KISS TAKES 20TH WIN AS RODRIGUES CLAIMS PROMOTER’S CUP TITLE
Continuing his winning streak, Norbert Kiss has taken his 20th win of the season, giving him the title of winning the most races in a single season. José Eduardo Rodrigues also capitalised on a ten second penalty for Steffen Faas to take the Promoter’s Cup title for 2023.
Kiss has broken his own record with his 20th win; in 2015 he took the title of most wins in a single season with 19 race wins. Three races remain, and Kiss will be looking to add more wins to that to make the record even more unattainable for future racers.
The race had two starts after two incidents saw five trucks off in three corners as the track went green. Steffi Halm was a victim of her own mistake, getting tangled with Rodrigues in Turn 1, whilst Faas’ late braking saw him in the gravel trap at Turn 3 with Jamie Anderson and a backwards Sascha Lenz.
Lenz, Halm, Faas and Rodrigues all made it back to the grid for the restart – albeit with Rodrigues starting from the pitlane after having to make some repairs and falling to the back of the grid – but Anderson was unable to restart due to too much damage on his truck. The Brit should be back out for Race Two.
It looked like the Promoter’s Cup would go on to Race Two until Faas was handed the ten second penalty for the collision. Try as he might, he was unable to pull enough of a gap to negate the penalty, dropping him from class first to class fifth at the chequered flag.
Halm had a great second start, fighting Jochen Hahn for third as they went through the first corners. However, Hahn defended well to keep Halm behind and race off to chase down Antonio Albacete for second on the podium as Kiss disappeared down the track. The pair fought hard, but it was Albacete who stayed on top, giving the Spanish fans something to cheer about.
Lenz recovered from his start incident well to beat Halm to fourth, José Rodrigues Snr, André Kursim and Promoter’s Cup winner Luis Recuenco completing the top eight. This gives Recuenco reverse pole position for Race Two which, last time he started in this place, saw him take overall victory. If he can repeat his performance from last weekend, the Spanish crowd are likely to enjoy it.
Clemens Hecker was second in Promoter’s Cup, ninth overall, with Rodrigues completing the top ten and the Promoter’s Cup podium. John Newell was also handed an advantage through Faas’ penalty, promoting him to fourth in class 11th overall, completing the classified drivers.
Mark Taylor’s troubled day continued as he was the other retirement from the race. Jonathan André never took to the track for the second restart after contact caused water to be leaking from his truck.
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