Kurzbuch claims home TQ for Shepherd at German ENS

Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch claimed a home TQ for his team at Round 3 of the Euro Nitro series this evening at the Hockenheimring in Germany.  With its headquarters not too far from the track, the Swiss driver secured the manufacturer’s second overall TQ of the season when he topped the penultimate round of qualifying, team-mate Oliver Mack having secured pole position at Round 2 in Aigen last month.  His fourth TQ run of the weekend, the championship points leader will start tomorrow’s 45-minute Main in front of the Mugen of his main title rival Robert Pietsch with Shepherd team-mate Lars Hoppe third and BMT’s Daniele Ielasi fourth.

Happy to be on pole position for tomorrow’s encounter, Kurzbuch said he had achieved his first goal of the weekend which was to add the TQ bonus championship point to his tally which now gives him a four point advantage over Pietsch.  Having been very comfortable with his Novarossi powered Velox V8 all day, leaving it unchanged between runs, on securing the overall TQ he planned to use the final heat to test a possible set-up for tomorrow’s final but a rear belt failure in the warm-up would put amends to that.  Asked about his strategy for the final, he wasn’t giving much away saying he would decide all that after the A-Main practice.  Asked who he expected to the strongest challenge to come from he said Pietsch was the important one as he was his main title rival.

Pulling off after a mistake in Q5 which ended his quest for a second overall TQ of the season, Pietsch said second on the grid was in fact ‘really good’ as he can follow Kurzbuch, let him set the pace, and make adjustments to his strategy accordingly just like Lamberto Collari did to him in Melzo. Second fastest in the final qualifier, the former World Champion said a spring change on his Picco powered MRX-5 worked really well but also changing to an old engine for the run he said it was ‘broken’ at the end of the 4-minutes.   Planning one tyre stop, Pietsch said his fuel run time has been very good, the 1:8 field running 16% nitro, and he hopes to take advantage of that over the 45-minutes.

Hoppe was very happy to secure third on the grid.  Second fastest in Q5, a change to the front droop on his Sonic powered Velox V8 left the rear very loose in the final qualifier leaving him only 13th fastest.  Admitting that Kurzbuch and Pietsch had a small edge over the rest of the field, he said by reverting his car back to its Q5 set-up he should be strong and to get a podium at the end of the 45-minutes ‘would be great’.

Using the last two qualifiers to work on a set-up for the final, Ielasi said this took the edge off his earlier pace but in the end he was happy to get 4th on the grid.  With high tyre wear, he said was able to reduce this with set-up changes in Q5 & 6 but at the cost of his RB powered BMT984 developing understeer.  Planning further adjustment to try lessen this for the final, the Italian believes he has a good chance for the final.

Making his return to Mugen this weekend, Vrielijnck said fifth on the grid was ‘OK’.  Having got his Picco powered MRX-5 a lot more consistent for the last two qualifiers he said the wind was still a bit of an issue for him but overall he feels he has a good set-up for tomorrow. Aiming to do just one tyre stop, the Dutch National Champion said his car is better on new large diameter tyres which is good for the final. Should the wind be less tomorrow he said his car is good enough for a podium but if its windy it is going to be tough.

‘I can still do it’ was Michael Salven’s reaction to his TQ run in the final qualifier.  Having struggled and had no confidence in his car, the Serpent driver said input from Mark Green really helped him find his way again.  Trying some set-up idea the British driver said wouldn’t make the car faster but would give him confidence to be able to push it more the multiple European Champion said it worked.  Making the changes for Q5 he said his pit crew called him in a lap too early messing up that run but in Q6, when he also switched to the hardest rear anti rollbar they have for the 977, the set-up and him getting his confidence back all came together for a great finish to the day.

Claiming seventh on the grid Motonica’s Robin d’Hondt declared himself ‘quite happy’ adding it could have been better. Struggling to keep a good rhythm in Q5 he ended up only 11th fastest but working on his concentration for Q6 he he said it was a much better run apart from the wind which like Vrielijnck effected his P81 a lot leaving to to post the 7th fastest time.  Also like Vrielijnck he said his car is ‘really good’ on new tyres but having have not run on smaller tyres he could be in for a little bit of a surprise during the final.  Behind d’Hondt, Shepherd driver Timo Schröder lines up 8th followed by the Serpent of Patrick Gassauer with Maximilian Vogl making Shepherd the best represented manufacturer in the Main.

1:8 A-Main Grid
1. Simon Kurzbuch (CH) – Shepherd/Novarossi – 465 pts
2. Robert Pietsch (DE) – Mugen/Picco – 461
3. Lars Hoppe (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic – 458
4. Daniele Ielasi (IT) – BMT/RB – 455
5. Rick Vrielijnck (NL) – Mugen/Picco – 455
6. Michael Salven (DE) – Serpent/Picco – 451
7. Robin d’Hondt (BE) – Motonica/Picco – 450
8. Timo Schröder (DE) – Shepherd/XRD – 450
9. Patrick Gassauer (DE) – Serpent/Sonic – 450
10.Maximilian Vogl (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic – 446
(2 more drivers to bump up from B-Mains)

View the complete results here.

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