GEARING UP FOR ZOLDER
The Goodyear FIA ETRC returns after a week’s break, heading to Circuit Zolder for the sixth round of the championship. With his incredible run this season, Norbert Kiss is firmly leading the overall standings, while Promoter’s Cup is still wide open after a resurgent run of performances from Steffen Faas.
Having taken every qualifying Pole Position this year and 14 out of 20 race victories, Kiss is well on track to secure another title this season. He has a 78-point lead over second-placed Jochen Hahn, who will be eager to narrow the gap to the Hungarian this weekend. Sascha Lenz and Antonio Albacete will also be keen to take more points away from their competitors and add more silverware to their trophy cabinet in Belgium.
From 2022, Hahn and Lenz have a good track record around the Circuit Zolder, both taking a win on the first day of track action last time at the Belgian circuit. Last year saw four different winners over the Zolder weekend, swinging the championship standings significantly.
Steffi Halm almost took her first win of the season last time out in Most, having a great Czech weekend of racing. She has found herself in good form over the last couple of events, achieving more frequent podium appearances and outperforming Titan rivals Jamie Anderson and André Kursim, and now she is only three points off Kursim for fifth in the championship.
Anderson's performance in his debut year in the Titan class is even more impressive, considering he missed the first four races in Misano due to the birth of his child. He's currently only 15 points behind Halm and 18 points behind Kursim.
José Eduardo Rodrigues still leads the Promoter’s Cup, but Faas has made great in roads on the Portuguese driver’s championship points total after what can be considered a slow start to his season. A few rounds ago it looked like Rodrigues had the Chrome class title wrapped up, but Faas has shown that it’s not over until it’s over. The gap is now only 14 points between the two, it could very easily swing in Faas’ favour over the Zolder weekend.
Mark Taylor returns to the grid after a heavy accident with Kursim saw him unable to race at all on the Sunday of Most. There was extensive damage to the truck and it had to be completely rebuilt within the last week. In a momentous #onetruckfamily effort, Taylor, Anderson, Lenz, John Newell and a handful of other teams and drivers form the championship clubbed together to make sure Taylor’s truck would be back in action this weekend.
Taylor will be looking to return to his strong performance that he has been showing over the last couple of rounds and make more Super Pole appearances at Zolder. Fellow Brit Newell will also be looking to find the pace he had in the opening two events, having had a rollercoaster of performances since Slovakia Ring.
Clemens Hecker had a perfect Sunday at Most, taking two second-place finishes in Promoter’s Cup behind race-by-race entry Lukas Hahn. He too will be looking at repeating this upward trajectory of performances coming into the last few rounds of the season, challenging Newell and Luis Recuenco for fifth in the Chrome-class standings. Newell sits fifth on 139 points, ahead of Recuenco’s 113 and Hecker’s 108.
Jonathan André is back as a race-by-race entry, making it 14 trucks on track at Circuit Zolder.
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