Greiner Top Qualifier at German ENS

Dominic Greiner is the Top Qualifier for Round 3 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  The Serpent driver claimed his second consecutive ENS TQ when he completed a clean sweep of the first three qualifiers at Minidrom Ettlingen.  Having dominated yesterday’s opening two qualifiers, this morning in Q3 he faced a strong challenge from Shepherd’s Dirk Wischnewski who pushed him hard.  Seeing off his fellow German by just a tenth of a second Greiner would secure his third overall TQ making him the championship’s most successful qualifier.

‘Very, very close’, was Greiner’s reaction after the run.  With his Max engine running rich in the much cooler conditions than the tough heat experienced yesterday, the World Championship Top Qualifier said he had to ‘push maximum hard’ and as a result made a ‘couple of small errors’.  With ‘Dirk very fast’, the two having a distinct advantage over their rivals, Greiner predicts a tough final between himself and the former European Champion.  With the TQ settled and still two more rounds of qualifying to run, last years Austrian ENS winner will use the track time to test small tyres and run time as preparation for the 45-minute Main.  Asked about the final he said it was ‘not possible to do to do the race without a tyre change’.  Running a simulated final during testing at the Ettlingen track 2-weeks ago, he said ‘after 25-minutes the car gets very difficult to drive’.

Wischnewski’s reaction was similar to Greiner, the vice-champion summing up the qualifier as ‘Super close’.  Commenting on the improved performance he said ‘finally the engine setting was ok’, him having struggled a little with the tune on his Orcan engine in Q1 & 2.  Having had concerns about the track following the overnight rain it would prove to be the same as yesterday with him describing his Velox V10 as ‘really good’.  Taking ‘one corner not so good’ he said this cost the TQ run and the chance to challenge Greiner for pole in the final over the remaining qualifiers.  Instead he will now start looking at his set-up for the final planning to run used tyres to gauge the car on small tyres as well as testing how his painted bodyshell works having run a white shell so far.

Heading the second group of drivers again posting the third fastest time Leino said his HB team regrouped last night.  Running in both classes he said they struggled as a result yesterday and today they will as part of a new approach try a new set-up every run.  The Finn, who claimed his & HB’s first ENS win at Round 2,  said the problem they are faced with is the front end has too much bite making the rear end loose and now their focus is on making the car ‘smooth’ to drive for the final.

Having left his car unchanged since the start of qualifying Rene Pupke continued his strong showing with a P4 in Q3.  The Shepherd driver, who made his first ENS final at the previous race in Aigen, felt the latest set of tyres he had was not so good but with three good rounds in the bag it was time to start trying some set-up changes with the final in mind.

Claiming his third P6 time, joint championship leader Jilles Groskamp appeared a lot happier today.  Deciding at last night’s HB team meeting to make a chassis change on his Maxima powered R10, he was confident they were now in a much better place.  Having been running a ‘softer’ chassis, he is now running a standard kit chassis which has made the car more stable and ‘way more easy to drive’.  Also bringing on understeer, the Austrian ENS runner-up is confident that a combination of the stiffer chassis and a set-up he ran yesterday will cure that.  Having run a P37 bodyshell he will also switch to an SRS which should also induce more steering.

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