HOME HAT-TRICK FOR KISS
In a disappointing end to the weekend for Téo Calvet, that saw him retiring from the lead of the race, Norbert Kiss claimed a hat-trick of victories at his home event.
Starting on reverse pole, Calvet was looking to repeat his 2021 Jarama success taking another overall win. Off the line, he kept Steffi Halm behind to retain the lead, then fighting pressure from Jochen Hahn and Norbert Kiss. He was defending brilliantly, really putting the titans of the series through their paces, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be.
A brake failure saw the young Frenchman going straight on at Turn 14, unable to get his Freightliner to turn. Not only did he lose the lead, but he also retired from the race.
Norbert Kiss was fuelled by his fans, dashing through the grid from his starting position of eighth. By the end of the second lap he was on the back of Hahn, pushing the German hard for second. He proved too much of a force for Hahn, perfectly placing himself to take advantage when Calvet suffered his failure. He had been pushing the young Frenchman the closing laps of the race, but whether Calvet would have succumbed will remain an unknown.
Hahn took third, falling off the front pair as soon as Kiss had passed him, with Adam Lacko making a questionable move to deposit Sascha Lenz from fourth. The Czech driver made contact with the #2 as he forced his way through, but the move was cleared by the stewards after the race.
Steffi Halm ended fifth with Jamie Anderson in sixth – taking his second Promoter’s Cup win of the day – ahead of Anthony Janiec and Antonio Albacete.
It was a difficult race for André Kursim who found himself falling down the grid. He could do no better than ninth at the chequered flag, 3.3 seconds down on Albacete.
Shane Brereton was tenth overall, second in the Promoter’s Cup, leading Clemens Hecker across the line for his first Promoter’s Cup podium, finishing third. Martin Gibson was the last truck to take the chequered flag.
Even though Téo Calvet retired from the race, having completed 80% of the race distance he initially ranked fifth in the Promoter’s Cup. However due to a parc fermé infringement after the race, the stewards disqualified him, which means he will have six points deleted from his overall Promoter’s Cup points putting Shane Brereton on top of the leaderboard.