KISS EDGES CLOSER TO SEVENTH TITLE WITH LE MANS VICTORY
Big gains in both the overall and Chrome standings as Norbert Kiss and Bradley Smith take respective wins.
Sascha Lenz tried to find a way around Kiss as the grid filed into the first corner, but Kiss had the move covered as he retained the lead going under the Dunlop Bridge. It was a lead that he wouldn’t give up throughout the race, completing another lights to flag victory – his 11th of this kind of the season – and moving ever closer to his seventh Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship title.
Jochen Hahn knew it was important to get back into second to restrict Kiss’ advantage in the overall standings as much as possible, but Lenz had his MAN dialled in and ready to defend. In the closing moments of the race, Hahn tried to make a move stick around the long right-hander of Turn 8, but Lenz held his line, leaving the space but knowing the outside would not give his fellow countryman the advantage to make the pass.
The lead is now at 85 points, with 100 maximum remaining to be scored. Kiss would have to finish first with Hahn sixth or lower in Race 2 to confirm the title before the end of the day.
José Eduardo Rodrigues had a bit of a quiet race to come across the line P4, whilst Steffi Halm had a great recovery drive to get P5. Starting from P12 after her disappointing qualifying, she made light work of the Chrome competitors, up to P7 by the end of the first lap. Smith didn’t make it simple for her to pass, but eventually she made the move stick to get into the fight with the Titans.
Antonio Albacete looked to really struggle with pace in Race 1, having no answer for the flying Halm as she manoeuvred through the grid. He came across the line and classified P6, but he was towed back to the pitlane seeming to have suffered a failure after the chequered flag.
Smith wasn’t making it easy for any of the Titan drivers, and it was only in the penultimate lap that René Reinert managed to pass him from overall P7. He, like Halm, had a great start to his recovery drive after a turbo issue kept him out of qualifying, but found himself stuck behind the leading Chrome driver.
The P7 will see Reinert line up second next to Chrome winner Smith for the reverse grid in Race 2, Smith taking reverse grid pole. It was a sensational drive from Smith, picking up his first win since Slovakia Ring and really making a dent in the Chrome standings lead Mark Taylor had. It was doubly beneficial for Smith that neither Taylor or Clemens Hecker scored in this race. The win has moved him back to the lead of the Chrome standings with an eight-point advantage.
Taylor had been looking on for a strong second in class finish until contact with Reinert saw him off the track at Turn 8. Just five laps into the race, it looked like Taylor had managed to keep the truck going as he avoided getting beached in the gravel trap, but it wasn’t long before he was pulling the #81 into the pitlane to retire from the race.
He was involved in a first lap incident with Hecker, who did end up beached in the gravel trap and unable to continue. Both will be hoping to complete repairs on their trucks ahead of Race 2 to try and reel Smith in to stop him adding any more points advantage to his championship campaign.
John Newell was back to competitive ways after a quiet weekend in Zolder, taking second in Chrome, P9 overall. They were joined by Stefan Kursch who had a fantastic race to take his first podium of the season. Even in qualifying Kursch looked to up his pace and be more competitive in the field, so it was great to see that pay off in the race as well.
But Kursch didn’t have it easy, as for the last four laps of the race Simon Reid, Luis Recuenco and Luke Garrett were all piling the pressure on to try and take third place from the German. He defended brilliantly, even having a close call with Reid that almost took them both out of the race. Both continued with Reid slipping to P6 in class due to the close proximity of Recuenco (P4) and Garrett (P5).
Craig Reid and Christian Ruppert were the final two classified trucks after Steffen Faas was unable to make the start of Race 1 due to an engine change. There are a few repairs and question marks to be answered ahead of Race 2, so we hope to see all 18 trucks on track for that race.
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