WIN NINE FOR KISS AT NÜRBURGRING OPENER
Norbert Kiss has converted his pole position to race victory in the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship’s first race of the weekend. It was a tightly fought battle as the lights went green going into the first corner, but Kiss recovered well to make it a textbook lights to flag win.
Making a self-admitted mistake off the start, Kiss found himself under pressure from second-place starting Jochen Hahn. The German got the inside line, but Kiss managed to hold the position by keeping his foot in around the outside. Dramatics behind the pair left them to compete for the overall win, but Kiss’ ability with his MAN truck saw him with a seven-second lead by the time the chequered flag fell.
Jamie Anderson had a rapid start, looking to make up some positions and challenge for the overall podium, but a braking mistake saw him tangle with Sacha Lenz, who at the time was third. Anderson pushed Lenz out wide and off the track, missing his braking point, which allowed Antonio Albacete to storm past the pair for net third on the grid. Luckily only cosmetic damage was done to the #3 and #33 trucks, with no further action called for the start incident.
A driver who was penalised for their start was André Kursim and race-by-race entry Erwin Kleinnagelvoort. The pair were seen to overspeed at the start of the race, with the trucks having a top speed limited of 160 km/h. As per regulation, the drivers have just over two seconds to go back under 160 km/h if they exceed the speed before they will incur a penalty. Both were handed a ten second penalty for the digression that was added to their times at the end of the race.
Albacete held onto third comfortably, as Lenz and Anderson tried to recover the time lost, but they ran out of laps before they could close the gap. The duo ended fourth and fifth respectively.
Steffi Halm and Lukas Hahn kept the drama running until the chequered flag, crossing the finish line just eight tenths apart. It had been a battle for reverse pole, but due to Kursim’s penalty they were promoted to sixth and seventh. Kursim’s sixth place finish saw his penalty drop him to eighth, thus giving him reverse pole for tomorrow morning.
Lukas Hahn was in a league of his own in Promoter’s Cup, and took another class victory ahead of the chasing pack. Championship leader José Eduardo Rodrigues had been looking to put pressure on the German, but an unknown suspected technical failure saw him retiring from the race in lap 7.
The loss of points for Rodrigues played straight into Steffen Faas’ hands, who spent his entire race defending from Kleinnagelvoort and Clemens Hecker to protect what was then third on the Promoter’s Cup podium. The retirement saw him promoted to second, claiming 15 points in favour, as he continues to try and chase Rodrigues’ points lead down.
Kleinnagelvoort had taken third in Promoter’s Cup, tenth overall, but his ten second penalty saw him forced to yield that result to Hecker.
Mark Taylor was looking to be on for another good result, but an error saw him off track and falling down the order, out of contention. Luis Recuenco finished behind him in 13th struggling to find good pace in Race 1.
John Newell joined Rodrigues on the retirees list with a front suspension failure that saw him retire to the pits. The drivers have time to complete repairs and analyse data from Race 1, as the second race of the weekend takes place tomorrow morning.
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