Norbert Kiss Dominates Slovakia Ring with Another Perfect Weekend
Norbert Kiss has, once again, completed a grand slam this weekend, taking a clean sweep of pole positions and race wins at the Slovakia Ring.
Mark Taylor held the lead of the race well starting on reverse grid pole for Race 4. Defending from Steffi Halm into Turn 1, he set about trying to build some space between him and the chasing pack behind.
Kiss had already began his charge, making up three positions into the first corner. Antonio Albacete could do nothing to hold the Hungarian back, allowing him to move to P4 by the end of the first lap.
Sascha Lenz was next to try and defend from Kiss, but the already three-time winner this weekend was determined to get back to the front. He dispatched of Lenz, José Eduardo Rodrigues and Halm simply, hitting his first blockage when he came up on Taylor’s rear bumper.
Some stellar defence from the Brit had the Hungarian thinking, and with four laps to go, it looked possible that Taylor could hold him off. Even if Taylor had stayed ahead, Kiss would have still taken Titan victory, as the Brit is a Chrome driver. However the on track win is always hard fought over and Kiss wasn’t going to hold back.
Similarly to how Kiss passed Halm in Race 2, the Hungarian optimised the inside line going through T11/12 to get the run on Taylor. Braking hard to avoid contact, Taylor lost any momentum to fight back and dropped to second. Kiss continued to take his fourth class win of the weekend, making it his second grand slam in a row this season.
Behind, Halm saw an opportunity as well to pass Taylor, looking to pull off the same move as Kiss had. She lined it up well, getting the inside line on the Chrome driver, but unexpectedly Rodrigues tried to take Taylor in the same corner, using the outside. The pair sandwiched Taylor, causing a rear flat tyre that would see him drop down the grid and out of contention for the class win. Rodrigues went on to take Chrome victory, similar to Kiss taking a grand slam with all poles and wins in his class this weekend.
After the incident, Halm was passed by Lenz but managed to get the position back before the chequered flag. They completed the Titan podium ahead of Albacete, Jochen Hahn and André Kursim.
In Chrome, only John Newell was able to take advantage of Taylor’s shortcomings, passing his fellow Brit on the final lap to take second in class.
It was a great Race 4 for Luke Garrett who finally had some luck this weekend, taking a strong fourth in class. Starting at the back, he had a great start and quickly caught up with Luis Recuenco, getting close enough to make the pass stick two laps later. It was a positive result for the Garrett Trucksport team, demonstrating that he has found the pace to fight with the other Chrome drivers, technical failures notwithstanding.
Steffen Faas’ electrical and engine issues persisted throughout the day, finally coming to an end as his truck retired on the track during Lap 2. With Rodrigues scoring well, it was certainly not the day the German wanted, to keep the battle for the Chrome title fight.