even reached by the strong British truckers of the Birds team, with Andy Levett, last year ´s winner from Most, as their superstar. While last year after the Albacete race it was clear that the champion title would belong to one of the three top drivers, this year the competition will be more equal and will include more candidates for the final victory."
David Vršecký mainly wonders about the form in which the hottest favorites will arrive at the following race in Misano next weekend. Last year there was a six-week break between the first and the second race of the season, which could be used for testing on the basis of the live data from Barcelona. This year the situation is completely different. "No breakthrough is likely to happen in Misano, I think. Major changes may come in Albacete. That is my view. While we will travel across Europe to be able to take part in the race, Antonio has the racing track literally round the corner and he will therefore save a lot of time. Nevertheless, we know how to cope with this logistic disadvantage," said David in the end.