European Truck Racing Association (ETRA) will focus on the three strategic pillars of safety, sustainability and shortage of professional truck drivers and has committed to the Paris Agreement to take the championship to its next chapter
Last year ETRA, its shareholder ADAC Mittelrhein as well as the FIA committed to three key priorities when extending its promotion contract with the FIA for the European Truck Racing Championship until 2025. After many years of hard work, the FIA ETRC has revealed its strategic objectives in a bid to adapt and prepare the platform of truck racing for the future.
2021 will see a major focus on sustainability transition and in a first step, ETRA has committed to the Paris Agreement to reach net zero by 2038 at the latest.
Across its operation, ETRA has worked jointly with its shareholder and the FIA to develop and plan strategies and actions for implementation, to ensure it can meet its commitments and work with its stakeholders such as teams, event organisers and partners and the global sports community to combat climate change.
“We want to take the championship to the next level and be at the forefront of the industry with our clear objective: we want to become the leading platform for sustainable technologies in the road haulage industry on and off the race track,” said ETRA Managing Director Georg Fuchs.
A significant move in ETRA’s sustainability focus is the introduction of biofuel to the FIA ETRC from the 2021 season, making it the first FIA-regulated competition to switch to a fuel fully originated from renewable sources (HVO biofuel). Further details about the supplier, the HVO biofuel, its characteristics and benefits will be released in due course.
“We have worked on this topic for a long time with our shareholder, the FIA and our partners and even though we were slightly disrupted by the pandemic last year, we are delighted to now set the wheels in motion with tangible actions in the coming weeks and months.”
While continuing to highlight the central issues of safety, the ETRC will continue its efforts in promoting some of the key challenges in the truck and road haulage industry and the shortage of professional truck drivers across Europe through the #onetruckfamily initiative. The pandemic has underlined just how important truck drivers are in everyone’s lives for the supply of everyday items.
“We have a great platform and it’s our responsibility to utilise it to drive change,” said Fuchs. “We will adopt a leading approach to accommodate technical developments in the industry, while maintaining our unique and beloved character of racing excitement with a strong attachment to our fans. If we can show, that new developments work reliably in the extreme conditions of racing, it will help people to understand and accept new technologies.”