Dankel from Nahr in Q2

Eric Dankel has TQ’d the second round of 1:10 qualifying at ENS Germany, the former Champion putting his Mugen at the top of the time sheets for what would be a slightly slower round than the opening qualifier which was taken by Jilles Groskamp.  With rain showers causing delays throughout the second of the four scheduled qualifiers, when the top heat did come around it was Dankel who after 2-laps took control. Running in the second fastest heat it would be Patrick Nahr would would end up P2, separating two ENS race winners as Teemu Leino completed the Top 3.  Having surprised himself with a TQ run in Q1, reigning champion Groskamp could only manage P7 second time round, the Dutch ace feeling his car had a problem as he finished 2.3-seconds off Dankel.

‘I settled down a little in my driving’ was what Dankel attributed his improved form over 25th in Q1, the German said, ‘I made a stupid mistake, my fault, the car was good’.  Admitting ‘I know the track well’, this being the 2014 Champion’s home track, he said in Q2 his unchanged car was again ‘pretty good’ despite the rain showers reducing the traction from the opening round.  Looking to Q3 he said ‘I will change nothing, just drive, as the track is different every time now’.

Having suffered from ‘too much steering’ in Q1, Nahr said changing to a harder front sway bar had made his Shepherd ‘more easy to drive’.   Giving the former European B Champion ‘better corner speed’, he said he still needs to try to make the car a ‘little better’ and he will make some small set-up tweaks for the next qualifier, which due to the delays could be the final round.  The 24-year-old’s team-mate Dirk Wischnewski, who was P3 in Q1, would retire from the round after he crashed his Velox V10 into the pit wall. While it didn’t break the car, last year’s race winner said it left his bodyshell requiring attention.

Changing to a harder swaybar on his Capricorn after he traction rolled in Q1, Team Infinity’s Leino said he had a somewhat funny incident in the warm-up.  On the first run down the straight he had no steering going straight onto the grass, initially thinking this was as a result of the swaybar change he thought he was in for a difficult run but on further inspection it was discovered he had forgot to connect one of the front shocks.  With his famous pitman Masayuki Miura fitting it back on, the car was ‘much more easy to drive’ however blinded by a marshall one minute into the qualifier he would run into the back of Alessio Mazzeo’s Serpent.  Losing him 1-second he would miss out on a P2 run but it was worse for Mazzeo as his rear tyre was chunked in the impact and he ended up P31 having been P34 in Q1 also due to tyre issues.

Setting a P4 time, Dominic Greiner would report gearbox problems on his Serpent.  Describing the handling of his 748 as ‘OK’, he said the problem was the change point of the gearbox kept changing.  He added ‘I know what was wrong with the gearbox so we will fit a new one’.  Commenting on the ever changing track conditions, the driver with the most number of ENS TQs, said, ‘this time they were good for Eric and difficult for Jilles, they are challenging conditions’.

Traction rolling in Q1 to end up P12, Bruno Coelho would get a clean run to set the fifth fastest time.  Making suspension and geometry changes for the round, his Xray was ‘much better’. Conscious of the threat that rain could cause qualifying to be cut short and that his Q1 performance would leave him in the B-Main, the ETS Championship leader said ‘I had to drive easy to get points’. Describing it as ‘a good run’, he said the plan is to try and repeat it in Q3 leaving his NT1 unchanged.  Just 0.053 of a second off Coelho, Xray team-mate Leo Arnold would back up his P4 in Q1 by completing the Top 6.  The French driver said after the rain ‘traction was super low’ and he again ‘just put in a safe, consistent run’.

‘I ran the same car and tyres but it was super loose’, was Groskamp’s reaction after struggling in Q2.  The Team Infinity driver would spin off on his opening lap saying ‘the car didn’t feel the same’ and adding ‘something must have happened with the diff’.  Running a standard Serpent 748 kit this weekend, as he evaluates cars while waiting on Infinity to produce its first 200mm chassis, he said ‘its a pity it wasn’t the same as the morning run but I will fit a new diff if there is a third one (qualifying).  The reason for the uncertainty of there being a third round is the ominous black clouds over the track.

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