CHROME REVIEW MOST: SMITH EXTENDS LEAD AS TOP FOUR CLOSE UP
It was a weekend of points swings as Clemens Hecker and John Newell made strong gains, while Mark Taylor and Bradley Smith left with more to be desired.
The four races at Autodrom Most could prove decisive when the final chequered flag falls in Jarama. What looked like a two-horse race has now opened up, with Newell and Hecker bringing themselves back into the title fight, not just for the top three, but with a chance to put real pressure on Smith at the front.
Smith still holds a 12-point advantage, but he will have left the Czech Republic knowing there was more on the table. Qualifying proved his weak spot all weekend, failing to make it into Q2 in either session, which left him on the back foot in Races 1 and 3. He made it to the podium twice - two third places in Races 2 and 3 - but he’ll be looking to raise his game when the championship resumes in Zolder.
Mark Taylor looked set to take over the Chrome lead after Race 1, but his weekend quickly unravelled. A tension rod failure forced him to retire from the lead in Race 1, a race where he was on track to outscore Smith by 12 points and take the championship lead, and the repairs kept him out of Race 2 as well. Sunday became damage limitation, and Taylor did enough to regain second in class, but the battle at the sharp end has become incredibly close.
That was thanks in part to John Newell’s strong Saturday and Hecker’s perfect Sunday. Newell’s double class podium, including victory in Race 2, earned him 22 points and briefly moved him ahead of Taylor.
But Hecker struck back with class pole and both class wins on Sunday, taking the maximum 30 points and hauling himself right back into contention.
Taylor, Hecker, and Newell are now separated by just a single point each. With three rounds to go, it’s all about outperforming rivals, race by race, as the Chrome title fight intensifies. Smith still leads, but one poor day could see him tumble from first to fourth.
Luke Garrett’s weekend looked promising after he scored his second podium of the season in Race 2, but a clutch failure on the way to the Race 4 grid meant he was unable to start. A tough blow for the Garrett Trucksport team, who had worked hard to address earlier reliability woes and had shown strong pace at Most.
Further back, Luis Recuenco sits comfortably in fifth. He had a mixed weekend in Most, showing flashes of pace with a podium on Saturday and Race 3 class pole on Sunday, but couldn’t maintain that level across all four races. With 120 points so far, he looks secure in his position but unlikely to threaten the top four.
For Steffen Faas, it was a weekend to forget. Persistent fuel injector issues, even after an engine change, meant he failed to classify in any race, including two non-starts. The team faces a race against time to resolve the problem before Zolder as the season intensifies.
Christian Ruppert continued his steady development, gaining valuable experience at the track he had most been looking forward to. He’ll hope to carry the momentum forward into Zolder.
Two-time Dakar Rally winner Martin Macík stepped into Lukas Hahn’s truck for his first taste of the Goodyear FIA ETRC. With the weekend’s mixed weather, Macík experienced the full spectrum of truck racing at Autodrom Most. Afterwards, he said he was impressed by how focused and on the limit the field raced, noting that the biggest difference to Dakar was the need to push flat-out from the very first lap.
