2:53pm Tuesday 17th June 2008
By Ben Barnett
It’s probably a case of watching too many old episodes of Top Gear on Dave TV to ease me into relaxation after returning home from late shifts at work, but I’ve begun to think of Euro 2008 as a motor race.
At the front you’ve got the shiny, fast cars driven by the experienced drivers.
In the middle of the pack you’ve got the nearly-men desperate for their first podium finish and at the back the guys who make up the numbers in their less flashy numbers.
What am I talking about? Well jostling for front spot at the head of the pack at the Le Mans style Euro 2008 race you’ve got Portugal in the Silver Porsche, racy, quick to dash up the sides to gain a run on the opposition, a bit arrogant looking but with undoubted talents.
Spain, the new-prototype version Lamborghini is eye-catching in that candy red and an improvement on the last model, but this is its maiden race and qualifying wasn’t all that competitive after all. Just off the pacesetters are Holland in the orange Spyker C8, the manufacturers had several technical problems in testing but now its on the track is showing it can keep up with the best of them as the early laps slip by.
Germany, in a sporty, tuned, black Volkswagen Golf, started as reliably as ever but as it was thrashing away early doors, the steering wheel inexplicably came off in the driver’s hands.
The car’s banked in the pits for now but it should only be a minor job for the team to get it back on the road but it is Croatia; a fairly new driver who has threatened to fulfil his potential in the past, in the garish-coloured, pimped-up Ford Focus that has taken up Germany’s position in the field.
The playboy of the racing world, Italy, waltzed into the race arena beforehand with a confident swagger, his black hair slicked back neatly, but his car, a classic Ferrari refused to start on the grid and was been wheeled into the pits.
He’s ready to rejoin the race however and comes flying wildly back onto the circuit, the driver honking the horn and flashing its lights, as he looks to pull a move on perennial struggler Romania as they battle for position.
France meanwhile is stuck in traffic in the middle of the pack having got off to a laboured start but once he finds some space for manoeuvre should find fifth gear if it’s not too late that is. As the sun goes down can he get a run on Holland ahead of him?
The stragglers, embarrassingly yet predictably, Austria and Switzerland, are getting nowhere fast and risk being lapped. All in all it’s an intriguing race.
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