Kiss makes flying start to big Goodyear FIA ETRC weekend

Needing 15 points from the 24 Heures Camions event at Le Mans to secure the title for a record-extending eighth time, Kiss topped the order in Free Practice 1 ahead of Antonio Albacete and Sascha Lenz.

Although points will only be handed out at the end of each of the four races, the performance in Free Practice 1 underlined the Révész Racing driver’s championship-winning potential.

While Kiss topped the Free Practice 1 ranking in a time of 2m05.548s, Goodyear FIA ETRC Chrome points leader Mark Taylor was out of luck.

A turbo failure prevented him from completing a meaningful lap of Circuit Bugatti, although the Briton confirmed that a replacement unit had been quickly fitted to his MAN.

“The turbo went on the truck on the warm-up lap, so we only managed to do half a lap and come in and retire [from the session],” Taylor said. “It’s all fixed and ready to go for tomorrow. It’s rare, a turbo is probably every other race, maybe even three events.”

Behind third-placed Lenz, José Eduardo Rodrigues was fourth quickest and in the full knowledge that 33 points from Le Mans will put the Goodyear FIA ETRC Young Driver title out of the reach of his rivals.

Steffi Halm was fifth quickest followed by Jochen Hahn, René Reinert, John Newell, Luke Garrett and Bradley Smith, who is back in action after missing the Circuit Zolder weekend earlier this month.

Clemens Hecker was 11^th quickest while Luis Recuenco set the 12^th fastest time ahead of Steffen Faas, the double Chrome winner at Zolder.

Recuenco pulled off to the side of the track with nine minutes of the session remaining with a suspected mechanical issue. The session was subsequently halted two minutes later to allow volunteer marshals and safety crews to recover the Spaniard’s Mercedes-Benz.

The Goodyear FIA ETRC drivers will be back on track tomorrow (Saturday) for Free Practice 2 from 08:00 local time.

Click HERE for live timing. Results are available via Sportity using the password: FIA_ETRC_26.