COMEBACK KISS IN RACE TWO
Norbert Kiss raced from the back of the grid to take victory in Race Two.
After a forgettable Race One, the Révész Racing driver was uncommonly situated at the back of the grid for the second event of the weekend. It took only three laps for the rapid Kiss to be up into the top five, putting pressure on the Promoter’s Cup drivers to get himself to the overall podium.
John Newell held onto the lead well at the start of the race, but Sascha Lenz was on a mission to recover from his Race One and, starting from reverse grid third, made light work of the rookie to take the lead.
By lap four, it was a classic Lenz versus Kiss for the lead of the race. Lenz defended hard, using wet weather lines and the damp track to his advantage, but ultimately Kiss was too much for him to hold back.
After the excitement of the first five laps, Kiss drove comfortably to take his first victory of the season with Lenz almost 17 seconds behind.
The battle for third saw both Jochen Hahn and Antonio Albacete take some cosmetic damage on their trucks, as they fought from seventh and eighth respectively. The result came as a decision on the line: in the final lap after following Hahn nose-to-tail for three laps, Albacete tried to make a pass on the inside of Turn 15. The two trucks were wheel to wheel, but Hahn just about managed to hang onto the last step on the podium, taking the chequered flag 0.4 seconds ahead of Albacete.
Steffen Faas, winner of the Promoter’s Cup race, had been set to take third on the Overall podium until the last three laps, where the charging Hahn and Albacete reeled in his lead.
André Kursim finished sixth after taking some damage in contact with Hahn and Albacete, but managed to hang on to the leading pack to only lose a few places.
Newell started to fall down the order as the Titian drivers progressed up the field, but he held on well to take second place in the Promoter’s Cup, seventh overall.
José Eduardo Rodrigues took his second Promoter’s Cup podium of the day, rounding off the overall top ten with Johnathan André and Mark Taylor.
Luis Recuenco and Clemens Hecker completed the final order as Steffi Halm was unable to make the start of the race. Damage from Race One saw Team Schwabentruck needing to replace her gear box, and with only a couple of hours between the two races, there was not enough time to complete the repair.
Racing action continues at Misano tomorrow, with qualifying for Race Three getting underway at 11:00.
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