THREE IN A ROW FOR KISS AS RODRIGUES CLEAN SWEEPS PROMOTER’S CUP
In the final race of the weekend, it was all eyes on Norbert Kiss and José Eduardo Rodrigues, the latter taking all four Promoter’s Cup wins as Kiss did all he could to repeat his Slovakia Ring performance after a Race One DNF.
Initially it seemed like Steffen Faas was going to break Rodrigues’s winning streak at Zolder, as he had a perfect start to maintain the reverse pole lead, but it wasn’t to be for the German. With a 1.7-second lead over Kiss with six laps to go, it would have taken a monumental effort to keep the reigning champion behind. He was denied the chance when his brakes failed, with the brake wire snapping and forcing him to retire from the race.
Kiss positioned himself perfectly to inherit the lead once Faas had retired, thanks to an impressive performance that saw him climb from eighth to second. There was a close moment between him and André Kursim as they battled for the lead, but Kiss’ move round the outside was deemed a racing incident.
After finishing third in the first race of the day, Jochen Hahn followed Kiss through after the Hungarian passed him to take another podium, finishing second. It was a great day for Rodrigues, who not only took four out of four Promoter’s Cup wins, but claimed an additional overall podium with his third-place finish in Race Four thanks to Kursim’s penalty.
The German was handed a ten-second penalty for overspeeding, which dropped him from third at the chequered flag to eighth.
Rodriguez has shown incredible form and pace this weekend, really establishing himself as the leader of the Promoter’s Cup. His full takeaway of points from the weekend has significantly extended his championship lead over Faas, putting him in a great position going into Le Mans. Another good race from Jamie Anderson almost gave him an overall podium, coming across the line three-tenths off the back of Rodriguez. It was very close between the bottom of the top six, Antonio Albacete and Sascha Lenz were separated from Anderson by just nine-tenths fifth and sixth respectively.
Steffi Halm crossed the line seventh, an impressive feat, considering that she almost did not make it to the grid. A steering failure saw her prematurely finish Race Three, and it was a race against the clock for the team to get her ready for the last race of the weekend. As the grid was setting off on the formation lap, Halm entered the pit lane and was granted access to join the race from the pit lane once the race had gone green.
Clemens Hecker and John Newell rounded off the top ten, completing the Promoter’s Cup podium as well. It was the second podium for both chrome drivers who find themselves in a battle for fifth in the class. Newell seemed to have regained a bit of the form he had at the start of the year this weekend, and if he can continue that into the last two events of the year he could possibly rival Mark Taylor for fourth in Promoter’s Cup.
Taylor was just outside the points in 11th, alongside the only other finisher of the race: Jonathan André in 12th.
After his dramatic exit from Race Three, Luis Recuenco was unable to take to the final grid due to the engine failure that had brought out the red flags earlier in the day. With the repair job being too significant and an entire new engine needed for him to make the race start, Recuenco will repair the truck ahead of Le Mans, where he will re-join the Goodyear FIA ETRC for the penultimate round of the championship.
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