There was no match for local ace Team Tankpool24 Racing’s Norbert Kiss who claimed his third pole position of the season in dominant fashion at the Hungaroring.
There was no match for local ace Team Tankpool24 Racing’s Norbert Kiss who claimed his third pole position of the season in dominant fashion at the Hungaroring this morning, eclipsing reigning champion Jochen Hahn in his Team Hahn Racing Iveco by 0.8s.
Kiss was first on the road in the session and even a lock-up forcing him wide at Turn 2 didn’t spoil his stellar performance which delighted an already sizeable crowd.
Steffi Halm put together another strong performance and she placed her Reinert Racing MAN third on the grid while championship leader Adam Lacko struggled since the early running here at the Hungaroring and fourth on the grid was the best the Buggyra International Racing System driver was capable of today.
The track seemed too narrow for Antonio Albacete, who came to Hungary on the back of his breakthrough win scored at the Slovakia Ring in July, as the Spaniard had his first lap time cancelled due to exceeding track limits. In the dying moments of the session though he managed to complete a clean lap that was good enough for a fifth placed start.
Making his first FIA ETRC appearance of the season Shane Brereton qualified an excellent sixth, first among the Promoter’s Cup runners.
On the fourth row of the grid will be the second of the Freightliners of David Vrsecky and also Sascha Lenz in his SL Sport MAN.
Promoter’s Cup points leader Jose Rodrigues qualified ninth overall and second in Promoter’s Cup in his Reboconorte MAN. The Portuguese driver will have Gerd Korber in the Schwabentruck Iveco for company on the fifth row of the grid.
Kiss also tops qualifying
In the earlier Timed Practice session, the drivers had a chance to turn their first proper laps in anger following a six-week-long break.
Adam Lacko was the first to hit the road, but again it was Kiss who set the ultimate pace. Just like the Super Pole session Jochen Hahn and Steffi Halm completed the top three, with the two Buggyra Freightliners of Lacko and Vrsecky behind them in fourth and fifth respectively.
Sascha Lenz went sixth-fastest with Promoter’s Cup leader Jose Rodrigues leading Shane Brereton in the Promoter’s Cup, as the duo occupied seventh and eighth.
Albacete also exceeded track limits in this session managed to set ninth-quickest time that earned him a place in the Super Pole session.
Just like the later Super Pole session, Gerd Korber completed the top ten. Promoter’s Cup title contender Andre Kursim missed out on Super Pole by just 0.3s and will start 11th, ahead of Frankie Vojtisek and Eduardo Rodrigues.
The returning Ryan Smith was penalized for exceeding track limits and will start from 14th place on the grid after seeing his best time canceled. This will be ahead of Dominique Orsini, who also fell foul of the stewards for track limit violations. Like Smith, the French driver was also outside the permitted 107% time of the pole sitters lap but will be allowed to start at the discretion of the stewards.
Erwin Kleinnagevoort was unable to take part in qualifying at all due to technical reasons and he will bring up the rear of the grid for race one in his EK Truck Race run Scania.
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