KISS DELIVERS FLAWLESS FOUR-WIN PERFORMANCE IN MISANO
Norbert Kiss has taken full points, claiming both pole positions and all four race wins as his dominate Italian weekend comes to a close.
André Kursim kept the lead off the start, but José Eduardo Rodrigues stayed in the fight at the front, trying to keep as many Titan drivers between him and second-placed Steffen Faas. This became more important when Rodrigues was handed a five-second penalty for being out of position at the rolling start.
Kiss began carving through the pack to get up to the lead battle and soon Steffi Halm, who was fighting with Kursim for second, had to concentrate behind her rather than in front. It wasn’t long until Kiss was back to leading the field, but Rodrigues stayed with him as best he could to build the gap and try to not lose any positions when his penalty was added.
The Portuguese driver did just that, crossing the line 0.8s behind Kiss but eight seconds ahead of Halm. Although there is no longer an overall championship so overall finishing position is not important, holding second on the track allowed Rodrigues to guarantee he would not drop behind Faas when his penalty was added.
Antonio Albacete completed the Titan podium with his second of the day, coming home third in class.
After slipping backwards, Kursim was able to hold onto fifth on track, fourth in Titan class, preventing Jochen Hahn from following Kiss through the grid. The triple-podium finisher had to settle for fifth in class, keeping Sascha Lenz behind him who completed the Titan finishers.
Faas ends the weekend with the Chrome class championship lead after taking second in class from Race 4. Having finished strong in Race 3, his reverse grid start position hampered his ability to move through the field and try to get within five seconds of Rodrigues to take his second class win of the day.
Mark Taylor had a much better Sunday compared to Saturday, capping off the weekend with a third-place class finish. It was a clean race from Taylor, but his MAN just didn’t have enough to catch and pass Faas’ Scania.
All 14 trucks finished the final race of the weekend, with Clemens Hecker just missing out on another Chrome podium in class fourth. He led Luis Recuenco, Bradley Smith and Luke Garrett over the line.
Garrett will take the two weeks between Misano and Slovakia Ring to take a closer look at his MAN ahead of the second event of 2024. It’s been a weekend to forget plagued with steering issues, but two days of important learning for the new full-season driver on the 2024 grid.