KISS TAKES RACE 1 WIN WHILST LUKAS HAHN BRINGS JOY TO HOME CROWD
Norbert Kiss has converted his seventh pole position of the year to another race victory, as Lukas Hahn held off a charging attack to take the first Chrome class win of the weekend.
Jochen Hahn found himself in the familiar position of chasing Norbert Kiss off the line as the lights went green for the first race around the Nürburgring, trying to give the home crowd something to cheer about as they disappeared into Turn 1. A great start from Kiss saw him take the right hander holding onto his lead, something he wouldn't relinquish for the remaining 12 laps of racing. Hahn held calm in second, staying clear of the dueling trucks behind him, but there was nothing he could do to demote the championship leader from the top step of the podium.
Sascha Lenz and Lukas Hahn had the crowd on their feet during the first lap, both with superb moves to demote third-starting Antonio Albacete down to fifth come the start of the second lap. Lukas Hahn had an incredible start, moving from seventh on the grid, Chrome class pole, to overtake three Titan drivers in the first few corners. His fourth place overall wasn't to last, but he gave the more experienced racers a bit of a headache, as they tried to negotiate around him to get back in front.
Albacete managed to get back ahead of the younger Hahn, unable to catch Lenz for third and settled for fourth, but André Kursim and Steffi Halm had no response. Lukas Hahn finished fifth overall after fending off Kursim's late lunge for three laps to take the first Chrome top step of the weekend as well.
José Eduardo Rodrigues was also looking to make some moves through the field, doing everything he could to pass the Titan drivers that separated him from Lukas Hahn in the class lead. He manage to demote Halm, getting up to seventh overall before the pass on Kursim, who was attacking Lukas Hahn, became too much for the Portuguese driver. The trio were separated by just under two seconds at the line, Rodrigues having to settle for class second and seventh overall in the end.
There were nearly three Chrome drivers in Race 2's reverse grid top eight as Steffen Faas looked like he was going to hold Steffi back in ninth, but a daring move up the inside on the final lap saw Halm steam past, taking additional points in the overall championship, as well as clinching reverse grid pole. Faas was understandably disappointed to lose the position, now with five trucks between him and the next Chrome contender for Race 2, but he sounded confident post-race that that wouldn't have too much of an affect on his ability to challenge the Chrome podium.
Clemens Hecker was the last driver to take overall points, finishing tenth, after a five-lap battle with Mark Taylor. The German also took fourth in class thanks to the move that put him ahead and taking advantage of Taylor's early race puncture that saw him slightly off his usual pace. The Brit drove around the issue well to stay in the fight for overall tenth come the chequered flag.
Bradley Smith had a great race in his second Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship weekend of the season, finishing just under two seconds behind Taylor at the end of the 12 laps. Jonathan André was 13th on track behind him, having a great return to the Goodyear FIA ETRC, but over-speeding penalties saw him given a ten second and drive through time added to his race, dropping him to 16th. Luis Recuenco, John Newell and Luke Garrett all gained a position due to André's penalties.
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