SHORTENED RACE THREE GIVES KISS WIN 21
The penultimate race of the season ended three laps early as Steffi Halm had an engine issue that took herself, Clemens Hecker and José Eduardo Rodrigues out of the race. Norbert Kiss had a quiet race at the front to take win 21 of the season.
Sascha Lenz was the man to watch off the start, getting ahead of Jochen Hahn in second to put a buffer between him and championship rival Antonio Albacete. The duo continues to fight for third in the championship as we go into the last race of the year, finishing third and fourth respectively.
After passing Hahn off the start, Lenz had to defend hard to try and retain the second-place finish. Showing his experience and race craft, Hahn pushed Lenz into opening the door, making a mistake to let the multiple champion through. Albeit losing out to Hahn, Lenz still did enough to keep Albacete behind him come the red flag that ended the race. The points advantage is now three as we go into Race Four.
Jamie Anderson had a good race from sixth on the grid, managing to get in front of championship rivals Halm and André Kursim for fifth at the end of the race. The Brit is still in a points battle to promote himself from seventh in the standings, nine points behind Kursim in sixth, but with only ten points remaining Halm 12 points ahead in fifth is now out of reach. Kursim finished sixth behind Anderson by half a second.
Halm unfortunately failed to score after an engine failure saw her deposit oil through Turn 11. Following behind, Rodrigues and Hecker were too close to take evasive action, both ending up through the oil and off the track. Hecker hit the side of Rodrigues, shattering the windscreen as well as causing extensive damage to the #25, which means that sadly Hecker will not participate further in the race weekend.
All three drivers were fine, but with Halm needing an engine change ahead of Race Four, and only an hour to complete this, it will be very tight for her to make it to the grid. She is currently four points ahead of Kursim in fifth, so a DNS will hand fifth in the overall standings to Race Two’s second-place finisher.
José Rodrigues Snr finished seventh ahead of Promoter’s Cup winner and Race Four reverse grid poleman Luis Recuenco. This winning streak for Recuenco has ran from Sunday in Le Mans giving him a massive boost in the Promoter’s Cup standings. The Spaniard has already moved up to fourth after yesterday’s double class win, and if he repeats this performance in Race Four, he will take third in the class from John Newell, who is now only four points ahead.
Steffen Faas and Jonathan André completed the Promoter’s Cup podium, with Faas confirming his second place in the class championship. Mark Taylor, who has had a turbulent Jarama race meet, finished 11th, fourth in Promoter’s Cup, with Newell the final finisher in 12th.
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