Over the weekend 130,000 fans and visitors were treated to some stellar truck racing action. Norbert Kiss secured his 13th win of the season after a nail-biting last lap showdown in Race 3, while Antonio Albacete triumphed in Race 4, becoming the fourth different winner of 2024
RACE 3
It had looked like it was the day the Nürburgring fans had been waiting for as, off the start, Jochen Hahn swept past Kiss to take the lead of the race. A suspect gear box issue caused Kiss to drop top P4 as the trucks came over the line for the third time this weekend, with the reigning champion explaining he had tried to select gear but the MAN truck failed to do so. He managed to keep the truck moving and find the gear, continuing into Race 3.
It didn’t take Kiss long to be back past Sascha Lenz and José Eduardo Rodrigues, back on the rear bumper of Hahn to look at retaking the lead. For most of the race it looked like Hahn was doing enough to take home victory, but a small mistake in the 11th lap saw Kiss ready to pounce, optimising to get ahead. Hahn tried to retake the lead on the switch back as the trucks moved through the chicane, but Kiss had a better exit than him from the previous corner.
Lenz had a quiet race to take another podium, finishing P3 and extending his lead over Antonio Albacete in the overall championship standings. He hovered around seven tenths off the back of the Kiss/Hahn battle until Lap 9 when he fell back to cross the line just over four seconds behind the lead duo.
RACE 4
Antonio Albacete has become the fourth different winner of 2024 taking Race 4 victory ahead of Jochen Hahn at the Nürburgring.
The win was taken off the start as, getting a better run into Turn 1, Albacete passed Steffi Halm to take the lead, something he would hold onto until the chequered flag. Quickly Halm got swallowed into a podium battle allowing Albacete to build a lead.
She looked like she would be able to hold off the attack, but once Jochen Hahn had passed her to push Halm to third, it didn’t take long for Sascha Lenz and Norbert Kiss to hand her the same treatment. Halm managed to hold back the attack from André Kursim to take fifth overall.
Kiss found himself in his second hard fight of the day, this time trying to pass Lenz for third and keep up his clean sweep of podiums for 2024. Try as he might, Lenz was defending too well and this time Kiss couldn’t get the job done, missing out on his first podium of the year.
Kiss and Halm dominate at the Nürburgring on Saturday
In an action-packed first day of racing at the Nürburgring, Norbert Kiss demonstrated his dominance with yet another victory from pole position in Race 1, while Steffi Halm delighted the home fans in the second race of the day, delivering a commanding performance and securing her tenth career victory.
RACE 1
Norbert Kiss converted his seventh pole position of the year to another race victory, as Lukas Hahn held off a charging attack to take the first Chrome class win of the weekend.
Jochen Hahn found himself in the familiar position of chasing Norbert Kiss off the line as the lights went green for the first race around the Nürburgring, trying to give the home crowd something to cheer about as they disappeared into Turn 1. A great start from Kiss saw him take the right hander holding onto his lead, something he wouldn’t relinquish for the remaining 12 laps of racing.
Hahn held calm in second, staying clear of the duelling trucks behind him, but there was nothing he could do to demote the championship leader from the top step of the podium.
Sascha Lenz and Lukas Hahn had the crowd on their feet during the first lap, both with superb moves to demote third-starting Antonio Albacete down to fifth come the start of the second lap.
Lukas Hahn had an incredible start, moving from seventh on the grid, Chrome class pole, to overtake three Titan drivers in the first few corners. His fourth place overall wasn’t to last, but he gave the more experienced racers a bit of a headache, as they tried to negotiate around him to get back in front.
Albacete managed to get back ahead of the younger Hahn, unable to catch Lenz for third and had to settle for fourth
Race 2
For the tenth time in her Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship career, Steffi Halm has taken the top step of the podium to win Race 2 at the Nürburgring.
Halm’s last lap move in Race 1 to claim reverse pole could have been the difference between victory and a podium in Race 2. She had a great start off the line, keeping Chrome-class winner José Eduardo Rodrigues behind as they swooped into the first corner. The pack bunched up, almost seeing Lukas Hahn make a daring move around the outside of Turn 1, but the top five remained the same as racing begun.
Norbert Kiss gained three positions on the first lap but encountered the Hahn duo again, complicating his efforts to climb through the field.
While battling for third place on the track, Kiss and Lukas Hahn had a minor collision. Both trucks continued, but Hahn went wide and off the track, allowing the reigning champion to pass. Jochen Hahn quickly took advantage of Kiss’s slight slip, overtaking him for third place.
The duo then set their sights on Halm and Rodrigues ahead, both aiming for a podium finish. Jochen Hahn lined up the young Portuguese driver perfectly to take the inside line through the chicane, advancing to second. Kiss was right behind him, using a better exit to carry his momentum around the outside, demoting Rodrigues two places in two corners.
Halm handled the pressure of having Hahn and Kiss behind her spectacularly, with the 1.5-second gap shrinking to just 1 second by the time the checkered flag fell, confirming her as the race winner. Jochen Hahn and Kiss completed the overall podium.