KURSIM TAKES FINAL WIN IN JARAMA FINALE
After almost taking the win in Race Two, André Kursim made the reverse grid work as he took his first win of the season. He managed to hold back Sascha Lenz and Norbert Kiss to take victory in the last race of the year.
Once again, Luis Recuenco showed great pace off the line, beating the entire field to hold the lead from reverse grid pole. He drove an impressive race, leading the grid for the first half of the race.
Kursim did not let up on the pressure, keeping one eye in his rear-view mirror as the top five from Race Three started to make progress through the pack. Having fallen to Norbert Kiss in Race Two yesterday after the Hungarian made a rapid start, Kursim was not looking to repeat the experience.
Around the halfway mark of the race, Kursim got the move done on Recuenco and started to build the gap to the chasing pack behind. However, coming down the main straight, Promoter’s Cup race winner Recuenco was passed by Lenz, Antonio Albacete and Norbert Kiss to be demoted to fifth in the overall race.
Lenz and Albacete were still fighting hard for third in the overall championship. Lenz stayed behind the Spaniard, not allowing him to get more than a point back on him in the standings when he needed four to take the position. The result was solidified when Lenz passed Albacete for second with two laps to go, and Kiss then demoted him off the final podium of the year.
Jochen Hahn was fifth after a quiet race, finishing ahead of José Rodrigues Snr and Jamie Anderson, who also managed to pass Recuenco.
Taking a clean sweep of the Promoter’s Cup in Jarama, Recuenco took his fourth class win, sixth in a row, to finish his season on a high. In a repeat of the Race Three podium, Steffen Faas and Jonathan André completed the top three and rounded off the overall top ten.
Third in the Promoter’s Cup was still to be decided, and Recuenco’s form over the last two events had put him right in position to cause some upset. With four points splitting them and Recuenco’s taking another class win, John Newell almost lost the third place he’d fought hard for this season. But a great class fourth, 11th overall, saw the Spaniard only outscore him by three points, missing out on taking third in the Chrome class by one point.
After being part of the incident that red flagged Race Three, José Eduardo Rodrigues took 12th in the final race of the year, ahead of Mark Taylor, who was the last to be classified.
Sadly due to damage from Race Three, neither Steffi Halm nor Clemens Hecker joined the grid for the last race. Halm had been so close to completing her engine change but just ran out of time as the formation lap rolled off the grid. This plus Kursim’s race victory saw her lose fifth in the overall standings by seven points.
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