FAAS RETURNS TO TOP STEP AS KISS DOES THE DOUBLE
It was another clinical race through the field for Norbert Kiss taking the overall win, but Steffen Faas’ races of misfortune have paid off in class victory.
The Slovakia Ring has seen the Freightliner come good, with its gremlins seemingly behind the tankpool24-Racing team. With reliability stable, Faas is able to show off the speed of the new truck, and it should have his rivals concerned.
Bradley Smith led the field over the line to start the second race of the weekend, fighting off the attack from José Eduardo Rodrigues in second. He managed to maintain the overall lead for the first lap of the race, looking in a strong position, but Steffi Halm had something to say about that.
She used Rodrigues’ focus on getting into P1 against him, lining him up perfectly to demote him behind her. Now, with a clean attempt at Smith in overall P1, she made the move look seamless, slipping down the inside to take herself into the overall lead. Smith had no rebottle and was swallowed by the chasing Titan pack as they pursued Halm in P1.
Kiss looked like he’d got boxed in by Jochen Hahn and Sascha Lenz as he attempted his usual climb back up the grid, but late braking gave him an advantage as he passed the German drivers. Coming up against René Reinert in Kiss’ old truck left a moment of pause, a potential that we would see the two trucks jostling for position. Kiss got the run out of the final corner, going wheel-to-wheel with Reinert but gaining the position into the first corner. Next up was the podium.
Passing Rodrigues didn’t take too long, but Halm wasn’t going to let Kiss pass without a fight. It looked like she might have enough to keep the Hungarian behind her, but with a lap and a half to go, Kiss made the pass. The Slovakian crowd went wild as he drove to his eighth 2025 victory.
Smith tried all he could to hold onto the Chrome lead, but Faas in the new Freightliner was too fast for him. As the German disappeared down the track, there was a concern that there might be something wrong with Smith’s Don’t Touch Racing machine. Any issues he managed to drive around, taking second in class ahead of John Newell, who claimed his second class third place of the weekend.
Clemens Hecker finished just off the podium, with Mark Taylor and Luke Garrett fifth and sixth in class respectively. Luis Recuenco and Christian Ruppert completed the list of classified drivers, with Antonio Albacete not able to take his start position in fourth place due to a clutch cylinder failure.
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