Sunday in Misano Part 1 – Kiss beats rain man Lacko to pole

26. May 2019Misano - The rains arrived on the second race day of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship here on Italy’s scenic Adriatic coast. At the start of warm-up this morning the heavens opened, and it surprised nobody that the lap times were up to 20 seconds off what you’d expect in normal circumstances.
Wet-weather wizard Adam Lacko (Buggyra) was fastest, with tankpool24 Mercedes pilot Norbert Kiss only a wee bit off. On his day, the Hungarian ace can be devastatingly quick on any track and in any conditions. The gap to the third-fastest was almost two seconds, but this was no timed competition anyway.
The rain presently let up, but at the start of qualifying the track was still soaking. Lacko went on top after the first flying lap, but Kiss was just three hundredths off, the remaining drivers all lapping a few seconds slower. But then the Hungarian left the field standing with a 2:15.216 – unimaginable in conditions such as these. The best Lacko could counter with was a whole second slower.
MAN pilots Anthony Janiec (FRA) and Sascha Lenz (GER), German champ Jochen Hahn (Iveco), Spaniard Antonio Albacete (MAN), Germans Steffi Halm and René Reinert (both Iveco), MAN pilot José Rodrigues (POR), and Iveco pilot André Kursim (GER) also qualified for the Super Pole.
Hardly had they all completed their first flying lap when it began to rain again. Kiss had just clocked 2:14.645, putting more than eight tenths between himself and Lacko. Despite the worsening conditions, the Hungarian went even faster – 2:14.311. The Buggyra pilot could get no closer than 1.2s in P2. Hahn was next, more than two seconds down on Kiss.
Janiec, Lenz, Albacete, José Rodrigues, Reinert, Kursim, and Steffi Halm completed the Top Ten of starters for Race 3.