KISS COMPLETES CLEAN SWEEP OF 2023 POLE POSITIONS
Having taken every pole position from qualifying sessions this season, Norbert Kiss has added another impressive statistic to his already fruitful 2023 campaign. He will start the penultimate race of the season ahead of second in the championship, Jochen Hahn, and battling for third Sascha Lenz.
The first session of the day saw all drivers lapping cleanly as the grid was set for the final time this year. Kiss was once again in a league of his own, ending with an eight tenth advantage over Hahn with his 1:57.685. The duo were split again from the racing pack by half a second, as Hahn comfortable took the other spot on the front row of the grid.
The battle for third in the overall championship continued into qualifying, as contenders Lenz and Antonio Albacete will line up beside each other on the second row of the grid. Lenz had the advantage by just over a tenth of a second, but with the two so close on pace and on the grid, it’s looking to be a tight race between them.
Lenz leads Albacete in the championship by one point, and with 30 remaining to be collected today it could still go either way.
André Kursim took fifth on the starting grid ahead of Jamie Anderson, who had a transponder issue at the start of the session. He will start ahead of fifth in Titan class Steffi Halm, and even though yesterday’s result put him a far reach from fifth in the standings, any of the trio could still take the position. This pack and Lenz vs Albacete will be battles to keep your eye on during Race Three.
José Eduardo Rodrigues also continued his strong qualifying performances with another Promoter’s Cup pole position, eighth in the overall order. His father José Rodrigues Snr lines up ninth with John Newell completing the Super Pole contenders and top ten.
Newell finds himself at the front of the third-place fight in Promoter’s Cup with four other drivers still mathematically able to take the position from him. Luis Recuenco, starting 12th, is 16 points behind in fourth with Mark Taylor fifth 25 points behind and Clemens Hecker sixth, 28 points behind.
Hecker took 11th, ahead of Recuenco, so the trio of Newell, Hecker and Recuenco will be together on track. Taylor unfortunately was unable to complete a lap time within the 110% rule and will therefore start from the back of the grid.
Jonathan André was 13th on the timing screen, but two incidents of over-speeding saw him have all of his lap times deleted, dropping him to the back of the grid too. This promoted Steffen Faas to 13th as all 15 trucks completed the qualifying session with no incidents.
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