Saturday in Zolder Part 2 – Kiss takes pole-to-flag victory

19. September 2015Zolder - At noon the sun emerged with a radiance that made dark glasses desirable, but then a few drops fell. At the grid formation, though, all fear (some drivers had) of and desire (others had) for a right nasty downpour were forgotten. Just the fact that every one set his or her best time of the day in this race should be fair indication of the superb track conditions that obtained.
The chances of any untoward occurrence were now relatively slim, and the race was, accordingly, uneventful. Kiss used his pole advantage to slip into the lead, which he held till the flag fell. The rest followed the Hungarian in exactly the order they’d started in. All except for Reinert, who ceded two places at the very start, to Janiec and Lohr. But then the Lusatian surged back, forcing his way ahead of Lohr in the chicane at the end of the back straight. His French MAN colleague was by then beyond reach.
As the field was preparing for the approach to the finish line, with Kiss, Lacko, and Albacete on the podium followed by Vršecký (fourth again!), Hahn, Janiec, Reinert, and Lohr, which would have meant the grande dame of truck racing would have pole for the day’s second race, something unexpected happened.
Hahn’s MAN began to slow, allowing Janiec and Reinert to move ahead. Hahn was now in seventh. And then even Lohr overtook the green-and-white Castrol MAN when they’d almost reached the finish line. Now Hahn had pole, and Lenz and Dutchman Erwin Kleinnagelvoort (Scania) took the final places in the points.
But the chapter wasn’t closed yet. At the flag it was announced that Janiec had collected a 30 second penalty for repeatedly driving over the corner markers. This dropped the Frenchman to ninth, and moved everyone behind Vršecký up one place. Now Lenz was on pole, for the first time in an FIA ETRC race.
Buggyra (Vršecký / Lacko) was the top team, with Oxxo-Lion (Kiss / Janiec) and Bernau-Albacete (Lohr / Albacete) second and third.

Impressions: