WIN 19 FOR KISS AS CHROME STANDINGS ARE FINALISED
Norbert Kiss defended a Turn 1 attack from Jochen Hahn to claim his 19th win of the season whilst Mark Taylor’s Chrome P2 was enough to secure him second in the Chrome championship.
With both trucks getting a great start it was tight between Hahn and Kiss as they peeled into Turn 1. Defending the optimum line, Kiss made it too much work for Hahn to get alongside him and past that he had to settle for second going into Turn 2. From then, it was textbook Kiss as he led the field to his staggering 19th win of the year, five seconds down the road at the chequered flag.
It was Hahn who had to look out for the late lunge in the closing stages of the race, as Sascha Lenz had reeled him in from his third-place position. He couldn’t quite find the opportunity to make the move, but he showed strong pace against Hahn that might come into play for the final race of the season later on.
Steffi Halm had a quite race to fourth, securing more points in her championship fight. Her Race 2 victory yesterday and outscoring André Kursim in all events so far this weekend settles her comfortably in fifth.
Kursim crossed the line fifth ahead of Chrome class winner José Eduardo Rodrigues. It too was a quite race for the duo as they had a clean 12 laps around the Circuit Jarama and no threat for their positions behind.
Mark Taylor got a great start to pass Antonio Albacete off the line, holding onto an overall P7 that he would keep until the end of the race. Albacete looked to be threatening in the middle stage of the race, but as he did in Race 2, Taylor kept his cool and didn’t make any mistakes, making it very difficult for Albacete to get past.
His P2 in class and Steffen Faas coming home P3 behind him means that Taylor has secured P2 in the Chrome standings, Faas P3, with one race to spare. It was a hard fought season for the Taylor Trucksport crew to secure the silver medal in Chrome, but in only their second full season in the championship it’s a fantastic achievement.
For most of the race, it looked like Luis Recuenco would take the final step of the podium, not Faas, as he was holding the German behind him, defending well. A small mistake in Turn 6 opened the door for Faas to get past and demote him to P4 in class, P10 overall, taking the final overall points.
A great drive from Bradley Smith saw a competitive P5 in Chrome. He looked like he was lining up Faas in the middle of the race to challenge for P4, but he couldn’t quite find the space around the Jarama Circuit to pull the move off.
John Newell was sixth in Chrome behind Smith, followed by Jonathan André, Craig Reid and Simon Faulkner.
Luke Garrett was the only driver not to take to the grid due to the spring failure that took him out of qualifying. The team are hoping to complete repairs ahead of Race 4 so they can take part in the final race of the season.
Local hero Antonio Albacete will start the final race of the season on reverse pole with Mark Taylor alongside him.
.jpg)
.jpg)
