Smith super for Chrome Goodyear FIA ETRC win
Bradley Smith scored his first overall podium in the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship as Norbert Kiss charged through from eighth on the grid at Le Mans to win Race 4 outright.
Smith, who led until the end of lap four when he ran wide entering the final corner under mounting pressure from the recently crowned eight-time Goodyear FIA ETRC champion*, took the Chrome honours for the second time this weekend having also won in Race 1 on Saturday.
“I don’t think I breathed for the last 15 minutes,” said Smith, who was running second overall in yesterday’s second race when contact with Albacete Albacete dropped him back. “I was really nervous at the start, but I managed to get a good start and get into the lead. I made a few silly mistakes, there was a bit of over-driving and then I see the red bullet (Kiss) behind me. I managed to keep him behind me for a few laps but then I locked up around the back.
“I’m happy for the team, it’s my first overall podium and do it at Le Mans seems special with the Chrome win as well. I don’t think I could have held Norbi off for that long, but I take [the result] all day long, keeping improving and improving.”
Kiss, whose victory was his 18th of the season, a result that helped to secure the Goodyear FIA ETRC Teams’ title* for Révész-Reinert Racing Team, said: “For sure I had a good start and could overtake Jochen [Hahn] after the first chicane. In front of me there was a bit of chaos and there was some luck included with people making mistakes so those were some easy overtakes. But I had some more difficult ones, like on René [Reinert] on the braking zone at the first chicane or against John Newell on the outside of Turn 4 I think, so I made some good moves.
“Overall, I’m happy because it’s very difficult to win the reverse-grid race and I happy it worked out this way. We also closed the Teams’ championship together with René, so very happy to win the Teams’ championship as well because the guys from Révész Racing and also Reinert Racing worked really hard.
“We go to Jarama [for the final round now]. Of course all the pressure is off, but we don’t lay back, we keep pushing because you’re only worth as much as your last race. Jarama is a circuit I love, it’s been very good for us in the past with some very nice and very important victories there. We try to do the maximum as well and enjoy maximum the weekend and enjoy the success of the season.”
Elsewhere, Albacete inherited third from John Newell, who was handed a five-second penalty for an over-speeding offence. Jochen Hahn, Sascha Lenz and René Reinert also benefitted from Newell’s demotion to finish and fourth, fifth and sixth respectively with Lenz delayed with a trip through a gravel trap on the opening tour.
But while Newell dropped back in the overall order, he still took second place in the Chrome classification and therefore will head to the Jarama season finale next week leading the standings by 13 points ahead of defending champion Mark Taylor, who finished Race 4 in third.
As well as finishing eighth overall, Steffi Halm won the Goodyear Wingfoot Award after she topped the fan vote ahead of José Eduardo Rodrigues and Smith.
Rodrigues was running second when he missed his braking heading into the downhill Chapelle right-hander on lap two and dropped back to last place before he fought back to finish 10th behind Taylor.
Clemens Hecker’s perseverance paid off when he finished 11th ahead of Steffen Faas and Luis Recuenco. Luke Garrett was less fortunate, however, the British driver stopping on lap three with a mechanical issue.
Circuito de Madrid Jarama – RACE hosts the 2026 Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship showdown from 3-4 October as part of the 39th Grand Prix de España FIA Europeo de Camiones. Click HEREto find out more and click HERE for the latest ticket information.
Results are available via Sportity using the password: FIA_ETRC_26.
*Subject to confirmation of the results by the FIA
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