Norbert Kiss keeps 3rd place after Navarra

2010. október 11. 21:18 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Zengő-Dension Team’s Norbert Kiss keeps his 3rd place in the overall standings after the latest round in Navarra, Spain. The Hungarian driver completed a troubled weekend but the points he could collect were enough for him to stay 3rd with 2 weekends remaining.

It has been quite a long time since Norbert Kiss last raced a SEAT Leon Supercopa back in Algarve when the 2010 SEAT Leon Supercopa supported the WTCC Race of Portugal. But now Kiss’s time has come as this year’s SEAT Leon EuroCup season is over which means that only the Supercopa is left for the team, apart from the WTCC of course.

Following the Race of Spain in Valencia, several of the team members remained in Spain to race next week in Navarra, including mechanics from the Zengő-Dension Team WTCC squad and team principal Zoltán Zengő. The main challenger in this series is former back to back SEAT Leon Super Cup (Hungary) champion Norbert Kiss, he was joined by series regulars György Kontra and Attila Solti.

Navarra, a brand new circuit not so far away from Pamplona hosted the weekend and despite the layout of the facility was looking promising initially; but it turned out to be a difficult place to drive on for the racers.

Being in the pack

Right the first two practice sessions indicated that Norbert Kiss will face difficulties over the weekend as the Hungarian driver finished 8^th on both practices and despite his efforts he managed to take 5^th only on qualifying which meant that he started from Row 3 on Race 1.

Kiss was unimpressed by the characteristics of the track and claimed that the slow corners neither fit for the car setup nor for his driving style which were enough reasons for him not to be able to fight for the top spots.

Zengő-Dension Team’s flagship driver in the Supercopa took a 1:50.693 which was 0.717 seconds off Oscar Nogués’s pace as Attila Solti and György Kontra finished 22^nd and 25^th respectively. It all meant that all three drivers needed to be prepared to deal with the challenges of racing in the pack of aggressive drivers in every sections of the field.

No podiums on either of the races

Starting from 5^th on the grid meant that luck would have been needed to fight for the top positions on Saturday but all chance to do that was lost when Norbert Kiss fell back to 8^th at the start and over the first 7 laps he could gain only one place which meant that he finished 7^th on Race 1.

György Kontra and Attila Solti both made up positions in the early stage of the race but they lost ground in the latter part because of brake problems and racing incidents and they finished 23^rd and 22^nd on Race 1 that was won by Oscar Nogués.

Race 2 didn’t bring satisfaction for the team however Norbert Kiss was able to take 4^th despite a damaged front bumper and collected further points for his championship account but didn’t make it to the podium this time either. The Hungarian driver was 9.001 seconds adrift of race winner Oscar Nogués who fended off Marc Carol once again.

In terms of positions, improvement was noticeable regarding György Kontra and Attila Solti as well, the pair finished 19^th and 20^th but were not competitive enough to move out of the last section of the field. All three drivers of Zengő-Dension Team were looking for improved performance but only one race was left for them to find the missing bits to get up to speed.

Retirement for Kiss on Sunday

The third installment of the weekend was supposed to be the longest race of the three days but it didn’t happen that way for Norbert Kiss. The Hungarian driver started the race from the 2^nd row but lost ground at the start and got involved to a battle with Daniel Welch who crashed into Kiss’s car on Lap 2.

It was a nasty accident that damaged the right side of Kiss’s car including the rim, the brakes and parts of the suspension and steering. The Hungarian driver had no options but to retire especially when his car caught fire by the flooding oil from the brakes.

This is the first time that Kiss didn’t make it to the finish this season but this doesn’t change the fact that this time he didn’t score points but despite this, he is still keeping his 3^rd place in the overall standings.

Solti and Kontra had mixed fortunes. The latter had problems at the beginning of the race but following carnage at the start he managed to gain positions and finished 17^th. Solti successfully fended off Kontra’s attack but he had to face with brake problems again and had to settle down at the back of the field.

On the front it was Marc Carol who showed the best recovery after the effects of the reverse grid system and won the race ahead Antonio Aristi and Saturday’s back to back winner Oscar Nogués.

Two rounds are remaining from the championship in Jerez and on the Circuit de Catalunya over the course of the remaining weeks of October.

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