Barcelona greeted the participants of the second round of the Championship with rainy and rather unappealing weather. However, the list of participants looked very promising indeed. This time, the usual six super trucks pilots were joined by four Frenchmen - father and son Croziers, and two pilots with undeniably Italian roots - Patalacci and Bassanelli. Adding to this the three times as numerous weaker Race Truck division and other side events, it was evident that one could expect a thrilling and dramatic event, which was bound to draw tens of thousands of spectators. All the more so since their main pastime - bullfighting - has been forbidden in Barcelona.
On Saturday morning, the weather got at least slightly better, and it stopped raining. During the first free practice, although the track was not only wet, but in places also soiled by spilt oil, the Buggyras seemed not to be affected. David was the best in overcoming obstacles, finishing one and a half second before Ludovic in the second place. Albacete was third with a loss of three seconds. During the second practice, the track was already drying up fast, and both Ludovic and David gained two seconds over Östreich with his VW truck in third position. In the last free practice, Buggyras of Ludovic, David, and Albacete in that reaped victory.
The Deustche Post team apparently couldn't get over Buggyra's supremacy, and filed a protest against our tyres just before timed practice began. FIA commissioners surprisingly accepted the protests, and all Buggyras had to be quickly equipped with the same tyres used by the German team. Although the start was postponed by half an hour, David missed it by a few minutes. Then however, he fought all the more bravely with both the clock and the changed tyres. In the end however, it was still our two pilots who prevailed. They managed to cope with the trap and earned a first row at the start of the Sunday qualifying, before Östreich, Albacete, and Drückenmüller. Mr. Müller, the chief of the German "postmen" was probably disappointed.
The first bend of the shortened Barcelona formula circuit is not exactly an ideal racing ground for pilots in even positions, because it turns by a full 180 degrees. Nevertheless, David pulled off a wonderful feat worthy of a student of Koloc. He pushed the breaks later, but more robustly, and managed to land just behind Ludovic in a big curve. Östreich, who was driving on the inner side, was forced to slow down and did not manage to close the gap behind Ludovic. For eight rounds, David drove in a very tactical way, thus preventing to pass ahead. Östreich was in turn pressed by the experienced Crozier. However, Crozier paid dearly for his bold attack, rendering his truck immobile by sanding it off the track. Östreich skidded around as well, but this did not jeopardise his third position behind Ludovic and David, as he was well ahead of his Volkswagen colleague Drückenmüller. Surprisingly Albacete, who was driving on "home turf" came fifth.
After the start of the Final Race, David succeeded in repeating exactly the same trick he performed earlier in the qualifying race, and it seemed that the whole 17 lap race will follow in the tracks of the preceding 10 laps. Yet around the middle of the race, David made his first mistake and spinned of the track for a while. He managed to keep his Buggyra moving, so it did not get stuck in sand, and he entered the race again. However, the trip out and back cost him two places. To his own surprise, he did win a cup in the end, arriving in the third place after Östreich and Albacete. This was due to the fact that Ludovic was "awarded" 10 penalty seconds for exceeding a speed limit and fell from first to fourth place.
Thus after two races, David leads over Ludovic, Östreich secured a third place, and other positions now belong to Drückenmüller and Albacete.
