FIRST POLE AT ZOLDER GOES TO KISS
Keeping up his unbroken pole record this year, Norbert Kiss has put himself at the front of the grid for the first Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship race this weekend.
The 1:57.463 was enough to give Kiss provisional pole in qualifying, a session that was much tighter than it has been at past events. The top five were covered by under a second, with the top three just two tenths apart. Antonio Albacete and Jochen Hahn looked like this might be the race they could challenge the reigning champion for pole position.
Super Pole brought out a 1:56.688 from Kiss, making him the only driver to drop into the 1m56s so far this weekend. Albeit closer than it has been in the past – the top two separated by six-tenths of a second – there was nothing Hahn could do to deny Kiss his 11th pole position of 2023.
Sascha Lenz improved from fourth to third in Super Pole as Albacete struggled to find the pace he had in the 20 minute session. He dropped from third to sixth, behind Lenz, José Eduardo Rodrigues and Steffi Halm.
Rodrigues made it look like he was in a class of his own as he took another Promoter’s Cup pole position. His closest challenger, class rival Steffen Faas, was 1.3 seconds off the pace Rodrigues set, starting eighth on the overall grid. André Kursim lines up seventh to share the grid row with his fellow countryman.
Jamie Anderson and Luis Recuenco completed the Super Pole top ten, marking Recuenco’s first appearance in Super Pole this year. He will start third in Promoter’s Cup ahead of Mark Taylor, Clemens Hecker, John Newell and Jonathan André.
André suffered many issues during the qualifying session, including overspeeding and two penalties for hitting penalty markers, seeing his best lap time deleted. Because of all his lap time deletions, André failed to meet the 175% lap time rule, where drivers must qualify with a time within 175% of the pole sitter. He was therefore disqualified from the session. The Frenchman will start Race One from the back of the grid.
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