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2000 - THE YEAR'S RACING |
The season opened strongly for Harri Luostarinen and Caterpillar TRD in front of a 50,000 crowd at Dijon in France. After a practice session disrupted by a diesel spill, Harri finished 3rd in the Qualifying Race, behind two MANs but three seconds clear of the next Mercedes. In the Saturday Cup Race, Harri fought to beat some handling problems and had to be content to hold on to his 4th position.
On the dry, sunny Sunday, Harri was last out to practice and with changed suspension settings flew round to get pole position. In the Qualifying Race, he capitalised on this to take the chequered flag some 1.5 seconds ahead of Ferte. In the Cup Race, Harri set out to repeat the performance but was struck by tyre problems that allowed Ferte to get alongside him in the last bend and cross the line 0.035 seconds ahead of Harri.
It was an encouraging first outing for the year leaving Harri in third place behind Ferte and Korber in their MANs and TRD with their sole entry in second place in the Manufacturers' Cup.
The next outing at Valencia saw Harri on top form after achieving 3rd fastest time in the Saturday practice. In an exciting opening lap of the Saturday Qualifying race, Oestreich and Albacete made contact, leaving Harri to pressurise the leader Korber in the MAN. On the fourth lap Harri squeezed past the leader and proceeded to open out his lead to take the flag with a 3 second margin. On the Saturday Cup race, Harri repeated his performance of taking the race leader Korber after a few laps and holding his position all the way to the flag. However, the celebrations were short lived as TRD picked up a minor overspeeding offence and was dropped to 5th in the results.
In a warm Sunday practice, Harri was set to get on pole position until a surprise lap by Bosiger relegated Harri to 2nd. But positions were quickly reversed in the first bend and Harri maintained his position to notch up another win. The Cup Race saw Albacete leading into the first bend, and although closely shadowed by Harri for the whole race, no safe opportunity occurred and Harri chose to take a safe second.
This consistent performance gave Harri 43 points and put him in the Championship lead alongside Korber's MAN before the next race at Misano in Italy, before a crowd of 30,000 fans.
Harri proved to be on form in Saturday's practice, turning in the fastest lap to claim pole. In the first race it was the same story as Harri set a blistering pace to cross the line 2 seconds ahead of Korber's MAN. Still in top form, the black Cat repeated the performance in the Cup Race to finish first again after Korber mounted a serious challenge at the beginning of the race.
The Sunday Qualifying Race gave Harri yet another opportunity to show his prowess by finishing first again, leaving him in a position to produce four wins for the two days but things didn't go according to plan. Korber nudged ahead into the first bend perused by Harri until a rare air brake failure lost him five places near the end. The problem re-occurred at the next bend forcing Harri out of the race and leaving Korber to take an easy victory and lead in the championship.
Two weeks later saw the team at the A1 ring in Austria with Harri taking pole position on the first day. The first Qualifying Race saw a surprise result as Faure beat Harri into the first bend and successfully blocked all attempts by Harri to pass him on the short circuit. The Sunday Cup Race also produced a surprise as Korber blasted to the front and held this position, while Harri lost his second place to Parrish. On the Monday the black Cat set the fastest pace but the fine sunny weather broke in the middle of the Qualifying Race. Luostarinen used his ice driving experience to pull out a lead as competitor after competitor slid off the track in the monsoon conditions, forcing the organisers to stop the race. When the race was re-started, Harri held a 2 second advantage and came in first despite being overtaken.
In the final Cup Race, Harri lost the charge into the first bend but had to contend with yet another failure, this time electrical with 2 laps remaining but still leaving him in second place in the championships, 35 points behind Korber.
The fifth round was held at Nogaro in France on 24 & 25 June with Harri and the team on top form. Harri lost pole position to Ferte who led into the first bend of the Qualifying Race, a postion he held to the line leaving Harri with a useful 2nd. The Saturday Cup race saw a virtual repeat performance as pole position Ferte led into the first bend and all the way to the flag.
On Sunday, Harri took his revenge by snatching pole position and using it to good effect in to take first place in the Qualifying Race. As on the day before, the leader's performance was to be repeated in the Cup Race as Harri effortlessly took first place again, over 3 seconds ahead of second-place Albacete. With Korber underperforming at Nogaro, this took Harri within 5 points of the top of the points table before the Nurburgring event.
The huge event at the Nurburgring attracted 250,000 people despite weather that looked more like winter. Harri used his skill in the wet to secure pole and lead in the Saturday Qualifying race. Safely behind Harri, the first bend produced mayhem but when the track started to dry, and with Harri's truck set up for the wet, Korber was closing in on him until a desperate overtaking attempt lost him his second place.
The Saturday Cup Race saw Harri starting strongly but the failure of a small coolant hose clip forced his retirement, a fate luckily shared by his main rival Korber.
On Sunday, Harri had to settle with a poor 7th place on the grid due to slower traffic in practice. Despite this postion, Harri used an opportunity on the first bend to snatch second place but heavy rain and on-track dramas brought out the red flags and the race was decided on aggregate times. In the final race Harri again improved his placing to achieve 4th, still holding on near the top of the points table, just 6 points behind Korber.
The team now moved to Harri's home territory at Alastaro in Finland where mechanical dramas were overcome by dedicated team work. After a second place on the grid and a second in the Saturday Qualifying Race, Harri was soon leading the Cup Race when, only 3 laps from the end, he suffered his first engine failure in six years of racing with the Caterpillar engine. Back in the paddock it was rapidly clear that a new engine would be needed but the only available one had just been delivered to a Finnish customer in Tampere, 350kms away. The customer generously agreed to the engine being taken back and after intensive overnight work, the black Cat was ready just two minutes before practice started!
Rain came down as Harri set out to practice and, whereas the others had put there times in on a dry circuit, Harri had to be content with a disappointing 7th on the grid which he turned into 5th in the Qualifying race. The Cup Race produced a better performance for Harri as he took his lowly grid position to 2nd within 2 laps, a position he held to the flag. However, despite the weekend's dramas and dissappointmnets, Korber too was not on form and Harri was trailing him by just 1 point.
Round 8 was held at Most in the Czech Republic and saw Harri on top form, taking pole in the Saturday races. Capitalising on his position he turned in an easy win in the Qualifying race, followed by another in the Cup Race.
Sunday saw Harri claiming pole again but a missed shift at the start relegated him to third which remained unchanged to the end. In the Cup Race Harri again lost his lead early but recovered to second, a position he was content to hold to safely gain the second place points, pulling him comfortably ahead of Korber in the championship by 34 points.
At Zolder in Belgium on October 7 & 8 Harri posted a respectable 3rd fasted time in practice, but in an unusual situation for him, dropped a further two places in the Qualifying Race. The situation was even less rewarding for him in the Cup Race and Harri had to be content with 6th on the slippery track.
Sunday dawned wet and Harri put in 3rd fastest again in practice, but improved his previous day's performance by turning in a 3rd in the Qualifying Race and when lying 4th in the Cup Race was forced out by a broken drive shaft. It was a disappointing weekend for Harri but his nearest rival, Korber was not on top form either, so Harri was still in the lead, albeit with his lead reduced to 16 points with just one event to go!
In front of 60,000 fans and in blazing sunshine, Harri secured pole position with the competition close on his heals. The start of the Qualifying Race saw Bosiger aggressively push Harri out and although he crossed the line first, he was given an 8 second penalty, leaving Harri the clear winner. The Cup Race repeated the battle at the front between Bosiger and Harri who with his nearest rival safely behind him, tactically drove to secure a safe second and extend his championship lead.
On a hot and sunny Sunday, Harri again grabbed pole and although beaten into the first bend, again, drove a tactical race to a safe second, securing the championship with one race to spare! The final race of the season saw Harri taking second again after some exciting position changing.
This secured the championship for Harri by a comfortable 35 points, his third win. The small London-based team of Truck Racing Developments secured second place with their one truck with 107 points, beaten by MAN with 149 points and 4 trucks but trailed by Mercedes Benz with 81 points and four trucks.