Saturday at the Hungaroring Part 1 – Norbert Kiss is unchallenged for pole
26. August 2017Hungaroring - Early this morning, as the trucks rolled out for the second free practice session at this 5th round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship at the Hungaroring, the thermometer registered 25°C – in the shade. As the Hungarian fans streamed into the paddock in their summer togs, their idol showed on the track that anyone with podium ambitions was going to have to contend with him first. Norbert Kiss, as he did yesterday, drove the quickest lap in his tankpool24 Mercedes, with only Englishman Ryan Smith (MAN) and German Iveco pilot Jochen Hahn, also managing sub-2:18 laps.
Today, however, the rest of the field was much closer, and Steffi Halm (GER) – fourth again as she was yesterday in her MAN – managed to halve her gap to the leader to around eight tenths of a second.
The air had warmed to 30°C by the start of qualifying a couple of hours later, and the track surface had also heated up to considerably above what might be considered ideal for the tyres of a 5.3 tonne race truck. Which is most probably why the racers were well off the times they’d recorded in free practice (both yesterday and today) – on worn tyres.
Kiss was quickest again, albeit 1.3 seconds slower than in first free practice. The rest of the field, also far slower than in free practice, were nevertheless much closer to Kiss’s time. Hahn, for one, was only a tenth behind, and Halm four tenths. This trio were back in the pits after a single flying lap, certain of their places in the Super Pole. In the circumstances, tyre conservation was clearly of primary importance. Evidently, the two Czech Buggyra pilots Adam Lacko and David Vršecký thought likewise, as did the young German Sascha Lenz (MAN) – they too were back in after a single flying lap. The Portuguese José Rodrigues, Englishman Shane Brereton, Spaniard Antonio Albacete (all MAN) and German Iveco pilot Gerd Körber stayed on track, in pursuit of a second hot lap. None managed the breakthrough into the top six, however, but they were good enough for the Top 10 and the ensuing shootout.
One driver, who’d been expected among the frontrunners following practice, didn’t manage even a qualifying time (2:28.076 or 107 percent of the top qualifier’s time). Ryan Smith had his best times erased for exceeding track limits, and was classified only on the basis of his slow out lap.
Five minutes later it was time for the decisive Super Pole, in which the top pilots wring every last bit of performance out of their trucks. Here Lacko was the only one of the 10 to improve on his qualifying time. Kiss expectedly collected pole position, followed by Hahn, Halm, Lacko, Albacete, Brereton, Vršecký, Lenz, Rodrigues, and Körber.
Impressions:
