Goodyear FIA ETRC Q&A: Norbert Kiss
Norbert Kiss is a record-extending eight-time winner of the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship. This is what the Révész Racing-run Hungarian hero had to say.
You’re an eight-time Goodyear FIA ETRC champion. How good does that feel?
“It feels very good and I’m very proud of the team, Révész Racing, for the whole season. They work so hard, and they give me a very good truck, every occasion we were very fast. They make my job always a bit easier. I’m thankful to our team owner, Mr Bálint Révész, for giving us the opportunity to be here and for having such a good performance. The whole season was very nice, we were building the gap every weekend step by step and eventually we arrived at this point where we could close the title with a victory at Le Mans, one of my favourite circuits. It always makes me proud when we don’t close the title by finishing fourth or fifth. But an awesome job by the team and I’m very proud for the last few years as well where we could keep up this performance and nobody can catch us, at least not at the moment.”
Although it’s clearly been a great team effort, some of your performances have been exceptional this season, your overtakes to win races from almost impossible positions for example. You must take some credit for this because your driving has been out of this world.
“I’m always happy to hear if it looks nice from the outside. I enjoy it, I like it and I’m proud as well of some of the reverse-grid races that we’ve done. For example, Slovakia Ring when we finished side by side with René Reinert. Also, some of the overtakes in the rain at Zolder were very nice. But I try to do the best I can, and I try to enjoy it as well because I think it’s also very important. It’s easy to say you enjoy it when you are the fastest and winning the championship but, you know, I had my fair share of unsuccessful seasons, but I enjoyed those as well, they were very good. I always say you either win or you learn, and we learned a lot in the past years, as a driver as well. I try to stay out of trouble and try not to crash into anybody but it’s important to make the overtakes happen. It’s fun and it’s fun for the spectators, I hope they enjoy some of these races when I try to overtake people, and I also enjoy it myself.”
There are Hungarian fans following you everywhere you go, when you won the title at Le Mans there was a Hungarian flag waving from the pit wall. What’s the support like?
“It’s awesome and I also saw all the flags in the grandstand and one with a number eight in the middle, which was really nice to see. Hungary is not really a motor sport nation, not a lot of Hungarian drivers on the international scene in the top categories, just Norbert Michelisz and myself from Hungary. But it’s not just about being a Hungarian driver, we come and race as a 100 per cent Hungarian team, 100 per cent Hungarian funding, 100 per cent Hungarian mechanics and engineers and with a race truck that we build ourselves in our own workshop in Hungary. It makes me really proud and it’s really nice to be successful on an international level coming from such a small motor sport country.”
You achieved a 100 per cent record of pole positions during the 2026 Goodyear FIA ETRC season. What does that mean to you?
“I’m very happy about the whole season performance, the team did a very good job to prepare for every condition. It’s always a nice achievement to do something like that because normally it’s very difficult, also in the past it was very difficult, but we did a really good job. The reliability was the key, besides the performance of course, and we tried to make no mistakes and do the maximum that we can. Basically, it’s a one-lap qualifying format with five minutes. Okay, you can do two laps, but your second lap everything is overheating, and it rarely works, if ever. So you really have to know your limits and know what you are capable of for your lap to don’t go over your limit. But, usually, 99 per cent is a better result than if you try to push too hard.”
As well as claiming a record-extending eighth Goodyear FIA ETRC title you also won an incredible 20 races out of 28 this year with victory in Race 3 at Jarama. In your view how was that possible?
“A good start is always the key, confident braking to Turn 1 then I could go in front and again a good job from the team, Révész Racing. Even though we already won the championship in Le Mans we arrived very well prepared to Jarama so we could do the maximum as well in Jarama. Pole position, the race victory, the pace was good, the tyres were working very well to the end. We’re very happy. The start was not actually particularly good, we were exactly side by side with Jochen Hahn, but it’s more about the braking in Turn 1 and the pole position is usually on the inside and this gives the poleman a good advantage and most of the time this was me! The first turn is always very important.”
Full 2026 Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship standings are available by clicking HERE. All results are subject to final confirmation by the FIA. Revisit the 2026 season on YouTube and stay tuned for more on the Goodyear FIA ETRC.
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