It all began in 1988, when CEPSA’s marketing managers decided to sponsor a Pegaso, with the team competing in its first race at the Jarama Circuit. Since then, the company has become a major player in Spanish truck racing.

Just one year later, the first truck to display the CEPSA logos and symbols entered the competition, a white MAN racing on the Silverstone Circuit.

In 1990, CEPSA took part in every competition in the European Championship, throwing itself wholeheartedly into the world of racing. Four years later, in 1994, the company decided to join the Super Truck category after the championship was reorganised. The truck displayed CEPSA's characteristic red and the blue of the Trans Club.

In 1995, a professional team was formed with the full support of CEPSA, which became the leading sponsor of truck racing in Spain. It is then that the image of CEPSA was firmly linked to truck racing, and it remains so today.

In the late 1990s, truck racing became one of the most important disciplines in the world of motorsports, which made it more competitive, with the accompanying increase in budgets. In 1997, CEPSA bought the MS Racing Team to create the CEPSA Trans Club Team, which still belongs to the Spanish oil company, and chose Madrid's Antonio Albacete to drive the MAN 18.423 FRT truck. The CEPSA driver was soon considered a powerful rival by his competitors.

A year later, Antonio Albacete earned his first pole position during the 1998 Italian Grand Prix, the first for the Spanish team in the European Championship. In 1999, he won the Spanish Championship for the first time. That year, he ended the season in fifth place in the European Championship. In 2000, he made history when he became the first Spaniard to win victory at the Nürburgring Circuit, one of the most emblematic in the championship.

In 2001, the CEPSA Euroracing Team took third place in the championship, Albacete's best finish to date at the wheel of a truck. At this point, CEPSA decided to continue with the Competition Team. However, MAN announced that it was retiring from racing and the team had to find another truck. The solution came in the form of Caterpillar, a truck which had already won two European Championships. It was christened the 'red devil'.

In 2002, the season began with Albacete's victory in the first race. After eight podium finishes and becoming the only Super Truck driver to finish and earn points in every race of the season, Albacete again took third place in the final classification.

One year later, the CEPSA Team technical squad took one of the Buggyras and painted it CEPSA red. Albacete came to the final race, the Spanish Truck Grand Prix, in third place. However, despite a great performance, the Madrid driver lost third place in the championship under extreme circumstances.

In 2004, the CEPSA Team stayed with Buggyra and Antonio Albacete once again took fourth place. The team returned to its origins in 2005 and Antonio Albacete took the wheel of a MAN TGA 410 to compete for the first time in the Truck class.

From the first Grand Prix, the team made it clear that their aim was to win the championship and became the first leader of the season. After coming to Jarama with a 51-point advantage over his closest rival, the CEPSA driver took first on Sunday, 2 October 2005 and Antonio Albacete and the CEPSA Team became European Champions, even before the final race in Le Mans.

The CEPSA Team thus began the 2006 season as the European Champion, with the sole aim of winning the championship once again.

The truck was the same MAN TGA 410 as in the 2005 season, with slight modifications and the number 1 on the cab. Competition was fierce during the final part of the season, but he once again earned the team the European title at the last Grand Prix of the season in Le Mans.

In 2007, the CEPSA Team was definitely the team to beat. Aiming to win its third consecutive championship, the team debuted a new MAN TGA 18.480. It was not an easy season for the Spaniards, as the Czech Buggyra team mounted a serious challenge and came within just four points of the CEPSA Team in the final race of the season, at the Jarama Circuit. Antonio Albacete managed to catch Markus Bösiger and won the European Championship by one point. However, a complaint filed by Buggyra regarding an alleged irregularity by the Madrid driver resulted in the title being awarded to the Czech team's driver a few months later.

The CEPSA Team began the 2008 season ready to win back the European title it had lost the previous year. Albacete managed to take the lead in the championship halfway through the season, but in the penultimate Grand Prix of the season, he was forced to drop out of two of the four races due to mechanical problems, bumping him down to third place and limiting his title options.

A year later, the 2009 season was characterised by the virtually uninterrupted leadership of the CEPSA Team throughout the entire championship.

At the Belgian Truck GP, due to mechanical problems with the CEPSA truck, Albacete tied with Vršecký, who managed to snatch the top position at the race in Le Mans. At the final Grand Prix, held in Jarama, what might have been a team manoeuvre by Buggyra driver Markus Bösiger left Antonio Albacete out of the running for the championship. Antonio nevertheless obtained two victories on Sunday, which enabled him to take second place in the European Championship for the second time.

In the 2010 season, the CEPSA Team driver succeeded in taking the lead at the second Grand Prix of the season, held in June in the Spanish city of Albacete. He was able to hold on to that lead for the entire season. His main rivals for the 2010 European title were without a doubt Renault drivers Oestreich and Bösiger, and Jochen Hahn (MAN). However, despite remaining at the top of the rankings throughout the season, they were unable to gain much ground on the brilliant performance of the Madrid driver.

After the first race of the Spanish Truck Grand Prix, the last of the season, the CEPSA Team finally saw their efforts rewarded, winning a third European title and becoming the first Spanish team in history to win three F.I.A. (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) titles.

2010 was also the year when Antonio entered the motorsport and Russian history books, becoming the first driver to win a truck race in that country.

 

2011 SEASON BASICS

• There will still be four races for each Grand Prix, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Both races are called 'Championship Races' and are 'long' races, 12 or 13 laps, depending on the circuit.
• The calendar is made up of a total of 10 circuits, one more than in 2010, with the addition of the English track Donington Park.
• The results from timed qualifying runs are used to determine the starting grid for Race 1 and the results of that competition are used to determine the grid for Race 2. The reverse starting grid system will be retained: the order of the top eight finishers in Race 1 is reversed for Race 2.
• The first race of each day is scored as follows: 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1; while the second is scored: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
• Over the course of the weekend, there are four podiums in total, one for each race.
• To enable the track marshals to easily identify the trucks, all trucks have their number painted in white on the windscreen on the side opposite the driver. The number must also appear in white on the back of the cab.