REINERT CONTINUES WINNING STREAK WITH FINAL WIN OF LE MANS BUGATTI WEEKEND
Since Zolder Race 4, René Reinert has won every even-numbered race, giving the Revesz-Reinert Racing Team a major boost in the teams’ championship.
Starting from second on the grid, Reinert made light work of Clemens Hecker on reverse grid pole to secure his fourth victory of the season. Leading all 11 laps, the German barely broke sweat in the heat of Le Mans Bugatti to take the top step of the podium. Albeit a strong period of results for him in the latter half of the season, he still sits a comfortable fifth in the overall standings, 34 points behind Steffi Halm in third.
Halm tried everything she could to find a way past Reinert but he kept his cool and drove a controlled race to the end, never giving her the opportunity. With third in the standings still on the line, it was too much of a risk for Halm to be ultra aggressive for the additional point, settling for the nine she got ahead of championship rival Sascha Lenz’ six.
Lenz still leaves the weekend third in the overall standings, but the pair are separated by just one point. It’s all going to come down to Jarama to see who will take third this season.
Hecker nearly made it a Chrome on the overall podium, driving brilliantly to keep Antonio Albacete behind him for third for a majority of the race. It was only when Jochen Hahn found his way past the Spaniard that Hecker slipped backwards, losing the two positions in one corner. His sixth overall was still enough to secure him another Chrome win, making him the Chrome leader as the championship leaves France.
However, Hecker remains under review for a race-ending incident for José Eduardo Rodrigues. Trying to follow his Titan compatriots past Hecker, Rodrigues and the Chrome winner came together on the penultimate lap through the final corner. Hecker was on the outside as Rodrigues tried to make the move on the inside, the front of Hecker’s truck hitting Rodrigues’ front left and causing a suspension failure that saw the Portuguese driver out of the race.
Any time penalty for Hecker will see second in Chrome, Mark Taylor, and third in Chrome, John Newell, promoted up a position. With only two points separating the top four in Chrome, this could see a big change to Hecker’s championship position, potentially giving Smith the lead as we head into the final four races of the season.
After securing his seventh title, it was a recovery race for Norbert Kiss, who crossed the line overall eighth to impressively finish in the points. Rodrigues and he came together in the first corner, seeing Kiss spun out and drop to the back of the field. He did make it to the back of the Hecker train as the Titan’s tried to pass the Chrome leader, but he was unable to make any head way on his position. He got slightly tangled in the penultimate lap incident, with Kiss focusing on finishing the race rather than trying to gain any more positions.
A clutch failure saw Luke Garrett towed back to the garage after Race 3 (occurring after the chequered flag), but he came back fighting in Race 4 to take Chrome P4. He’ll be grateful to end the weekend with a positive and strong result after the rollercoaster of a weekend.
Craig Reid had the good result he’s been searching for all weekend, claiming fifth in class ahead of Bradley Smith, Luis Recuenco, Steffen Faas, Stefan Kursch and Christian Ruppert - the last to officially cross the finish line. Rodrigues still classified as he stopped on the final lap at Turn 3/4, and Simon Reid ended the race going through the pit lane after being handed a drive through penalty for hitting three penalty markers.
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