The virtual track at the Slovakia Ring will host round 3 of the 2020 ETRC Digital Racing Challenge this Sunday
With four wins in four races, Norbert Kiss has firmly positioned himself on top of the leaderboard of the virtual truck racing season.
What looked like an easy clean sweep from the outside, didn’t feel quite as plain sailing for the Hungarian driver though: “Misano was definitely more difficult than the Hungaroring,” said Kiss. “I can see the guys like Sascha, Antonio and Téo have definitely practiced a lot and posted some very good times. It was much tighter already in qualifying.”
Only two points separate Sascha Lenz in second and Téo Calvet in third. The pair had some great battles in the first two rounds, swapping their positions on the podium and turning the heat up on Norbert Kiss. They will certainly try to claim the top step at the Slovakia Ring.
Multiple FIA ETRC champion Antonio Albacete moved further up the field with a good performance in race two in Misano and now sits in fourth overall. Even though he’s been adapting well to racing on the sim, the missing connection to the truck makes virtual racing a tricky business said the Spaniard: “I’m definitely learning with every race. I’ve raced single seaters and touring cars and it's quite difficult to get used to racing on the sim but I have very good help from my son Tony because he’s used to doing that. He’s pulled it all together for me and I just try to go smoother and get better and better. I tried other simulators which weren’t as good but this one is quite good. I'm enjoying it!”
British racer Jamie Anderson will be looking to strike back after losing out on the win in the second race in Misano. Anderson took over an early lead, fending off the competition from behind, especially resisting pressure from Norbert Kiss in the closing laps of the race, to cross the finish line in first. However as the Brit got a penalty for corner cutting and not giving back the advantage, Kiss took the victory in race 2.
Portuguese driver José-Eduardo Rodrigues will be hoping for a clean weekend, after his strong form on the sim didn’t pay off as penalties relegated him to the back of the standings.
Tune in this Sunday 21 June for qualifying at 17:30, followed by Race 1 at 18:00 and Race 2 at 19:00 (all times CET).