Sunday in Jarama Part 1 – Kiss takes pole again

05. October 2014Jarama - The first fans at the circuit were already in the grandstands at dawn, bringing in the second day of this eighth round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship with their chainsaw-motor contest, each participant trying to outrev the others – without the chainsaw blades on, of course – to wild cheering from the crowd.
Hungarian Norbert Kiss too was wildly cheered in the early morning warm-up, being the only one to crack 1:59s in his OXXO MAN with the temperature at 13° and the track not fully dry yet.
In the qualifying that followed, Kiss underlined his evident ambition to lead the standings going into the finale in Le Mans. His first flying lap in 1:58.470s proved to be the benchmark for all the rest. Like the Hungarian, Markus Bösiger (SUI), Jochen Hahn (GER), both MAN, Czech David Vršecký (Buggyra Freightliner), Antonio Albacete (ESP), René Reinert (GER), both MAN, and Adam Lacko (CZE) in a Buggyra Freightliner all drove back into the pits after a single lap, secure in the assumption that they were home and dry.
The rest, however, kept lapping till the last — there were, after all, three more SuperPole slots up for grabs. At the end these were snagged by Portuguese José Rodrigues (Renault) and two MAN pilots, Antony Janiec (FRA) and Benedek Major (HUN).
In the SuperPole Kiss promptly took up where he’d left off, his 1:57.877s more than good enough for pole position. Hahn was able to come no closer than a tenth, and had to content himself with second spot. He was followed in order by Vršecký, Albacete, Bösiger, Lacko, Reinert, Janiec, Major, and Rodrigues.

Impressions: