Saturday in Nogaro Part 1 – Norbert Kiss takes first pole for tankpool24

11. June 2016Nogaro - The weather on the first race day of this 3rd round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship on Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro wasn’t what you’d normally expect in the south of France in summer, but at least it stayed dry, and later in the morning there were even snatches of sunshine.
The two championship leaders, Buggyra ace Adam Lacko (CZE) and MAN standard-bearer Jochen Hahn (GER), were quickest in warm-up, the German setting a top time of 1:53.608s that he himself wasn’t able to come close to thereafter.
In qualifying we saw a novelty, in that all of nine race trucks returned to the pits after only one flying lap. Their drivers certain of having made it into the Top 10, the imperative now was to conserve their tyres.
Only Scania pilot Erwin Kleinnagelvoort (NEL) and Portuguese Eduardo Rodrigues (MAN) were out for the full 20 minutes, going all out to capture the final SuperPole slot. At the end it was the Dutchman who prevailed.
At the top of the timing monitor there was a surprise, on second thoughts not such a big one perhaps: Hungarian Norbert Kiss in his tankpool24 Mercedes with 1:53.857s was one-hundredths quicker than Lacko.
Hahn; the three MANler René Reinert (GER), Antony Janiec (FRA), and Steffi Halm (GER); Buggyra pilot Jiří Forman (CZE), the two Germans Ellen Lohr and Sascha Lenz (both MAN); and Kleinnagelvoort made up the rest of the Top 10.
When it was time for the SuperPole a few rays of sunshine broke through the cloud and the track temperatures reached an optimum 30–32°C. Not surprisingly, the racers all went one better — but to varying degrees.
Getting the best time in SuperPole can often be a question of tactics, because the 10 minutes available usually only suffice for two hot laps. There’s the out lap, the warm-up lap, and then the first flying lap (often the decisive one), then a cool-off lap that gives the driver and truck space to breathe, and then a final flat-out lap.
But all the racers, right down to Ellen Lohr, recorded their quickest times in their second flying lap - nothing tactical about that.
Kiss duly went on to take his first SuperPole for the tankpool24 team ahead of Lacko, only his one-hundredths advantage in qualifying was now 26 times as great.
Hahn secured third, followed by Reinert, Halm, Janiec, Forman, Lohr, Lenz, and Kleinnagelvoort.

Impressions: