Leino takes penultimate qualifier at ENS Italy

Teemu Leino has taken the penultimate round of qualifying at the Infinity Euro Nitro Series finale in Italy.  The Infinity driver lead a 1-2 for the team with championship leader Jilles Groskamp also putting in his best performance of qualifying so far.  Leino was a full 1-second clear at the top of the times with Alessio Mazzeo completing the Top 3. Having dominated the top of the times sheets in practice and the opening two qualifiers Dominic Greiner would end up fourth but still looks firmly on target for the overall TQ he needs to challenge Groskamp for the title in tomorrow’s 45-minute final.

Former champion Leino put his performance down to an improved car and also better track conditions for the IF15.  The Finn said, ‘we made a set-up change which felt a little better and also the track temperature came to the car’.  He continued, ‘We still need more so we will trying something else in the last one’.  While conceding the TQ is already gone to Greiner as he would need to TQ the next round in a quicker time the German has, the European Champion is upbeat about tomorrow’s final saying, ‘we should be good for tomorrow. It will be similar temperatures to now for the final tomorrow which is not bad for us and we will still try to improve the car more’.

Groskamp said, ‘I  saw Dominic was not that fast in the warm-up and thought I had a chance but Teemu was faster than me.  I’m still happy to finish second behind him but I think it is the TQ for Dominic’.  The former electric touring car World Champion continued, ‘I was happy with the car now and the engine was very good.  I had more steering, maybe it was now a bit loose in the rear but it made fast lap times.  I might try to make it more stable for the next one because I was on the limit and had a few moments at the chicane’.  Looking to the final he said, ‘I think it is good Teemu starts second because he can push Dominic.  I need to get a second in the last qualifier to get third on the grid ahead of Alessio’.

Commenting on his Q3 performance, Mazzeo said, ‘the track conditions were very different and my car was hard to drive’.  The Xray driver continued, ‘I had a little mistake and with the car critical I then just tried to make a clean run.  For the next one we will make a camber change to improve the car for the conditions’.

Finishing 1.6-seconds off the TQ pace, Greiner said, ‘I tried another (type) pipe.  To drive, the feeling was OK, maybe it had a little less torque, but my time was so much slower’.  Running Serpent’s new 750 chassis, he said, ‘I will go back to my previous pipe set-up and try again’.  Behind Greiner, the Top 6 for the round was completed by Francesco Tironi and Jakub Rozycki.

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Kurzbuch again in Q2 as traffic costs Balestri

Simon Kurzbuch has taken another TQ run at the ENS Season Finale in Italy but only after title challenger Dario Balestri hit traffic over the final two laps.  Posting the fastest lap of the second qualifier, Balestri was leading the times but lost around 7/10th in the closing 2-laps to cross the line 0.247 off Kurzbuch.  Again the pair would be the only drivers to record 17 laps of the Fiorano track, the TQ pace just slightly slower than that recorded by Kurzbuch last night which all but assures him the overall TQ if it came to a tie breaker.  Behind the two title contenders, Robert Pietsch, who set the pace at the beginning of the run, completed the Top 3 ahead of the Andrea Pirani, Lamberto Collari and Alberto Picco.

Summing up the 2nd of the 4 qualifiers, Kurzbuch said, ‘It was all good.  I’d a free track for the first minute and a half.  The engine was a little bit on the limit.  It was maybe too lean but it worked and we are now really close to the TQ point’.  With Balestri having the tall order now of taking the remaining two qualifiers and doing one of them in a quicker time than that which Kurzbuch recorded in Q1’s cooler evening conditions, the Shepherd driver is already switching his attentions to the final.  He said, ‘Daniele (Ielasi) will prepare now my engine for the final which we will try in the 3rd or 4th one (heat) to check the fuel consumption in race conditions’.

Frustrated to lose out again to Kurzbuch, Balestri said, ‘I had traffic in the last two lap and lose the TQ because of this’.  The Infinity added, ‘Everything on the car was OK’.

A driver who had to deal with traffic frustration in the 11 car top heat in Q1, Pietsch summed up his run by saying, ‘It was OK. I was lucky now with traffic’.  The Mugen driver continued, ‘At the beginning I was leading but I couldn’t keep up the pace.  I was lacking a little power but don’t know the cause of this but I think it is the fuel.  I think they have a special additive they use only in qualifying and it give them more power over the run while my engine drops off a little’.

Pirani was pleased with his second qualifier after suffering a flame out at the start of Q1.  The ARC driver said, ‘today yes was better.  Yesterday we had a flame out before the start but today is good’.  The former ENS podium finisher continued, ‘I need a little more speed and to get that we need to find a little more steering.  I will make some changes after the next qualifier because I need to make one more safe run but we need to change something to be more competitive for the final.’

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Chassis Focus – Alessio Mazzeo

Chassis – Xray NT1 2018
Engine –Gimar Race by Novarossi
Fuel – Energy
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark

Remarks – Alessio and Xray are using the season finale of the ENS to assess some new parts for the upcoming World Championship in Miami and while allowing Red RC to photograph the car, the Italian wasn’t being specific about the parts he was trying other than saying they were in the rear of the car.  Otherwise he said the rest of the car is standard as is the set-up with only the front end being a bit stiffer to suit the characteristics of the Fiorano track.

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Greiner opens Day 2 with another TQ run

Dominic Greiner has kicked off Day 2 of the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Italian with another TQ run.  Having predictably set the benchmark in practice yesterday at Fiorano and capped off the day with a TQ in the opening qualifier, the Serpent driver repeated that form but this time with a greater gap over his rivals.  Closest to the German would be Teemu Leino, the Infinity driver 1.4-seconds off the TQ pace which was more than 1.6-seconds quicker than the Q1 topping time.  After recording a DNF in Q1, Mugen’s Erik Dankel had a much improved run completing the Top 3 ahead of the Infinity’s Francesco Tironi, Jilles Groskamp and Andy Moore.  Having been the closest challenger to Greiner yesterday, Alessio Mazzeo ended up 8th for the round following a mistake that cost him 4-seconds while in contention for the TQ.

‘A clean run, it was again close with Alessio and Teemu and with traffic I lost a few tenths’, was how Greiner summed up Q2, the World Champion appearing much happier now compared to after his TQ run in the opening qualifier yesterday evening.  Having felt his engine lacked power in Q1, he continued, ‘We found back the power again and the car was easy and stable so this was good’.  Having suspected a broken gasket was the reason for his power issues, he explained, ‘we fixed that and ran it in practice this morning but it still didn’t feel right so we fitted a new pipe, the same type, for Q2 and we had power again’.

Leino said, ‘the run was OK. It was a clean run but I need to find a little bit more because I am 1/10th behind Dominic per lap’.  The European Champion continued, ‘when the track temperature gets higher it will get more even because our car is better when it is hot but I will also try to improve the car by trying a different droop for the next one’.

Dankel was pleased with his P3 admitting that the Fiorano track surface doesn’t favour their car.  The former Champion said, ‘It was better but we don’t have the pace here. We are 1 & 1/2 to 2/10th off but at least it’s a result.  The surface is too rough for our car and the traction is low’.  Having fitted a new gearbox for Q1 and struggled with the shift point being set wrong he said the qualifier was used to get the adjustment right.  Q2 looked like it might also be another difficult run as the German lost a wheel during the warm-up but with four wheels back on his car for the start he could complete a run with ‘no mistakes’.  For the next qualifier he will switch to a softer rear diff.

Explaining his P5 for the round, Championship leader Groskamp said, ‘Lap 4 or 5 I spun out.  I was pushing too hard and spun at the chicane and lost 1-second.  Then at the end of the race I didn’t have power which turned out to be that the plug had come loose’.  Conceding that Greiner is going to get the bonus championship TQ point he needs to keep the title fight alive, he said, ‘It is a shame Teemu and Alessio couldn’t fight with him because I think the next two runs the track is going to be slower’.  The hotter conditions, however, should help the 2016 former Champion who said, ‘I hope it will be more even now with Dominic as our car seems to work better when it is hot but we still also need to find something in the car for tomorrow’s final’.

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Kurzbuch from Balestri in Q1

Simon Kurzbuch has taken the opening round of qualifying at the ENS Season Finale in Italy this evening.  The reigning champion just 1/10th faster than title challenger Dario Balestri at the end of the 4-minutes as the pair took advantage of ideal conditions to post 17-lap runs.  Behind, just missing out on 17-laps, Carmine Raiola ran the third fastest time ahead of Robert Pietsch, Silvio Hächler and Alberto Picco.  For Toni Gruber, the third of the drivers who could potentially be crowned champion come Sunday evening, a disappointing practice didn’t get any better as he was forced to retire half way into the first of the four qualifiers with ‘a problem with the electrics’.

‘It was a good round.  The beginning was really fast but then I had to overtake a few people so I was happy to end up first’, was Kurzbuch reaction after his TQ run.  Vying for his third consecutive ENS title, the 2015 World Champion added, ‘conditions were really good now so I hope it will be the fastest TQ of the weekend’.  Very happy with his car’s performance despite Balestri registering the fastest lap, the Swiss ace, ‘the car worked great so I will just try to do the same again in the next one’.

Looking much happier than in practice, having had to recover from his car being destroyed in yesterday’s practice, Balestri said, ‘It was OK.  It (the engine) was a little rich on the bottom at the start of the qualifier but then it went clean and I could push’.  The World Champion added, ‘it was just a little bit (rich) but it’s ok. We will see what we can do tomorrow but now we have the car to race with Simon’.

Commenting  on his first heat, Carmine said, ‘I drove to keep 3rd place. Tomorrow we will try to push. I didn’t push 100%’.  The Italian said he adapted the safe approach after trying to pass a slightly slower car. He said, ‘I had a car in front of me which I try to pass but he closed on me so I just drove to keep 3rd’.  Describing his Infinity as ‘good’, the World’s finalists plans to keep it the same for Q2 adding ‘we will be on used tyres for the next one so the car should be even better’.

Pietsch was not happy with the driving standards having a similar issue to Carmine.  Asked how was the qualifier, the Mugen designer replied, ‘Pretty bad I would say’ continuing ‘I was stuck behind another car that didn’t let me by even when he made a mistake. I am not happy about this’.  He added, ‘everything with the car was ok but when the car in front is 0.1 slower for sure you can’t overtake unless they let you pass and this cost me about 2-seconds over the qualifier’.

In the 1:8 40+ class, the title already decided at the previous round, it was inaugural champion Arie Manten who took the opening qualifier.  Going for the perfect season by looking to add a fourth win this weekend from as many races, the Infinity driver took Q1 ahead of Andrea Hächler, father of Silvio, and Rudi Scherer.

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Greiner takes opening qualifier at ENS Italy

There was no surprise in the opening 1:10 qualifier at the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Italy as Dominic Greiner topped the times.  A driver who needs to TQ & win this weekend to have a shot at clinching his first ever ENS title, the German’s Serpent was fastest over the 4-minutes by just under a second from Alessio Mazzeo, the Xray driver hampered by a gearbox issue.  The driver Greiner is hoping to deny the title, Jilles Groskamp would open the four rounds of qualifying with the third fastest time ahead of Infinity team-mates Teemu Leino, Francesco Tironi and Andy Moore.

‘It was very close’, was how a somewhat disappointed Greiner summed up Q1.  The World Champion continued, ‘the car feels very good but maybe the engine was not that good.  I found a broken gasket on the pipe so I will fix that for tomorrow’.  Setting the fastest lap of the Fiorano track where he has a successful track record, he said, ‘I’m very happy with the consistency of the new car and my driving but it could have been faster without the engine problem.’  Needing the bonus championship point on offer for the TQ, he concluded, ‘I need that TQ point for the overall championship’.

Mazzeo said, ‘I suffered a little from a bad gearbox set-up. It was changing too late and I made 2-mistakes that cost me a little time.  The rest was fine’.  Winner of the race in 2015, the Italian continued, ‘for sure it will be a hard fight with Dominic. On this track he has always been faster than me but it is closer now’.  Looking to the continuation of qualifying in the morning he said, ‘we will just adjust the gearbox for tomorrow and we will be ready for the fight’.

‘I knew it was going to be hard to go faster than Dominic but I’m happy with third’, was Groskamp’s reaction after Q1.  Winner in the Netherlands and Austria this season, the 2015 Champion said, ‘the track got a little more traction now and the gap got bigger to Dominic.  On a faster track we lose more time so we need to change something for tomorrow.  The gap is 1/10th a lap which is not much but we need to close that and the higher I can start on the grid the easier the find will be’.

Leino was content with his first qualifier despite an early mistake.  The Finn said, ‘on the first lap I missed the chicane and went over the grass and it was game over (in terms of a TQ run)’.  The European Champion continued, ‘the car was good so I know we can do better in the next one.  We will just refresh the bearings and everything for tomorrow’.

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