POZNAŃ POLE, AGAIN, GOES TO NORBERT KISS
Keeping up his undisputable qualifying record, Norbert Kiss has once again taken pole position, making it his sixth of the year.
The Hungarian has continued his strong form from 2022, currently holding all pole positions possible from qualifying in 2023.
The sun and dust from yesterday returned to the Polish track this morning, setting the stage for another intense day of racing. Drama began before the green flag had waved with Clemens Hecker, having suffered technical issues at the end of Race 2, announcing he was unable to repair the problem with an engine change, and so wouldn't take part in day two’s track action.
Kiss made it look simple as he took provisional pole in qualifying and proceeded to set only one lap in super pole, a 1:56.606, before returning to the pits. The 0.606s lead was too much for the rest of the field to close up, giving the reigning champion his 14th pole position in a row.
Behind him, the order could not settle, with Antonio Albacete taking it to the wire to qualify ahead of Jochen Hahn and Sascha Lenz. Lenz almost didn’t make it through to Super Pole for the second time this year after his fastest lap in qualifying was deleted for overspeeding. Luckily, as most of the grid filtered into the pits, Lenz had stayed on track to try and improve his lap time, ending the qualifying session second behind Kiss.
Lenz will line up beside Hahn on the second row of the grid in a couple of hours’ time, ahead of Jamie Anderson and André Kursim on row three.
Promoter’s Cup pole position was, once again, claimed by José Eduardo Rodrigues, who will start seventh overall beside Steffi Halm. Overall Race 2 winner Lukas Hahn starts second in the Promoter’s Cup field, ninth overall, with Mark Taylor rounding off the super pole qualifiers and top three in the Chrome class.
This marks only the second time Taylor has featured in Super Pole, his first having been for Qualifying 1 in Misano. This weekend has really seen the British Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship rookie come into his own and he seems to be feeling at one with the track, tuck and series. His performances yesterday definitely put him on today’s ‘one’s to watch’, as he looks to get even more silverware to take home.
Luis Recuenco narrowly missed out on demoting Taylor out of Super Pole. His 1:58.977 was just 0.018s off Taylor’s Qualifying time. He lines up 11th later with Steffan Faas beside him. Faas will be looking for a better day today in comparison to yesterday, hoping he can reel Rodrigues’ Promoter’s Cup lead back in a bit before the Polish round is complete.
John Newell and Johnathan André complete the 14-strong grid, with André also struggling in qualifying after his fastest lap time was deleted for over speeding. Prior to this, the Frenchman seemed to be struggling to find pace in his truck, only able to set a time three seconds off the pace of Kiss when the chequered flag fell.
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