A flawed pitstop cost Kiss valuable points, while von Grünigen saved P7 Saturday in the AutoGP of San Marino
After title rival Markus Pommer dropped out with a technical failure, hopes for catching up in the standings were high for Tamas Pal Kiss. However, the Hungarian, currently ranked third in the overall standings, lost a couple of spots at the start.
He fought back in the course of the race, but at his pitstop problems with changing the rear left tire occurred and Kiss came out second to the bottom. Battling his way through the field, he ran out of time to reach at least P8, which would have secured him Sunday Pole.
In the final lap, the title contender attacked Giuseppe Cipriani and made a move in the braking zone to the Variante Alta. Kiss got the better line and slid past, but Cipriani cut the chicane to stay ahead and remained unpunished by the stewards.
“Tamas pushed very hard and on P4 before coming to the pits. At his stop a safety clip failed and he lost 30 seconds. It was very unfortunate, as it was the first time this year that a stop went wrong. Christof’s tire change was a second faster than the race winner’s” team boss Michael Zele said.
Team mate Christof von Grünigen showed a decent run. The rookie made no mistake, but found no way past veteran “Franky” Dracone. So the Swiss youngster came seventh and will start from the front row into Sunday’s event at Imola.
