Goodyear FIA ETRC champion Kiss fights through the pack to win Race 4
Norbert Kiss banked a sensational victory in Race 4 at the Nürburgring this afternoon, charging through from eighth on the grid to lead by the end of the opening lap and extend his advantage at the top of the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship standings in the process.
Given the highly competitive field, such a gain of places in such a short amount of time would normally be impossible. But the seven-time champion’s rise to the front was eased considerably when a collision at Turn 2 between Adam Lacko and Bradley Smith not only delayed the front-row starters but also eliminated José Eduardo Rodrigues.
And when Mark Taylor, who had briefly moved ahead, locked his brakes and ran wide at the hairpin, Kiss was through into the lead before the opening lap was run.
Unchallenged thereafter, Kiss secured his third win of the Int. Shell ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix weekend and his 10th of the current Goodyear FIA ETRC season as Taylor recovered to finish second with Antonio Albacete third. Taylor also took the Chrome category win ahead of John Newell and Lukas Hahn.
“It was quite lucky for sure that they had some crash in front of us,” said the MAN-powered Révész Racing driver. “Everybody lost the momentum or went to the wrong way or the outside. I kept to the inside and after Turn 2 I was already up to P2. Then Mark locked up his brakes in Turn 5 and by Turn 6 I was P1. It never goes like this in the reverse-grid race, but it was made easy for me. After that I just brought it home, so a very good weekend.”
Taylor said: “Race 4 was one of my favourite ones. One minute you think you’ve got breathing space, the next minute Albacete is on you, so it was cat and mouse all the way round. It was good, a few mistakes but we kept it there. The team has worked so hard on the truck and to finish with what we have today has been a good outcome.”
For Albacete, third place behind Taylor marked the T Sport Bernau driver’s third podium of the Nürburgring weekend. “It was a very good result, for one time I was lucky and managed to go through the accident,” the Spanish driver said. “I tried to see if he would make a mistake, but it was difficult and with the podium we are very happy.”
Sascha Lenz completed his home race in sixth position as René Reinert finished seventh.
Steffi Halm produced one of the drives of the day to battle through from 19th to eighth after her mechanics completed extensive repairs due to damage sustained in a collision with Lukas Hahn in Race 3.
Luis Recuenco overtook Steffen Faas for ninth at the first corner on lap two with Smith and Lacko recovering to cross the line in 11th and 12th respectively.
Luke Garrett finished 13th, Emma Mäkinen took 14th with Clemens Hecker 15th and Jochen Hahn a delayed 16th after he pitted to enable his mechanics to fix a mechanical fault.
Jonathan André stopped with damage on lap 10 but was classified as a finisher along with Stefan Kursch.
Following the summer break, the Goodyear FIA ETRC reconvenes at Autodrom Most in Czech Republic from 28-30 August. Revisit the four Nürburgring races on YouTube. Click HERE for live timing and follow the Sportity app using the password: FIA_ETRC_26 for results.
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