Saturday in Misano Part 1 - Kiss positions himself for Title 3 with pole for Race 1

16. October 2021Misano - The first free practice session at Misano was flagged off at 9:15, under clear skies and a sun aglow, but with temperatures just under 10°C - you couldn’t ask for better conditions. It took six laps for Norbert Kiss to emblazon his name at the top of the monitor, and four laps more to become the first driver to go faster than 2:02. Sascha Lenz, the early leader in the session, finished next-quickest, above Adam Lacko, Jochen Hahn, and Jamie Anderson.
An hour and a half later Norbi had topped FP2 with 2:01.433, a significant improvement over his time in the session prior, but this time Lenz had closed in to a tick over a tenth. Hahn and Lacko clocked in within a second of the leader, and Lukas Hahn a little over a second slower.
The track had warmed considerably by the start of qualifying at noon, and so the usual suspects ventured just one flying lap before heading right back in to preserve their tyres for another blast in the Super Pole. But with only a second separating P1 from P11, one or other driver had to keep on truckin’ in the hope of a second shot.
Finally Lenz, Steffi Halm, Jochen and Lukas Hahn, Kiss, Lacko, Albacete, Reinert, Janiec, and Anderson made it into the Superpole.
With a lap time of 2:01.558 in the shootout Kiss secures pole. Lenz and Hahn were the only rivals within a second, followed by Albacete, Halm, Reinert, Lacko, Lukas Hahn, Janiec, and Anderson.
A P2 finish in the day’s first race will suffice for Norbi to be crowned champion – for the third time after 2014 and 2015.