Kiss banks Goodyear FIA ETRC pole in Slovakia
Norbert Kiss has extended his unbroken run of pole positions in the 2026 Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship by qualifying fastest for Race 1 at Slovakia Ring this afternoon.
Kiss set a time of 2m42.904s to beat Jochen Hahn and Sascha Lenz to top spot as José Eduardo Rodrigues completed the three-phase qualifying fourth quickest, followed by Chrome pacesetter Mark Taylor. Antonio Albacete rounded out the top six.
“I’m in pole position so I guess we can be happy but the lap was not good, full of mistakes and slides everywhere so I cannot be satisfied with my driving for sure,” seven-time Goodyear FIA ETRC champion Kiss said. “This year is very difficult, also in Misano it was very slippery, and here in Slovakia Ring it’s also very slippery. I’m fighting a little bit but the lap was still enough for pole position so I guess, overall, we can be happy.”
The 5.922-kilometre lap meant drivers essentially had one flying run during the five-minute Q3 pole position shootout to bid for pole with Kiss edging out Hahn by 0.182s.
“It’s not like I’m going off but there were some slides and missing the apex here and there so places where I should be and for sure I’m losing a bit of time because of it,” MAN-powered Kiss said. “I guess I have to adjust myself because we see in Misano that a small mistake [in the race] can be decisive so I will have to pull myself together and not make any mistakes.”
IVECO-powered Hahn said: “The truth is we are happy, we know it’s like this with Norbi but it’s possible to make the race at one higher level and we know we have something more for the race. I’m really happy with second place because the points are coming in the race, not in qualifying.”
After qualifying fourth behind Lenz, top Young Driver contender Rodrigues said: “It's good, a good result for us and a good pace. We will try to do a good start in Race 1. After the first two run [of qualifying] it was very hot the truck and the tyres and I try not to be a hero and it’s what we do.”
As well as going quickest in the Chrome category for drivers with less experience and top results in the Goodyear FIA ETRC, Taylor’s fifth place effort was a career best and completed a dramatic transformation from Free Practice 1, which he completed with the 12th quickest time.
“Something has just clicked as it does, we’ve just come together with the track, the truck and me, we’ve had a good pace and had a good qualifying,” said Taylor. “We’ve had a lot of looking at what’s been happening [since Free Practice 1], looking into the data and the team’s been hard at it. It was perfect, it was good, we’re well happy with it, no penalty markers, just a clean lap and that’s all we wanted. P5 is my best yet. A race is a race, and we’ll see how it goes, we’ll keep our foot in and crack on.”
How the battle for Goodyear FIA ETRC pole position unfolded
Norbert Kiss topped the Q1 order in 2m42.425s followed by Jochen Hahn and Antonio Albacete. Jose Éduardo Rodrigues was fourth quickest in the 15-minute session with Mark Taylor the best of the Chrome runners in fifth. Steffi Halm was sixth fastest followed by Luis Recuenco, who is making his debut in an all-new Mercedes-Benz. Sascha Lenz, Bradley Smith and Steffen Faas rounded out the top 10 with John Newell and Luke Garrett 11th and 12th respectively.
Meanwhile, a trip through the gravel at Turn 2 hampered Clemens Hecker’s bid to make it through to Q2, while mechanical issues prevented René Reinert from taking part in Q1.
Kiss, Hahn, Albacete, Rodrigues, Lenz and Chome pacesetter Taylor all progressed to Q3, but Smith – who spun into a gravel trap – Halm, Recuenco, Faas, Newell and Garrett were less fortunate and were all eliminated. Halm had been set for Q3 until a late effort from Lenz knocked her out.
What became a one-lap push for pole position in Q3 ended with Kiss on top ahead of Hahn, Lenz, Rodrigues, Taylor and Albacete.
Race 1 is due to begin at 15:30 local time live on YouTube. Click HERE for live timing, while all results are available via the Sportity app using the password: FIA_ETRC_26.
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