Hahn Penalised After Leading Start to Finish – Kiss Inherits Victory
It was almost a textbook victory for Jochen Hahn, leading the race from lights-to-flag. However, a 5-second post-race penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in the first lap in the first corner dropped him down the order – handing the victory to Norbert Kiss, who charged through the field from P15 to claim the top step of the podium.
Antonio Albacete knew his best chance to get ahead of Hahn would be going into Turn 1, and placed his MAN truck to try and make the move stick. Being in pole and leading the grid across the line, Hahn anticipated the move and positioned his IVECO defensively to not give the Spaniard a clean way past. This is where Hahn left the track and gained an unfair advantage, for which he was handed a 5-second penalty post race.
Albacete looked to come out of the first corner a little worse for wear with a suspect puncture as Steffi Halm helped herself to P2 on the track, chasing her fellow IVECO runner for the race lead. Albacete managed to not slip any further down the grid with his suspect damage, but his race pace was affected by the opening lap, never looking to put any pressure on the top three.
Kiss was in full flow of showing off exactly what Balu Junior can do, and made light work of the Chrome competitors as he made his way through the field. Showing he will be a title contender once again this year, he had got himself into the top ten at the close of the second lap. Mark Taylor put up a bit of a fight as the reigning champion came through, but at the halfway stage Kiss was already eyeing up a podium and potential race victory.
Albacete was not difficult to pass with his lack of pace, but Halm made Kiss tussle for second position. Her fight and subsequent loss of P2 could have been the difference between second and first for Kiss. His pace was on another level; when he passed Halm there were four laps remaining, the gap to Hahn six seconds. By the chequered flag, Kiss was only six tenths behind, and after Hahn was handed the 5-second post-race penalty, the Hungarian racer inherited the win for race 1.
René Reinert had a great return to the Goodyear FIA ETRC, crossing the line P5 ahead of Sascha Lenz. José Eduardo Rodrigues concluded the Titan entrants, completing the top seven in his first race as a Titan driver. He will join Chrome class winner Taylor on the front row for Race 2 thanks to reverse-grid pole.
After fighting to keep Kiss behind him, it momentarily looked like Taylor had opened the door for fellow Chrome competitors Johnathan André and Bradley Smith to challenge for the class win. Going deep into one corner saw the door wide open for André to demote the Brit. But Taylor did what he had to to stay ahead, finishing two seconds down the road to his closest rivals. Smith managed to pass race-by-race entry André to take second place on the Chrome podium.
John Newell bounced back well from qualifying, just missing out on the podium to take Chrome P4 after the 12 laps of racing. He led Clemens Hecker, Luke Garrett, Luis Recuenco, Stefan Kursch and Christian Ruppet to complete the classified drivers.
Only Steffen Faas failed to classify for the opening race of the season as the issues from this morning returned and he retired from the race with four laps to go.
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