HECKER LEADS CHROME TITLE FIGHT AHEAD OF FINAL RACE WEEKEND
The Chrome championship has been full of swings and roundabouts in the second half of the season, and the four races at Le Mans Bugatti were no exception.
Mark Taylor arrived at the penultimate race weekend as class leader with a 12-point advantage, but he leaves in fourth place, two points behind new leader Clemens Hecker. Bradley Smith showed just how important consistency is in the closing stages of the 2025 season: a brilliant Saturday put him 12 points clear at the top, but by Sunday evening he was second, tied on points with Hecker and just one point ahead of John Newell in third.
Saturday belonged to Smith and Newell, who both collected two podiums. By contrast, Taylor DNFed both races, and Hecker only finished one, so momentum seemed to swing back to Smith. But, as has been the story of the season, things quickly changed.
Hecker hit back on Sunday, top-scoring with back-to-back wins ahead of Taylor in second and Newell in third, as both races produced repeat podiums. Smith’s struggles in Qualifying 2 left him on the back foot for Sunday’s racing and brought the four title contenders closer together as the championship heads to Jarama for the finale.
After a disappointing Zolder, Newell will be pleased to have taken a podium in every race at Le Mans Bugatti. Where it once looked like becoming a three-horse race, his French outing has firmly kept him in the fight. With just over a week until the chequered flag falls at Jarama, it really could go to anyone.
Luis Recuenco and Luke Garrett are locked in battle for fifth in the standings. Garrett’s strong showing on day two at Zolder gave him the upper hand, but persistent turbo and gearbox issues at Le Mans cost him dearly. He still salvaged a P4, yet Recuenco’s pair of P4s in the higher-scoring odd-numbered races tipped the balance in his favour going into his home event at Jarama. The pair are separated by 26 points, meaning Garrett will need everything to go his way in Spain, and for Recuenco to hit trouble, if he hopes to reclaim fifth at season’s end.
It was a Saturday to forget for Steffen Faas, who had to complete yet another engine change as his Freightliner continues to test his patience. But on Sunday he was back on the pace. As seen in Slovakia, when the Freightliner runs smoothly it’s a fast machine, and Faas showed its potential in Races 3 and 4. He holds a comfortable P6 in the standings, 39 points clear of Stefan Kursch in seventh and 54 behind Garrett. After a season in which he has classified in only 14 of 26 races (just over 50%), a sixth-place finish would be a strong result.
Kursch enjoyed a breakthrough with his first Chrome podium of the season in Race 1, thanks to an excellent qualifying performance and a composed drive that saw him defend his position perfectly. It was a welcome boost in what has otherwise been a quiet season. The points haul helped him move ahead of Jonathan André and Christian Ruppert, putting him in a strong position to secure seventh.
Returning to the grid after illness ruled him out at Zolder, Ruppert showed promising pace on Saturday and qualified well. As a newcomer to truck racing, 2025 has been a steep learning curve, and he will look to build on that experience to be in the thick of the Chrome battles next year.
The Reid brothers also impressed, with Simon outperforming Craig in all sessions except Race 4. They will both return at Jarama to continue their Chrome class rivalry and close out the 2025 season.
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