Leino takes Q2 in Bologna

Having lost out on a TQ run after he was blocked by a backmarker on the final lap of the opening qualifier, Teemu Leino was able to run a clean Q2 at the Euro Nitro Series in Bologna to top the times from Bruno Coelho.  Finishing 1.2-seconds clear of the Xray driver, the result sees the HB driver end Day 1 of the season opener as the provisional overnight Top Qualifier as rain again looks set to affect proceedings tomorrow.  With the second qualifier resulting in a DNF for reigning champion Eric Dankel, it was British driver Joe Kerry who completed the Top 3 ahead of Q1 pace setter Alessio Mazzeo.

Leino said unlike many of his rivals who ran their Q1 tyres for a second time he went with a new set of the handout Matrix tyres adding for now he is happy how that approach has played out.  Admitting that small tyres would probably be faster, the Finn’s plans for tomorrow’s Q3 are to stay the same but he added depending on if future qualifiers can be run, the local weather giving rain for the afternoon, he might test something different with a view to the finals.

Challenging Leino for the TQ pace, Coelho said his NT1’15 was ‘super good’ but he was ‘unlucky’.  Running behind Alessio Mazzeo, he would crash into him when the Italian suffered a spin, the incident costing him a chance at a TQ run.  Having had a mistake in Q1, the Portuguese star said ‘the speed is there and I just need a bit of luck’.  Hagberg said it was a day ‘everything went wrong’.  Describing his cars as undrivable in Q1 he said he managed to improve it for the second run but in this he had a clutch issue which left him 11th fastest.  He says he hoped tomorrow would be dry long enough for him to get in some competitive heats.

Having ran on used tyres for Q1 which left the rear of his Capricorn very lose, Kerry went for fresh tyres in Q2 saying it felt much better.  With a poor first round, the 23-year-old said he played it safe for Q2 and he was ‘happy with 3rd’.  His first ENS outing, for tomorrow he said he will probably make a set-up change to his OS Speed powered LAB C03 as he would like to have more onpower steering.  For Capricorn’s lead factory driver Dankel, the round would see the German struggle with his gearbox changing up with the delayed shift resulting in him getting collected by a following car and he missed the start as the car flamed out and suffered a broken body post.

Another driver to have problems in the warm-up as a crash broke a rear tyre, Mazzeo would manage to get fourth.  Having to replace the broken tyre with a brand new one, the Italian said this made his Serpent difficult at the start of the 4-minutes leading to a number mistakes. By the end it was good with him again setting the fastest lap improving on his Q1 lap time by over 1/10th of a second. For his Serpent team-mate Dominic Greiner, having set the fastest opening lap of the heat, an engine flame out would end his chances on lap 2.  Rejoining the race after losing over a minute, he said his 748 was very good and he hopes with a higher idle setting he will get the chance to run a good second qualifier tomorrow if it stays dry.

Fifth fastest for the round, Dirk Wischnewski said harder shocks improved his Shepherd but he messed up with a mistake.  Clipping the curbing he said this unsettled his Orcan powered Velox V10 and trying to stay off the grass he lost a couple of seconds.  Encouraged that the speed is now there he said he would wait and see what tomorrow brings before deciding his game plan.

Completing the Top 6, Jilles Groskamp said things started off good but in the final 2-minutes he would suffer a spin through he sweeper leading onto the straight.  Losing almost 3-seconds as result, he said while not sure why it spun out, the corner has been a problem area for his car.  Feeling there is a small tweak in his R10 but having checked the chassis and it is straight he said maybe the problem is in the rear rollbar which he will change for tomorrow. Also running 1:8 this weekend, the former European Champion said this is proving a challenge in terms of keeping on top of the finer details of the car’s maintenance.

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