Greiner tops first timed practice at ENS

Having secured his first Euro Nitro Series win in wet conditions at Round 2 in Austria last month, Serpent’s Dominic Greiner has picked up where he left off by topping the first controlled practice for Round 3 at a very hot & dry Hockenheimring in Germany.  Over three consecutive laps, the German, who jointly leads the standings, was the only driver to run a 59-second time with series debutant Ronald Volker and his prototype Mugen the closest challenger almost 3/10th adrift. Capricorn’s Eric Dankel, winner of the season opener, completed the Top 3 followed by HB’s Teemu Leino.

Declaring himself very happy with his Picco powered preproduction 748 Natrix, Greiner said he used the first controlled practice run to scrub in tyres for qualifying.  With Enneti the controlled tyre provider for the Hockenheim event, he said as the run went on the tyres just got better and better adding with wear is very low and this is good as he should be able to run half of the 6 scheduled qualifiers on the same set of tyres.  In terms of his car, the 21-year-old, said the car has a little understeer but this suits the wide open track.  Having tried in free practice yesterday to dial in more steering he said this resulted in slower lap times.  Describing the track as changing every hour due to the hot humid conditions he said it is hard to decide what if any changes to make between runs but declared how his car was in the run he is happy to go with that for the first qualifying which takes place this evening.

Having had limited previous nitro running with his last outing being the World Championship one & a half years ago, Volker was very happy with his performance so far.  Having been in the Top 3 throughout free practice, the electric touring car ace said although he has no previous experience of driving a Mugen the new MTX-6 Prototype has felt good from the start.  With a top crew for the weekend, the car’s designer Robert Pietsch providing set-up advice, engine tuner Eduardo Picco looking after his LRP engine, and former European B Champion now Awesomatix lead electric touring car driver Freddy Sudhoff as his mechanic the German said he has little room for excuses this weekend.  Enjoying the experience a lot, he said in early free practice he tried to adjust his driving to what he thought would be better for nitro but struggling a little with this on reverting back to normal electric driving style he was immediately more comfortable.  In terms of set-up Volker said because the car is new they have been making minor changes every run and for the final timed practice they will try a different suspension geometry.

Winner of the ENS Pilot Race here last year, Dankel said his Maxima powered LAB CO2 was ok but he was still searching for mid corner speed.  ‘A lot better compared to yesterday’ when as the tyre get smaller the car got loose in the rear, edgy and inconsistent, he said a switch away from a spool to a front diff for today was the biggest single factor in improving the car.  Feeling he is now heading in the right direction with the set-up he said just some small changes should give him the car he is looking for.

Top Qualifier at the season opener in Melzo, Italy, Leino described his R10 as ‘pretty decent’ adding he has had ‘no major issues.’  The Finn, who had a terrible time at Round 2, said his biggest issue has been the difference between sets of tyres.  Making changes every run, he said so far the set-up he had for the final free practice was the best, and should adjustments for the last timed practice not  work out he will revert to that for Q1.  The World Championship Top Qualifier said the hot conditions make for very low traction that set-up changes would cure.

Running the second of Serpent’s 748 Natrix chassis this weekend, having missed Round 2, Mark Green set the fifth fastest time.  Having taken a win with the car at the last round of the British Nationals he summed up his performance so far as ‘reasonable’.  Feeling he is ‘lacking a bit of everything’, the winner of 1:8 here last year, started out the event doing his own thing but for timed practice copied the set-up of Greiner.  Describing it as feeling like driving someone else’s car, he said he will stick with it so as to try and get used to it along with making small tweaks so as to get it more comfortable for his driving style.

Completing the Top 6 was Team Shepherd’s Dirk Wischnewski.  The team’s leading contender this weekend with Francesco Tironi having to pull out due to illness, he said his is struggling a little today.  Happy with how his Orcan powered Velox V10 ran yesterday he said today it feels ‘lazy’.  Putting the change down to possiblly the track conditions having changed, the track having more traction today, he will try a spool and heavier springs for the final practice, the order of the qualifier heats being determined by their best 3-consecutive laps from 1 of the two time practice runs.

Behind the former European Champion Shepherd team boss & Round 2 podium finisher Patrick Schafer was 7th fastest followed by France’s Leo Arnold.  Making his first ENS appearance Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg was 9th fastest with top Dutch driver Perdo Rombouts completing the Top 10.

View the complete results here.

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