ANOTHER WIN FOR KISS IN CHAOTIC RACE THREE
Having bested the grid in both race starts for the penultimate event of the weekend, Norbert Kiss made it three out of three at the Slovakia Ring, claiming another race victory.
With rain threatening, the race began under green flag conditions, but was quickly red flagged when José Eduardo Rodrigues was pitched into the gravel at the first corner. The grid reset to go again, only this time it was Steffi Halm, who ended the wrong way with a lot of damage on her truck. As Rodrigues could be recovered and restart when he spun off, but Halm had too much damage to remove the truck from the gravel trap without outside assistance, the race continued with T1 permanently under a yellow flag.
It didn’t take long for Kiss to begin slowly eking out his lead on Sascha Lenz, leading the German across the line in an eventless race to take his third win of the weekend, fifth of the season. Antonio Albacete completed the overall podium in a great performance after he had to replace his turbo before Qualifying 2.
André Kursim managed to hold off a still struggling Jochen Hahn to retain fourth over his fellow countryman. Hahn will take the break between races to inspect his truck with his team to find out what is causing this sudden loss of pace.
Compared to the other Promoter’s Cup contenders, Steffen Faas’ drive to victory appeared effortless, taking his second class victory of the year. Behind him, the battle for the last steps of the podium ensured drama and more damaged trucks.
John Newell had been driving very well, trying to judge the right moment to attack Recuenco whilst keeping an eye on the pushing Rodrigues behind. He looked to time it well, but only just didn’t have enough pace to get the move done. Seeking this opportunity, Rodrigues dove for third in class with a ‘yield or we crash’ move. Newell, who was still trying to line Recuenco up to demote him to third, did not yield and the pair came together, Rodrigues running Newell off the track and into the barriers where his race ended.
In the hustle, Mark Taylor got ahead of the pair, looking set to make his first Promoter’s Cup podium of the season. But once again Rodrigues had other plans. More contact was made as he pushed himself past Taylor and allowing Recuenco through to third.
Rodrigues was under investigation for both incidents, and was given a 30-second time penalty, wich dropped him back fourth in the class ranking, promoting Mark Taylor to second. Luis Recuenco received a 5-second penalty but was able to hold on to third place.
Jamie Anderson was responsible for the contact that took Halm out of the race, but due to the severe damage on his own truck, losing him two seconds a lap, the incident was deemed to require no further action. After the contacts with Rodrigues, Anderson found himself tenth at the chequered flag to take home a championship point.
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