Oliver scores second Tata title

Tata's 2015 T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship played out yesterday (March 15) at a rain-lashed Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi, India, where 45,000 spectators cheered British truck racing star Stuart Oliver across the line.

The victory marked back-to-back titles for Oliver, who also triumphed in the inaugural T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship held at the same venue last year.

Oliver, of Team Castrol Vecton, started from second on the grid in the 16-lap final race, but took the challenging conditions in his stride to take the win ahead of Steve Thomas (Team Allied Partners) and Steven Powell (Team Tata Technologies Motorsports).

The three podium finishers competed as part of a 12-strong field of modified Tata Prima prime movers, the tight racing delivering plenty of action for the assembled fans.

After the win Oliver gave thanks to his supporters.

"It was an amazing experience," he said.

"I want to say a big, huge 'thank you' to all the fans coming out all this way. All the flags, all the caps, everything – it made such a difference this weekend and I really, really do appreciate it.

"Steve Thomas and Steven Powell were phenomenal competitors. They did an amazing job today of keeping me on my toes, pushing me all the way up to the podium."

A showcase for Tata's Prima heavy-duty prime mover, the 'championship' – which is essentially held over a weekend – featured identical trucks boasting 370hp and a top speed of up to 130km/h.

This year the trucks were 10 per cent lighter and accelerated 10 per cent faster thanks to a series of modifications, with the rigs all piloted by drivers sourced from the British and European Truck Racing Championships.

Along with Oliver, Thomas and Powell, this year saw drivers Oly Janes, Simon Reid, Richard Collett, Mathew Summerfield, David Jenkins, Paul Alan McCumisky, Graham Powell, Ben Horne and Chris Levett take to the track.

While the racing itself wasn't perhaps quite in the same vein as that depicted by the event's accompanying (and rather colourful) promo video (see below), it certainly did provide an extravaganza of commercial vehicle racing to help Tata Motors to promote its flagship truck.

Tata Motors is a giant on the Indian automotive landscape; it claims it's the world's fourth-largest truck manufacturer by volume, also posting consolidated revenue of nearly $US38.9 billion in 2013/14.

Developed in association with subsidiary Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, Tata bills the Prima as its 'World Truck', the model the product of an Italian cab design, US and European engine technology, German gearbox technology, Korean and Japanese sheet metal dies, and Mexican chassis-building expertise.

Presently only Tata's Xenon range of LCVs is available in Australia but the brand's Australian importer and distributor – Fusion Automotive – says it plans to bring Tata's Prima and Ultra truck models to our shores in the not-too-distant future, along with a number of passenger-car models.