Fiorano the stage for ENS title decider
The 2016 Euro Nitro Series comes to a conclusion this weekend (21-23rd Oct) with the famous Fiorano track in Italy as the stage for the 1:10 title decider. With Team Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch wrapping up the 1:8 title at Round 3 in Aigen, Austria, last month, the attention for the season finale is on who will be crowned the new 1:10 champion. With Electric World Championship commitments forcing him to miss the third round, reigning champion Jilles Groskamp can not retain his title but it is his Team Infinity team-mate Teemu Leino who goes into the season finale best placed to become champion. In total 5 drivers have a mathematical chance of being crowned champion but it is current points leader Dirk Wischnewski who provides the biggest challenge to Leino. Also a strong contender is inaugural ENS Champion Erik Dankel who sits second in the points and will be hoping to drop his 12th place Round 1 result. With outside title chances for World Champion Dominic Greiner and Bruno Coelho all of the contenders represent different manufacturers highlighting the competitiveness of the ENS championship.
While the title will be at the forefront of the minds of the contenders, in what is one of the championships most stacked 1:10 entries, there are a number of drivers who are out to make their mark and become the third different winner of the season. Last year Alessio Mazzeo snatched the win from Groskamp on the penultimate lap and the Serpent driver will be out to look for another home win. With Leino giving Team Infinity its first win as a manufacturer, his team-mates will be looking to add another. Groskamp, having narrowly missed out on the win last year, will want to make up for that and finally add an ENS win to his CV. Having signed for Team Infinity since making the final at the World Championships in August, Kyle Branson will be keen to deliver a good result on his first outing. An interesting addition to the new manufacturer’s line-up is 4-time Electric World Champion Marc Rheinard. In what is currently a one off deal for the factory Tamiya electric touring car driver, the German will make his first nitro outing since the 2012 World Championship in Bangkok but having finished runner-up at the 2010 World Championships in the US he is expected to be right in the mix as one of three Electric Touring Car World Champions racing this weekend.
In 1:8, while the title is already his, Simon Kurzbuch is no less motivated going into the season finale as he looks to become the first driver to complete a clean sweep of the championship. With a 100% winning record this season, he is going for 4 wins from 4 races. The World Champion was the winner in Fiorano last year ahead of the season champion Dario Balestri and expect the Capricorn driver to again be the main challenger to the Swiss driver. Making his debut for Team Infinity at this race last year, Lamberto Collari will be aiming to mark his first year with the team with a first win for their 1:8 car. In terms of deciding who will be Vice-Champion, that battle is far from decided with second in the points currently shared between Balestri and one of the stars of the 2016 season Toni Gruber. Former World Champions Collari and Robert Pietsch are also contenders for the runners-up spot.
With Matrix the offcial tyre supplier for the finale of the fourth season of the ENS, Round 4 officially gets underway on the Friday morning with the new 1:10 champion to be decided in the 45-minute Main on Sunday afternoon with all the action being streamed live on Redrc.net.
