Arguably no other German driver has as vast and impressive haul of memories from the 'Ring as Gerd Körber.
The Nürburgring owns a special place in motor racing’s history. It’s a memorable place for the drivers who raced there, especially the German ones. And arguably no other German driver has as vast and impressive haul of memories from the Nürburgring as Gerd Körber, whose truck racing career kicked off at the circuit located in the Rhineland-Palatinate area in western Germany three decades ago.
“It was back in 1987, so this year it’s thirty years since my truck racing career started,” – recalls Körber with a hint of nostalgia in his voice. “In the past I had been doing a lot of touring car races. I come from a racing family – my father was a driver, my brother was a driver. 1986 was the first time when we were at the Nürburgring as spectators at the Truck Grand Prix. The weather was nice, we saw a lot of spectators and my father, who at that time run a transport company, said: ‘why don’t we try truck racing’,” – says Körber as he explains the beginnings of his lifelong love affair with truck racing.
“Then, in 1987, we started with a nearly standard MAN. In my first year I got a lot of podiums and that allowed me to get sponsors, so since the beginning of my career I never paid for racing. We had a good marketing situation. My company grew around truck racing and 10 years later we were building chassis for DAF, for MAN and more, just like McLaren used to do for Mercedes-Benz,”
It’s easy to imagine that with 30 years of racing under his belt, the man himself struggles a bit when asked to pick one memory from the Nürburgring that he considers the most special. “I have a lot of memories. It’s the home race and the most precious one for German drivers. All the sponsors are there and they want to see you on top of the podium,” – admits the 54-year-old.
“One year I won all the races at the Nürburgring, so I was the master of the German Truck Grand Prix. At that time we also had four races, but with three classes of trucks. I was in the top class 18-litre class with V10 engines, two turbos and with a lot of horsepower. It’s a very nice memory for me,” – he acknowledges.
Körber is full of praise for the venue also because of things that can be witnessed off track. “When it comes to organisation, the Nürburgring does the best job in Europe and we have the most spectators, so it’s great.” – summarises the German racer, who is set to tackle the circuit located in the Eifel mountains yet another time in round three of the 2017 FIA European Truck Racing Championship this weekend.