ALBACETE RETURNS TO THE TOP STEP
For the first time in the 2025 season, Antonio Albacete has taken victory.
Starting from the front row alongside José Eduardo Rodrigues, who was on reverse grid pole, Albacete made easy work of the Portuguese driver as the lights went green, having made the pass for the lead before they got to the first corner. From there, it was a race of management and defending from a charging René Reinert to protect the victory. But he did enough, making the home hero settle for second as he took his maiden win of the year.
It wasn’t a great start from Rodrigues who found himself tumbling down the order as the field moved into Turn 1. He just about held off the attack from Steffi Halm, keeping her behind to hang onto third. But the battle was on and the surrounding Titans smelt blood on the water.
Going into the chicane, Norbert Kiss made a bold move, tangling with Lukas Hahn, Jochen Hahn and Sascha Lenz. The order shuffled slightly, with Jochen Hahn giving Kiss fifth place back to negate the possibility of gaining an advantage by going off track.
After review, Sascha Lenz was deemed responsible for the incident and handed a five second penalty.
Kiss continued in his usual fashion of climbing up the grid. Halm did her best to defend, but a great late breaking move into the chicane had Kiss on the front foot. Halm stalled a little getting out of the corner, not only giving the position to Kiss but also being demoted by Jochen Hahn who was following Kiss through the field.
The Hungarian managed to shake the chase of Hahn as he rushed in pursuit of Rodrigues and the bottom step of the podium. Rodrigues tried all he could, but he had to settle for fifth as Kiss made light work of him, securing himself P3, and Jochen Hahn followed him through.
Lukas Hahn took another Chrome win, finishing seventh overall, with Lenz P8, taking the final point after his penalty was added.
Mark Taylor and Steffen Faas were in a tight battle for Chrome P2 in the closing stages of the race, but Taylor managed to just hold him off. John Newell just missed out on his second Chrome podium appearance of the day in P4, taking another point from Bradley Smith. The Brit has lost 11 points to Taylor today in the Chrome standings.
Luis Recuenco, Luke Garrett, Stefan Kursch and Christian Ruppert completed the final classification. Clemens Hecker was unable to complete the race after coming to a halt out on track during the second lap of the race.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
