Balestri Top Qualifier at ENS Finale

Dario Balestri is Top Qualifier for the fourth & final round of the Euro Nitro Series.  The Capricorn driver wrapped up pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main with a clean sweep of the opening three qualifiers at the Fiorano event, taking Day 2’s opening Q3 from team-mate Thilo Todtmann.  Dirk Wischnewski completed the Top 3 for the round ahead of Shepherd team-mate Francesco Tironi while ENS race winners Eric Dankel and Dominic Greiner both had issues.

The only driver to run 15-laps this morning, Balestri was pleased to secure his first overall TQ of the ENS, declaring his latest qualifier as being ‘very good’.  Seeking his first ENS race win, the Italian said ‘all is perfect’ in terms of his car and XRD engine but added he was taking nothing for grant going into the final.  Happy that his car is ready for the final, having tested on small tyres in practice yesterday, he planned to use the remaining two qualifiers to test different clutch systems saying that in some situations Capricorn’s old clutch can be better and this is what he will test in Q5.

Although Dankel tried it on his CO3 and didn’t like it, Todtmann on advice from Balestri ran a front bulkhead brace on his car for Q3 and found it to be a huge improvement.  Giving the car more front end traction, the European B Champion said he was able to push harder in the corners especially in the sweepers.  Also helped by having clear track for most of the 4-minutes and benefiting from mistakes by quicker drivers in his heat, the German said he planned to run the same set-up for the penultimate qualifier with his goal being to put in two more clean rounds and improve on his opening two qualifiers.

Wischnewski said the ‘result was ok’ but he ‘did not have a good feeling’ with his car.  Changing to lighter shock oil in the front of his Orcan powered Velox V10, he said the change made the car worse and for Q4 he will go back to what he ran yesterday.  With Balestri ‘super fast’, the former European Champion said he was now working towards the final and improving his car for that.

Describing his Novarossi powered example of the Velox V10 as being ‘quite good’, Tironi said while he is ‘not super fast he is quite consistent’.  The World Championship podium finisher is confident he is headed in the right direction with set-up to have a competitive car for the final.  Planning to make a small change to increase steering he will also go up in the size of his second gear looking to get a better transition from 1st to 2nd gear.

After getting hit in each of the opening two qualifiers, Mark Green managed an incident free Q3 allowing him to post the 5th fastest time.  The factory Serpent driver said his 748 has been working good but twice he found himself pushed off the track yesterday.  Without a Top 10 finish in the first two rounds and 3 from 5 to count, he said he has to just focus on being really careful today something which meant he had to sit behind a slower driver towards the end of the latest run. Needing two more solid runs if he is to directly qualify for the A-Main, the British driver said his focus for now is just on finishing the last two qualifiers.

‘Finally got a good one’, that was the reaction of Shepherd boss Patrick Schafer to his sixth fastest time.  Suffering a mistake in Q1 and slowed by his Sonic engine being set too rich in Q2, the ENS Round 2 podium finisher said his car was a little loose in the rear this morning but he was hopeful a harder rear spring would cure that for Q4.

Having retired with broken exhaust springs in Q1, Champion elect Dankel suffered a stripped second gear in the warm-up for Q3.  While Capricorn owner Patrizio Rossi managed to return to the pits and get a new one by the time it was fitted the German had missed the start.  Running the rest of the round, the Round 1 & 3 race winner said his C03 felt really good but needing two results from the final qualifiers he is going to have to drive safe rounds.

Posting the fastest lap of the round, Greiner said he drove more than 100% trying to take the TQ battle to Balestri but this caught him out.  Running up on the curbing, which following last weekend’s large 1:5 race at the Mini Autodromo Jody Scheckter are very grippy, his Serpent was pulled into the corner ending up on the morning’s damp grass.  The ENS Round 2 winner said his 748 had more understeer this morning and for the next one he will change the rear shock position as well as the camber angle.  While the battle for pole is done, the German is confident he has the pace for the final adding that his car is easier to drive than Balestri’s and that his Max engine has better consumption that the XRD.

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