Pole streak continues as Kiss goes fastest in first Goodyear FIA ETRC qualifying
Norbert Kiss was once again the driver to beat in Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship qualifying, the seven-time champion banking his ninth pole position of 2026 in the first of two sessions at Circuit Zolder this morning.
Kiss twice lapped inside his 2025 qualifying record of 1m55.721s to underline his status among the favourites for glory. Prior to posting a 1m55.641s to top Q3, the Hungarian hero recorded a 1m55.389s best in Q2 aboard his Révész Racing MAN.
Antonio Albacete impressed for T Sport Bernau in second with IVECO-powered Jochen Hahn third quickest for his self-run squad, Team Hahn Racing.
Sascha Lenz, currently second to Kiss in the Goodyear FIA ETRC title chase, demoted José Eduardo Rodrigues for fourth on his final lap of Q3. But there was frustration for Steffi Halm, who just missed out getting a final attempt at challenging for a place in the top three, the Race 4 winner at Autodrom Most settling for sixth place instead following an issue at the first chicane on her opening push lap.
Asked to explain his unbeaten pole position run in 2026, Kiss said: “We just do the best we can at home in the workshop, another very good job by Révész Racing, the whole team so thank you to the guys again.
“We always try to arrive prepared for everything, good free practices, good set-up, good steps. In the practice I was not happy with the chicanes, the kerbs but we changed some things [with the set-up] and it became much better for the qualifying. It was a nice balance, good jumping over the kerbs and everything came together just in time for a couple of good lap times in qualifying.”
Like his Goodyear FIA ETRC rivals, Kiss had to adapt to wet conditions in Free Practice 1 to a mainly dry Free Practice 2 and then an all-dry track for first qualifying.
“Especially in Zolder in the wet conditions it’s always very difficult to drive, the circuit is very narrow and there is not much space to make any mistakes. But we managed. We have some ideas of what to do in the wet conditions. But the dry conditions in Free Practice 2 were more enjoyable to drive with more grip and you can go really fast. We had the experience and the data and my feeling what we needed to make a step for qualifying, it was only medium-complicated.
“It's always important to be on pole position but, at this circuit, it’s extra important.”
After topping the Chrome category, provisional points leader Mark Taylor said: “It were good, we’ve made changes to the truck with a different set-up that we’ve never tried that we’ve done to keep with the top six, trying to get the times down a bit more. It seems to be working and qualifying was good. We’ll see how we go in Race 1 because anything can happen in that first corner.”
Of her Q3 issues, Halm said: “I was on my first lap and when I was braking for the first chicane I had too much pressure in the rear so I had locking tyres in the rear, the truck start to travel and I couldn’t make the chicane in the right way. I tried to slow down to cool the brakes a little bit down but we had no radio in that area and I didn’t know what time we had to make another lap. In the end when I was on the start/finish straight I saw we don’t have enough time and that’s why we couldn’t make a fast lap in Q3. It was very close and it was a nice qualifying because the gaps were very tight so, for sure, maybe P3 could be possible but only with a lap without a mistake and I made a mistake.”
How the battle for Goodyear FIA ETRC pole position unfolded
In overcast conditions at Circuit Zolder, Luis Recuenco left it until his final lap to squeeze into Q2 at Luke Garrett’s expense after Garrett was hit by a brake issue.
Garrett, Stefan Kursch and Clemens Hecker were the three drivers eliminated from Q1 with Hecker forced to sit out the session due to a reported technical issue.
Like Kursch, Hecker is back on Goodyear FIA ETRC duty after missing last month’s Autodrom Most weekend.
But there were no such problems for Kiss, Albacete, Hahn, Rodrigues, Halm, Lenz, André, Taylor, Faas, Newell and Reinert who joined Recuenco by progressing to Q2 in that order.
Kiss, Hahn, Albacete, Halm, Rodrigues and Lenz made it through from Q2 to Q3 but Taylor, Newell, Faas, André, Recuenco and Reinert missed out.
Following Qualifying 1-2-3, Garrett explained the brake issue that hit his hopes of making it through to Q2: “The solenoid that puts the feed of water to the brakes broke. The first lap was really slippery, within two corners of the second lap I realised I had no water so I done the last part of the lap with the brakes at 675 degrees. We were about seven tenths up at the first two sectors so I think we would have definitely made it through [to Q2], if not a bit higher. We’ve fixed it, a small solenoid no bigger than your hand but it’s frustrating.”
Race 1, which is scheduled for 12 laps, is due to get under way at 13:30 local time live on YouTube. Click HERE for live timing. Results are available via Sportity using the password: FIA_ETRC_26.
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