Norbert Kiss added another victory to his 2021 season after taking another dominant lights-to-flag victory around Misano.
Starting from pole position, Kiss led the field around 12 laps of the Misano Circuit to take his 11th win of the season. He crossed the line four seconds up on second place finisher Jochen Hahn. The top four had a fairly easy race to the line, with third place finisher Antonio Albacete a second down on Hahn at the chequered flag.
Converting his impressive qualifying performance into the race, Lukas Hahn took victory in the Goodyear Cup, fourth overall, laying down the marker as one to be watched if he returns to the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in 2022.
The battle for second in the Drivers’ championship was decided as Adam Lacko was unable to pass Sascha Lenz for fifth on the track, ending just under two and a half seconds behind the German. Lenz’ point lead extension of two points means he is 18 points ahead of Lacko going into the final race, and with only ten points available to be claimed it cannot be done. Lacko’s lead on fourth-placed Hahn, however, is untouchable, meaning the top three in the championship are now confirmed.
The fight between Albacete and Hahn for fourth and fifth, however, still remains to be decided. Finishing ahead of the Spaniard, Hahn has extended his lead in fourth to five points, but with ten available in Race 4 later today it could still fall into Albacete’s hands. Albacete needs to outscore Hahn by six points to claim fourth in the final standings.
Anothony Janiec and René Reinert rounded off the top eight, with the duo taking the reverse grid front row, Reinert on pole. Steffi Halm just missed out on the reverse grid move, finishing P9.
It was a bit of a turbulent race for Goodyear Cup winner Shane Brereton, with the grid fighting hard to get into the points, but he managed to hold his starting position of P10 which was enough to get him second on the Goodyear Cup podium.
His championship battle was decided by lap three as Teo Calvet was victim to a first lap incident and was forced to retire. Even if Brereton hadn’t finished the race, his lead was still 27 points over Calvet and impossible to close with one race remaining.
It was André Kursim, who made the opportunistic move at the beginning of the race. He had looked to have made a great start but braking late he caught Calvet in a sandwich with Jamie Anderson. The pair squeeze Calvet, and Kursim was sent off the track with a flat tyre and heavy rear left damage. Although Anderson managed to return to the track after a few laps in the pits – ending the race three laps down – the damage was too severe for Calvet and Kursim, who retired from the race.
Ahead of Anderson, Steffen Faas finished 11th, third on the Goodyear Cup podium, ahead of Aliyyah Koloc and Ryan Smith, who had sat yesterday’s racing out.
One last race of the 2021 FIA European Truck Racing Championship, and with most of the championship battles decided, it’ll be all about who can take the final win of the season.