Mazzeo claims first TQ at Dutch ENS

Alessio Mazzeo has claimed his first ever TQ start of the ENS.  The Xray driver secured pole position for tomorrow’s season opener by taking two of the four rounds of qualifying in the Netherlands today. He will start ahead of the day’s other two TQ runners, Jilles Groskamp and Teemu Leino.  With Mazzeo backing up his ‘rocket round’ Q1 TQ with another fastest time in Q3, it was then only Groskamp who could challenge him for the top spot in the final qualifier.  A slower track however prevented this and while Groskamp would finish ahead of Mazzeo it was Leino who would register the TQ time, albeit it the slowest of the day.  This would secure Leino third on the grid ahead of Shepherd’s Eduardo Escandon. For title favourite Dominic Greiner, an unlucky day will see him line up 5th but given how closely matched everyone is, the Serpent driver knows it is still all to play for for the win.

‘For sure I’m super happy. It is the first TQ of the ENS for me’, was Mazzeo’s reaction after securing pole.  The Italian continued, ‘the competition this year is very high with all the Infinity team, Dominic, and Eduardo, and this is important for the 1:10 category because it is a Worlds year’. With one previous ENS win to his credit, he said, ‘we worked a lot over the winter and now we are in a good direction with the car’.  Suffering a broken tyre from the first lap of Q4 but still able to post a P3 time, on the final and the track’s high tyre wear he said, ‘I think we change tyres two times but in the practice tomorrow we will see of we can do something different with the strategy.  Engine is also important because it is a lot of the time in 2nd gear so we need to be safe for this’.

Groskamp said, ‘It is a shame the track was slower. I already knew the TQ was gone so I tried a harder front diff which didn’t make much difference but again the times were close’.  The former EP Touring Car World Champion continued, ‘Dominic was very fast but again had a problem with his car. We are very close so I think it is going to be all about the strategy.  We have a good car but the tyre wear is quite high so it is going to be interesting who decides what to do.  On Thursday I did a long run and my car felt good on small tyres but it takes so long to change tyres in 1:10. You could save a lot of time changing only the outside tyres instead of a full change. It’s going to be interesting’.

Commenting on his TQ run Leino said, ‘we changed to my good engine we will use in the final and even though I had one spin I was still able to make TQ.  The engine change was a big step forward for sure’.  Asked about the tyre wear and a possible strategy, the Finn replied, ‘I think everyone will do the same, we are all going to measure the tyres after the practice and then decide the same thing. Everyone is very close, nobody is faster when they have a good run, so it is going to be a very close final’.

Escandon said, ‘I’m happy with 4th but we made changes for Q3 & 4 and went the wrong way. I will go back to a mix of both set-ups for the final tomorrow and think it will be OK’. On his strategy for the final, the Spaniard said, ‘I will check in practice, I think tyre wear is ok for me. My car is good on small tyres but I think someone will play with the tyre strategy. It is super close so everyone needs to push so maybe it will be driver mistakes that will decide the race’.

‘A very unlucky day today’ was how Greiner summed up qualifying.  The World Champion, who was the benchmark in practice yesterday would suffer his second retirement of the day in the final qualifier.  Having broke a rear belt in Q1 in the warm-up and not starting, he would break a front belt in Q4.  Still, the championship’s most crowned Top Qualifier and joint race winner, is positive for tomorrow saying, ‘we are confident for the final. 5th is not too bad and it is very close at the front so we can battle for the win.  We just need to check how often we need to change the tyres’.  Behind Greiner, team-mate Mark Green will start sixth ahead of Melvin Diekmann and Lamberto Collari, who makes his 1:1o race debut tomorrow.

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