Pietsch takes penultimate qualifier

The overall TQ at the ENS season finale in Fiorano will be decided in the fifth & final round of qualifying after Robert Pietsch claimed his second TQ run in the penultimate qualifier.  Taking the round from Lamberto Collari, the two former World Champions now have identical scores going into deciding qualifier. While becoming Top Qualifier will make little difference to Collari’s ENS season, for Pietsch the bonus point on offer for securing pole position could prove vital in terms of his battle with Simon Kurzbuch to become the championship’s inaugural 1:8 Champion.  Kurzbuch, who leads the standings by 2-points would for a third time complete the Top 3 for the round.

With his mechanic Felix Heyse getting the Picco powered MRX-5 out ahead of Collari as the top heat left the pitlane to start the 4-minute qualifier, Pietsch said he ‘benefited from the good start’.  Posting the fastest lap of the round, the German who struggled in the morning’s cooler track conditions said his car ‘worked good’ this time round.  With the ENS championship on the line, he said he would be trying extra hard to top the final qualifier and looking to get more rotation in the car, to help make that task easier, he would make a small change for Q5.

Pleased that the gap to Pietsch was ‘still only 1/10ths’, Collari said having tried something different on his privately run Mugen he would revert back to his Q3 set-up.  Asked about the possibility of taking the overall TQ, the winner of the season opener in Melzo said while it wasn’t the main goal of his weekend he thinks he can do it.  Also running privately bought OS Speed engines, the 9-time World Champion’s lack of factory support doesn’t seem to be hampering his performance in any way. Declaring for now he is enjoying being a free agent in terms of which equipment he can use he confirmed his intentions to travel to Brazil next year to vie for World title number 10.

Top Qualifier at Round 3 of the championship in Germany, Kurzbuch said his last run ‘was ok’.  The Swiss ace and former Worlds Finalist believes he has a very good car for tomorrow’s 45-minute main with his Novarossi powered Velox V8 easy to drive.  With third on the grid pretty much locked in, for Q5 he will discuss with the car’s designer Patrick Schafer if there is anything they should try in the last qualifier and tomorrow’s A-Main practice that might give them an advantage over title rival Pietsch for the final.

In a championship battle of his own with Daniele Ielasi, who was only 8th in Q4 due to an out of balance set of tyres, and Oliver Mack, Andrea Pirani posted the fourth fastest time.  The WRC driver was pleased with the improved steering he had after changing to a harder rear anti roll bar on the GTX.  Hoping to start the final ahead of his rivals for a Top 3 in the final championship standings he said he will leave the car the same for the last qualifier.

Starting to find his form just in time, Xray’s John Ermen would post his first Top 6 run just behind Andrea Lorenzi.  Winner of a wet Round 2 in Austria, the Dutch driver said he has been improving his RX8 every run.  Having had issues with his Reds Racing engine going lean after three & a half minutes he said the fitting of a new fuel tank for Q4 cured the issue which cost him time in the previous rounds.  Also lowering his ride height he said this too improved the car but they had to make some prompt changes in the 3-minute warm-up to the rear spoiler and the steering end points to compensate for that change.  Describing the car as now a little twitchy particularly under braking he will make an adjustment to the downstops.

In the penultimate round of 1:10, Top Qualifier Dario Balestri continued his domination of the top of the time sheets.  Wrapping up pole position in Q3, the Capricorn driver topped the latest round by 2.2 seconds from the Shepherd of Dirk Wischnewski.  Dominic Greiner completed the Top 3 ahead of Eric Dankel, the champion elect still needing another top time to ensure he directly qualifies for the final, with KM Racing’s Silivio Hachler enjoying his best run taking 5th.

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Q3 1:8 Update – second TQ run for Collari

The third round of qualifying in 1:8 was a repeat of Q2, with Lamberto Collari again topping the times for the 85-strong entry from Robert Pietsch, the pair again separated by 3-tenths. Behind the two Mugen’s, Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch turned around a tough Q2 to record the 3rd fastest time followed by Daniele Ielasi, the round being the best run so far for the BMT driver. Andrea Pirani and Alberto Picco completed the Top 6.  The round also saw the best run from ENS Round 2 winner John Ermen, the Xray driver taking his Reds Racing powered RX8 to the ninth fastest ahead of fellow countryman Rick Vrielijnck.

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Balestri Top Qualifier at ENS Finale

Dario Balestri is Top Qualifier for the fourth & final round of the Euro Nitro Series.  The Capricorn driver wrapped up pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main with a clean sweep of the opening three qualifiers at the Fiorano event, taking Day 2’s opening Q3 from team-mate Thilo Todtmann.  Dirk Wischnewski completed the Top 3 for the round ahead of Shepherd team-mate Francesco Tironi while ENS race winners Eric Dankel and Dominic Greiner both had issues.

The only driver to run 15-laps this morning, Balestri was pleased to secure his first overall TQ of the ENS, declaring his latest qualifier as being ‘very good’.  Seeking his first ENS race win, the Italian said ‘all is perfect’ in terms of his car and XRD engine but added he was taking nothing for grant going into the final.  Happy that his car is ready for the final, having tested on small tyres in practice yesterday, he planned to use the remaining two qualifiers to test different clutch systems saying that in some situations Capricorn’s old clutch can be better and this is what he will test in Q5.

Although Dankel tried it on his CO3 and didn’t like it, Todtmann on advice from Balestri ran a front bulkhead brace on his car for Q3 and found it to be a huge improvement.  Giving the car more front end traction, the European B Champion said he was able to push harder in the corners especially in the sweepers.  Also helped by having clear track for most of the 4-minutes and benefiting from mistakes by quicker drivers in his heat, the German said he planned to run the same set-up for the penultimate qualifier with his goal being to put in two more clean rounds and improve on his opening two qualifiers.

Wischnewski said the ‘result was ok’ but he ‘did not have a good feeling’ with his car.  Changing to lighter shock oil in the front of his Orcan powered Velox V10, he said the change made the car worse and for Q4 he will go back to what he ran yesterday.  With Balestri ‘super fast’, the former European Champion said he was now working towards the final and improving his car for that.

Describing his Novarossi powered example of the Velox V10 as being ‘quite good’, Tironi said while he is ‘not super fast he is quite consistent’.  The World Championship podium finisher is confident he is headed in the right direction with set-up to have a competitive car for the final.  Planning to make a small change to increase steering he will also go up in the size of his second gear looking to get a better transition from 1st to 2nd gear.

After getting hit in each of the opening two qualifiers, Mark Green managed an incident free Q3 allowing him to post the 5th fastest time.  The factory Serpent driver said his 748 has been working good but twice he found himself pushed off the track yesterday.  Without a Top 10 finish in the first two rounds and 3 from 5 to count, he said he has to just focus on being really careful today something which meant he had to sit behind a slower driver towards the end of the latest run. Needing two more solid runs if he is to directly qualify for the A-Main, the British driver said his focus for now is just on finishing the last two qualifiers.

‘Finally got a good one’, that was the reaction of Shepherd boss Patrick Schafer to his sixth fastest time.  Suffering a mistake in Q1 and slowed by his Sonic engine being set too rich in Q2, the ENS Round 2 podium finisher said his car was a little loose in the rear this morning but he was hopeful a harder rear spring would cure that for Q4.

Having retired with broken exhaust springs in Q1, Champion elect Dankel suffered a stripped second gear in the warm-up for Q3.  While Capricorn owner Patrizio Rossi managed to return to the pits and get a new one by the time it was fitted the German had missed the start.  Running the rest of the round, the Round 1 & 3 race winner said his C03 felt really good but needing two results from the final qualifiers he is going to have to drive safe rounds.

Posting the fastest lap of the round, Greiner said he drove more than 100% trying to take the TQ battle to Balestri but this caught him out.  Running up on the curbing, which following last weekend’s large 1:5 race at the Mini Autodromo Jody Scheckter are very grippy, his Serpent was pulled into the corner ending up on the morning’s damp grass.  The ENS Round 2 winner said his 748 had more understeer this morning and for the next one he will change the rear shock position as well as the camber angle.  While the battle for pole is done, the German is confident he has the pace for the final adding that his car is easier to drive than Balestri’s and that his Max engine has better consumption that the XRD.

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Collari fastest in Q2

Lamberto Collari got Day 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Fiorano underway by posting the fastest time in the second round of qualifying at the championship’s season finale. Q2 saw a reversal of yesterday evening’s opening qualifier order with Collari topping the round from Q1 pace setter Robert Pietsch.  Behind the two ENS race winners Alberto Picco made it an all Mugen Top 3.  Unfortunately for title contender Simon Kurzbuch and Shepherd team-mate Oliver Mack it was not a good morning with Kurzbuch struggling to the 16th fastest time and Mack retiring with a gearbox bearing failure.

Changing to lighter oil in the shocks of his OS Speed powered MRX-5, Collari said his car was ‘better’ and overall he was pleased with his run with no major dramas over the 4-minutes. Happy now that he has got his car dialled in to the handout Hot Race tyres being used for this event, he said now they can work on small details such as weight distribution. Setting the fastest lap of the round, the 9-time World Champion said they will work towards a longer race set-up but this would not involve any big changes.

Pietsch said, ‘yesterday my car was not good in the morning and its the same today’.  Only 0.284 off Collari, he said he lost time at the end of the run with a slower car he could not get passed but overall his main problem was that his Picco powered MRX-5 was a lack of steering.  Trying to get around the problem by adding more brake during the warm-up he said this left the car more difficult to drive.  For Q3 the championship contender will leave his set-up as is opting to wait for the track to come to the car rather than go making changes and ending up with oversteer.

‘Not really clean’ was how Picco summed up his second qualifier.  With ‘a few laps not consistent’, the Italian said this was more his problem than the cars.  Having had a tough practice which left him to be reseeded in the second fastest heat, he said this is also costing him time with it harder to get a clean run.  Describing his MRX-5 as a little nervous he said as the track warms up he will lose steering so rather than change set-up he will wait as the car should for Q3 match the track conditions.

WRC designer and driver Andrea Pirani would take his close to production GTX to the fourth fastest time.  Having struggled in Q1 with a lack of rear traction, a change to heavier oil in the rear shocks, WRC now producing their own shocks, had made the car ‘a lot better’. With traction he said now he needs to work on improving steering.  In terms of his prototype car, Pirani said with 98% of the parts now WRC’s own design the first production kits are set to go on sale in 2-weeks time.

Having made contact with Pietsch in Q1 which cost him 3-seconds, Mirko Salemi had a clean second qualifier to post the 5th fastest time.  The BP Racing team driver ran his RS4 the same as in Q1 and plans to continue with it as is again for Q3. Describing the car as ‘decent’ he said it could be better but with a bad first round he needs another two good runs and making a set-up change now would be a gamble.  Edgy in the cool morning conditions he said it should get better as the day gets warmer.

Completing the Top 6,  Daniele Ielasi said his qualifier ‘was ok’ despite one mistake at the chicane.  The BMT driver said his RB engine was a little too lean and looking for a little more steering he will make a change to the prototype push rod front suspension set-up of his 984.

Behind Ielasi, Rick Vrielijnck posted the 7th fastest time, the Dutch driver struggling after a positive showing in practice.  Having been slow in Q1 and not sure why, the Mugen/Picco driver struggled with consistency this morning and plans to make some front end set-up changes for the next round saying the track is constantly changing and they need to adapt better to that.

Championship leader Kurzbuch said with his Velox V8 lacking steering during the warm-up, he reduced the rear wing and added more brake to try alleviate the problem.  The Swiss driver said the changes were too much and he struggled with the rear end of the car breaking loose under braking.

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Q2 Update – Another TQ run from Balestri

Dario Balestri completed a perfect first day at the Euro Nitro Series in Fiorano taking his Capricorn to the top of the time sheets once again in the second round of 1:10 qualifying.  Taking almost a second off his Q1 pace, the Italian topped Q2 by 2 seconds from a much improved Serpent of Dominic Greinier. Having been unhappy with his 748 in the opening qualifier, Greiner said it was better following a series of set-up changes but he ended up over driving. Completing just three laps in Q1, the ENS’ only double race winner Erik Dankel would take his Capricorn to the third fastest time 3/10ths off Greiner.

Just missing out on a 15-lap run, Shepherd pairing Dirk Wischnewski and Francesco Tironi posted the fourth & fifth fastest times respectively.  Curing the gearbox issues he suffered in the first qualifier, Silvio Hachler completed the Top 6.  Also changing to thinner oil in the front diff of his KM Racing H-K1, the 22-year-old said he had improved steering but saving his good Novarossi engines for the upcoming World Championship in Thailand he said his struggle in the power department compared to his rivals. Behind the Swiss driver Euro B Champion Thilo Todtmann posted the seventh fastest time ahead of the Xray of Mario Spiniello.

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Pietsch takes first qualifier in Italy

Euro Nitro Series 1:8 title contender Robert Pietsch took the first round of qualifying at the season finale in Italy, the Mugen driver topping the times from Lamberto Collari.  As was the form at the end of practice, Pietsch’s only title rival Simon Kurzbuch completed the Top 3, the Shepherd driver 1.1-seconds off the TQ pace.

‘Not overly happy with my driving’ was how Pietsch summed up the start to qualifying despite posting a TQ run.  The top seed for qualifying, the German would make a mistake on his opening lap that would drop him to third.  Forced to push hard to make back up the lost time he said this wasn’t ideal but setting the fastest lap of the round he was able to recover.  Very happy with his prototype parts equipped MRX-5, he felt his ‘engine was maybe a little rich’ and on inspecting the car afterwards he thinks this could have been due to an issue with a kink in his fuel tubing. Planning to leave the set-up as is for tomorrow morning’s Q2, the former World Champion said the main thing was to drive better.

Less than 3/10ths off Pietsch, Collari declared his first qualifier as ‘good’.  Opting to run his OS Speed powered Mugen MRX-5 the same as in the final practice, the Italian will for his second qualifier run a lighter shock oil. Describing the car as feeling a ‘little loose’ on the hand-out Hot Race tyres he hopes the change will make the car more balanced and improve the feeling he has with it.

Having struggled in the final controlled practice, Kurzbuch said he managed to improve his Shepherd and to open qualifying with a Top 3 was a good starting point.  Having made ‘a lot of driver errors’ over the 4-minutes, the Swiss driver said he was surprised to end up only one & a half seconds off Pietsch having expected the gap to be much more.  Planning to make some fine adjustments to his Velox V8, he said that combined with an improvement from the driver should see him more competitive in Q2.

Having gambled on changing bodyshell for qualifying, Andrea Lorenzi said it paid off allowing the Shepherd driver to post the 4th fastest time.  The Italian said the Zytech Ginetta body gave him the extra steering he was looking for at the end of practice and he will continue to run it tomorrow.  The 21-year-old said overall it was a good run but not being completely happy with the clutch setting on his Velox V8 in Q1 he thinks there is still more to come.

Running a self designed prototype push rod front suspension system on his BMT chassis, Daniele Ielasi posted the fifth fastest time.  Planning to release the front end as an optional part under his own Ielasi Tuning brand, he said the inboard shocks layout gives the 984 greater front stability.  Having only raced it previously on a track with low grip he said it is proving even more effective here on the high traction. Commenting he still has a lot to testing to do to get the most from it, he said his big focus for this weekend is his own championship battle for 3rd overall and finishing Q1 ahead of Oliver Mack, with whom he is having that battle, leaves him ‘very happy’ with Day 1 of the the event.

Completing the Top 6, factory Shepherd driver Mack said his car was very good but power was again a problem something he believes is a combination of a bad clutch and his exhaust.  Having used his standard clutch set-up he said either he did something wrong building it or its just a bad clutch.  With Edo Picco giving him a new engine for Q2 he said he will fit a brand new clutch to it as well as running a different pipe.

Setting the seventh fastest time, Alberto Picco declared he was so far 90% there.  Making one driver error, he said he was very happy with his engine speed, registering a top speed of 110 kph, but looking for more traction from his MRX-5 he said they still needed to ‘fix a few details’ with the car.  Behind Picco, Mugen’s Rick Vrielijnck posted the 8th fastest time followed by Hot Race tyres owner Nicola Marrone’s Serpent and young Swiss driver Noah Asenddorf.

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