Rain no pain for Goodyear FIA ETRC winner Kiss
Norbert Kiss mastered the Circuit Zolder rain to land his second Goodyear FIA European Truck Championship victory of the weekend, taking the Race 3 honours ahead of Antonio Albacete and Sascha Lenz.
Steffen Faas triumphed in the Chrome category, but there was late drama for Chrome title contender John Newell, who dropped out of the podium places following a trip through the gravel at the first chicane on the penultimate lap.
With the race starting under yellow flag conditions for safety reasons, the field circulated in formation for the opening lap before green flags waved at the start of the second tour. Starting from his 10th pole of 2026, Kiss led from Albacete with Lenz putting José Eduardo Rodrigues under immediate pressure in the battle for third.
Kiss gradually pulled clear of Albacete with Rodrigues running through the gravel at the Villeneuve-chicane on lap five but continuing with Lenz still behind.
Lenz finally got ahead of Rodrigues under braking for the Eerste Linkse on lap eight and quickly closed up to Albacete, who was struggling with a windscreen wiper issue. Despite intense pressure from Lenz, Albacete held on to finish second, 7.554s behind the dominant Kiss.
“The conditions were not bad but for sure the wait was worth it because 15 minutes before the start when we came to the grid the rain was really bad and then I would not have liked to race,” Kiss said. “But we waited and the rain stopped and the conditions improved and 90 per cent of the circuit was okay, only some places where there was some standing water. But we avoided that, and it was good, I’m happy with the result. We worked very well in the rain and got the rhythm.”
Faas led the Chrome contenders throughout in sixth overall. Although contact with René Reinert on lap seven dislodged a right-side bodywork panel, the Freightliner driver remained composed for his first category win of the season ahead of defending champion Mark Taylor and Jonathan André, who dropped out of Race 2 with gearbox failure.
Having also been forced into an overnight gearbox change, Faas was on fine form at Circuit Zolder, converting the Chrome pole – in sixth overall – into victory.
“It was very slippery but not a big problem, it felt like I was playing a game,” Faas said. “I had a collision, I was outside and I overtake René but he comes from the inside and crashed me on the right side. But the truck was okay, only plastic. This victory is very important for my complete team and everybody who helps me in truck racing. This is a present to them today.”
Newell, who took a brace of Chrome wins on Saturday, was ahead of Taylor until his moment at the chicane dropped him back to fourth in class ahead of Stefan Kursch and Luis Recuenco.
Mercedes-Benz-powered Recuenco was second in the Chrome order until a spin exiting the first corner in lap three dropped him back. Luke Garrett was classified 14th despite failing to take the chequered flag due to a technical issue.
After missing this morning’s qualifying session to enable his Team Hahn Racing mechanics to complete an engine change, Jochen Hahn started on the back of the grid in 14th place but heroically recovered to finish seventh ahead of Steffi Halm.
Halm, the Race 4 winner at Autodrom Most last month, will line up in pole position on the partially-reversed Race 4 grid alongside fellow IVECO-powered racer Hahn with the action due to get under way at 17:05 local time live on YouTube.
Meanwhile, Albacete, Newell and Reinert have been nominated by the expert jury for the Goodyear Wingfoot Award with voting available on Instagram during Race 4.
Click HERE for live timing. Results are available via Sportity using the password: FIA_ETRC_26.
.jpg)
