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Sunday at the Hungaroring Part 1 – Norbi’s the natural for pole

Sunday at the Hungaroring Part 1 – Norbi’s the natural for pole

06. September 2015Hungaroring - It was distinctly chilly this morning, on the second race day of the 7th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at the Hungaroring. But more importantly, it was dry. Perfect conditions for Kiss to set a 2:18.504s lap record in his MAN.
The best that his quickest rival, MAN-in-red Antonio Albacete (ESP), could manage was over a second slower, and he for his part was the only one under 2:20s.
But then the Spaniard suffered a major setback in qualifying - for the entire session his Cepsa MAN stood immobile in the pits while the crew worked feverishly to get it started. But all their efforts went in vain. Seven racers came back in after a single flying lap, confident of having made the SuperPole. Unlike yesterday’s qualifying, during which the lap times kept dropping as the track progressively dried out, the primary object today was to conserve one’s tyres.
Kiss was content with 2:18.803s, somewhat slower than his time in the warm-up. The next quickest driver, Czech Adam Lacko (Buggyra Freightliner), was a full second off. German Jochen Hahn (MAN), Buggyra pilot David Vršecký (CZE), Steffi Halm and René Reinert (both GER), and Frenchman Anthony Janiec – all MAN – pitted early. MAN pilotess Ellen Lohr (GER) stayed out for two laps more, and managed to put herself above Janiec. These eight were now certain of top 10 positions; the distance to the rest of the field was simply too large.
The two last places in the SuperPole were fiercely contested till the end, the two MANler Sascha Lenz (GER) and Frankie Vojtíšek (CZE) eventually making the cut at the expense of German Roland Rehfeld, who missed out by only a whisker. His compatriot and tankpool24 teammate André Kursim, who yesterday had qualified for the SuperPole on a treacherous track, also returned to the pits midway for some adjustments to his Mercedes. But his best effort today wasn’t good enough, and nor was Scania pilot Erwin Kleinnagelvoort’s (NED).
After a short interval it was time for the 10-minute shootout that decides positions on the first five rows of the grid.
Kiss lost no time setting a new lap record with 2:18.159s and then making straight for the pits. Hahn in second place was a second slower, and it was apparently evident to the Hungarian that nobody was going to snatch pole away, try as hard as his competitors might.
Lacko, Reinert, Vršecký, Halm, Lohr, Janiec, Vojtíšek, and Lenz make up the rest of the starting order.

Impressions:

Sunday at the Hungaroring Part 1 – Norbi’s the natural for pole
Sunday at the Hungaroring Part 1 – Norbi’s the natural for pole