Pietsch claims first ENS win at Hockenheimring

Robert Pietsch claimed his first win of the inaugural Euro Nitro Series, when in a somewhat reversal of the season opener he won the Hockenheimring event from Top Qualifier Simon Kurzbuch. Top Qualifier in Melzo but having to settle for second behind the No.2 qualifier Lamberto Collari, today starting from second the Mugen driver took a close win over Championship points leader Kurzbuch, who ran out of fuel on the last lap, with Shepherd’s Lars Hoppe completing the podium at the German track.

A race that saw four different leaders, Pietsch was happy to finally get his first win of the championship and set the stage for an exciting title showdown between himself and Kurzbuch at the season finale in Fiorano, Italy.  Top Qualifier of the ENS Pilot Race at the German track last year but losing out on the win to Mark Green, the former World & European Champion said he made a ‘super good’ start but a mistake by Kurzbuch caused them to ‘touch a little’ resulting in the front of his bodyshell getting bent.  With this rubbing off the front tyres on his Picco powered MRX-5, he said he just stayed in behind Hoppe waiting to fix the body at the first fuel stop.  Taking over the lead of the race from Daniele Ielasi at 26-minutes with a nice pass down the inside of the Italian, 10 laps later the Mugen designer would stop for tyres saying that after that he had to control his pace to look after his tyres for the remainder of the race.  This he said was no big issue as he knew at that stage that Kurzbuch would have to do one extra stop than him.  Suffering a small incident in the pitlane when he & Ielasi made contact Pietsch said it was no big problem and overall he was happy with how the race went.

Third at the end of the opening lap lead factory Shepherd driver Kurzbuch said he made a bad start due to his engine running rich off the line.  Losing further ground with a mistake over the curbs at the 6-minute mark that would cost him 5-seconds and drop him back another position he said his only option for the race was to ‘push to close the gap’.  Getting very close to Pietsch as the race reached its climax, the gap down to less than two seconds, the Swiss driver would set the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap but the sterling effort would take its toll and on the final lap he ran out of fuel due to how hard he was pushing. His third podium of the season, the only driver with a 100% podium finishing record, Kurzbuch wasn’t too disappointed as having secured the bonus TQ point Pietsch has only taken one point out of his championship lead adding it is ‘going to be very exciting in Fiorano’.

After qualifying third yesterday Hoppe said he would be very happy if he could make the podium, achieving that with an impressive drive he was just that.  Finishing on the podium at last weekend’s Euro Touring Series encounter in Luxembourg, the German said its been a great week for him with two big race podium finishes.  Leading the race for the first 8-minutes, he said the beginning of the race was very good and his Sonic powered Velox V8 ‘felt great’.  After stopping for a tyre change, he said the second set did not feel as good with them causing him to struggle through left hand corners.  Taking the option to just ‘drive it home’ as a result of the issue, he said he really pleased with his performance over the entire weekend.

Making his Mugen return this weekend Rick Vrielijnck would finish 4th.  Qualifying fifth for the race, the Dutch ace would lose a lap right away having to pit to fix his bodyshell after an incident at the start.  Describing his MRX-5 and Picco engine as being very good in the race he said the incident cost him a podium.  Complimenting his pit crew, who pull off a very swift and well executed tyre stop, he said for his first outing back with Mugen and having only driven the car for the first time on Thursday he was happy with the result and is encouraged going forward.

‘Shit because I was leading’ was how the ever jolly and personable Ielasi described his fifth place finish.  Just running out of fuel as he came around to complete his in lap for fuel, he said this ended his challenge.  Deciding to use the incident to change tyres early issues with mounting his car on the starting box would end up costing him a lot of time. He said racing in such a hard race and being in a position to battle for the lead with Pietsch, who he said for him is the best 1:8 driver in the world, made him very happy as he looks to the future with his new BMT team and his RB powered 984 chassis.  Having set himself the aim of finishing the ENS in the overall Top 3, he said he hopes to be able to reach that goal in Fiorano with a strong run.

Competing the Top 6, ENS Round 2 race winner John Ermen declared himself happy with the result after a difficult time in qualifying.  Ending up in the B-Main, the Xray driver would take the twelfth and final spot on the grid having finished second to Merlin Depta in the 20-minute encounter.  After struggling with a ‘difficult car’ in the last chance race, he changed his Blitz bodyshell for the A-Main to one which is mounted 5mm more to the rear of the Reds Racing powered RX8.  He said while he had less steering this gave him a much more drivable car for the long 45-minute race.  With nothing to lose starting from the back he said they took a risky strategy with fuel but it worked out well albeit very close on one or two occasions.

Elsewhere it was a very short race for Motonica’s Robin d’Hondt, contact during the rather hectic start leaving his Picco powered P81 with broken rear suspension and he was out after 3-laps.  Top Serpent qualifier Michael Salven would survive a heavy impact in the pitlane with Ielasi but on track contact with the stranded car of Timo Schröder would result in a broken front shock tower.  With his pitcrew fitting a new one to the 977, he would rejoin to finish a distant 10th, with Depta the top Serpent in 7th.

1:8 A-Main Result
1.(2) Robert Pietsch (DE) – Mugen/Picco – 146/45:13.720
2.(1) Simon Kurzbuch (CH) – Shepherd/Novarossi – 145/44:56.836
3.(3) Lars Hoppe (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic – 145/45:11.347
4.(5) Rick Vrielijnck (NL) – Mugen/Picco – 144/45:07.187
5.(4) Daniele Ielasi (IT) – BMT/RB – 140/45:04.212
6.(12)John Ermen (NL) – Xray/Reds Racing – 140/45:06.568
7.(11)Merlin Depta (DE) – Serpent/Picco – 116/38:15.272
8.(8) Timo Schröder (DE) – Shepherd/XRD – 115/45:06.239
9.(10)Maximilian Vogl (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic – 113/35:53.192
10.(6)Michael Salven (DE) – Serpent/Picco – 111/45:00.457
11.(9)Patrick Gassauer (DE) – Serpent/Sonic – 71/45:18.045
12.(7)Robin d’Hondt (BE) – Motonica/Picco – 3/2:35.268

View the complete results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Dankel takes second ENS win

Having struggled throughout qualifying Eric Dankel would pull off an impressive performance at Hockenheimring in Germany to take his second win of the inaugural Euro Nitro Series Championship.  Starting from 5th on the grid, the winner of the season opener in Melzo, would work his way to the front getting passed early race dominator Teemu Leino in the final 10 minutes to win the race from Ronald Volker with a late crash & resulting flame-out dropping Leino to third.  For Top Qualifier Dominic Greiner, who lead for the first 10-minutes of the 45-minute encounter, a problem with his throttle servo linkage would see him retire just before the race reached 2/3 distance.

A delighted Dankel, who won the ENS Pilot Race at the track last year, said after the disappointment of yesterday he had ‘no idea what to do’ and he never expected to be able to take the win.  Between the A-Main practice and the race warm-up he was able to find something for the race.  Running three sets of the Enneti controlled tyres being used this weekend, the Capricorn driver said they selected the best two for the race.  With his Maxima powered LAB-CO2 still not great in the warm-up he said a delayed called by Patrick Nähr gave them time to add more rear toe in which would finally give him a car he had confidence with.  Trying to run a steady pace at the start, the German said on lap 3 he would make a ‘stupid mistake’ with the car ending up on its roof with the 4-seconds lost dropping him to 10th.  Sticking with his ‘steady’ approach he said thanks to great work by his ‘awesome’ pit crew who performed an outside tyre change he made up positions one by one finally being able to pass a struggling Leino.  Almost missing his final fuel stop, having heard his pitman late and cutting part of the infield infront of the pits he afterwards ‘apologise(d) to everyone’ for the move but added even had a Stop & Go penalty been issued it wouldn’t have effected the result.

‘Very happy with second’ was how electric touring car ace and ENS debutant Ronald Volker summed up his podium finish.  Describing the 45-minute main as ‘a long race’, the factory Yokomo driver who was on loan to Mugen for the weekend, said he had a ‘terrible’ first lap.  Feeling everyone else looked to have jumped the start, he said his LRP engine was a little rich off the line and then he made a mistake at the first right hand corner leaving him 11th.  Running the race without a tyre stop, the 4-time ETS Champion drove a pace to save tyres which he said at the end might have been too safe as he still had plenty of tyre left at the end.  Complimenting Mugen and its designer Robert Pietsch on their new MTX-6, driving a prototype of the car, Volker said a lack of experience of doing pit stops cost him a little time as he didn’t always stop in the correct position.  Admitting to really enjoying the experience, but ruling out doing the World Championships later this year, he wished to thank both Pietsch and fellow electric touring car driver Freddy Sudhoff, who was his mechanic, for their support adding he was happy for Dankel to get the win.

Having lapped the entire field and looking like he was on for a dominant win, Leino said ultimately too low a ride height cost him the win.  The season opener Top Qualifier, in the 10-minute A-Main practice session they found a good set-up and in the race his Novarossi powered R10 was ‘really good’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race, which was almost 3/10ths fastest than that of Dankel, he said with only 1mm of ride height clearance at the end of the race he couldn’t hold off Dankel but he tried, leading to hitting a dot with less than 2-minutes to go.  The mistake would see the car make heavy impact with the tyres causing his engine to cut with him losing almost 2-laps before rejoining from the pits.

Finishing fourth, Alexander Hagberg said while it was good to improve on his qualifying performance he was disappointed to miss out on the podium.  Having changed the roll centres and clutch on his Orcan powered NT1, the factory Xray driver said this in combination with the cooler conditions gave him a car that was ‘a lot better’ than in qualifying with him able to post the 3rd fastest lap of the final.  Stopping only for a fresh set of right side tyres, like Leino, the Swede too would suffer an engine cut after a mistake led to a heavy impact.

Only his second ever 200mm race and his first time to drive one for 45-minutes, KM Racing’s Silvio Hachler said he tried to run the race with no tyre stop but at the end he was running on the chassis of his ‘Meen Version’ HK-1.  Qualifying 6th, the Swiss driver said he got a ‘fantastic start’ holding 3rd for the early part of the race but having to save tyres he couldn’t push at the same level as the leaders and dropped back.  Really struggling with a lack of tyres at the end he said unfortunately Hagberg got by with just 4 laps to go but ‘all in all (he was) happy’ with the result.

Having bumped up from the B-Main to secure the 12th & final spot on  the grid, Team Shepherd’s Patrick Nähr completed the Top 6.  The 2011 European B Champion said ‘for a bad car not a bad result’.  Having struggled with his Sonic powered Velox V10 being difficult in the 20-minute B final, he said they did improve the car a little.  Running the race on just the one set of tyres the 22-year-old, who hasn’t race since Round 1 back in April, said although he had to drive smooth the strategy worked well.

For title contenders Greiner and Dirk Wischnewski, the final marked a massive blow to their campaigns.  Greiner’s Picco powerd 748 Natrix would suffer almost from the start with throttle issues with the lack of full throttle getting greater and greater as he race went on.  After his retirement it was discovered that a seized bearing in his servo horn was causing the horn to unscrew from the steering effecting the throttle linkage to a point were he could get enough leverage on the carb to continue in the race.  The 21-year-old said it was ‘very disappointing’ as the car set-up was ‘perfect’.  For Wischnewski a crash in the pit lane with Mark Green during the A-Main practice would leave him with a ‘terrible car’ for the final. With not enough time to rebuild the car before the race he said the damage would lead to a broken second gear and then a broken engine, him retiring just before the 40-minute mark.  For Green, who started 4th, his challenge would end when he ran out of fuel.

1:10 A-Main Result
1.(5) Eric Dankel (DE) – Capricorn/Maxima – 132/45:16.682
2.(3) Ronald Volker (DE) – Mugen/LRP – 131/45:12.861
3.(2) Teemu Leino (FI) – HB/Novarossi – 13o/45:05.843
4.(8) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/Orcan – 130/45:19.531
5.(6) Silvio Hachler (CH) – KM Racing/Novarossi – 129/45:01.554
6.(12)Patrick Nähr (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic – 128/45:03.246
7.(11)Patrick Schäfer (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic – 128/45:04.192
8.(10)Thilo Alexander (DE) – Xray/Orcan – 128/45:13.835
9.(4) Mark Green (GB) – Serpent/Novarossi – 126/45:04.722
10.(9)Toni Gruber (DE) – Serpent/Novarossi – 121/42:13.371
11.(7)Dirk Wischnewski (DE) – Shepherd/Orcan – 111/39:18.483
12.(1)Dominic Greiner (DE) – Serpent/Picco – 79/27:52.783

View the complete results here.

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Chassis Focus – Robin D’Hondt

Chassis – Motonica P81 RS3
Engine – Picco
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – Enneti
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform P909

Remarks – Robin is making his debut in this year’s ENS running a heavily modified P81 RS3 from Motonica. A lot of work has been done on the upper deck, which has been lowered 3mm and cut in the front to disconnect it from the servo saver and obtain more flex. He is also trying some different pulleys to adjust the drive ratio, while in the front end the lower arms have been cut and moved backwards to shorten the wheelbase and get more steering.

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Aigen winner Ermen & Depta complete Hockenheim grid

After struggling in qualifying, ENS Round 2 winner John Ermen will start the main event at Round 3 of the championship at Hockenehimring lining up last on the 12 car grid having bumped up from the B-Main along with Serpent’s Merlin Depta.  Starting from pole position, having ending qualifying 11th fastest, WRC’s Andrea Pirani led initially from Depta’s 977 which started 3rd.  A finalist at both opening rounds of the ENS, unfortunately his race would go downhill with Depta first getting passed and then a mistake which saw him put his car on its roof allowing Ermen’s Xray, which started 4th, up to second where he would hold on to secure his place in the 45-minute A-Main.  Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on his final lap Pirani, who was sitting 4th in the championship standings would finish 4th.

View the complete results here.

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Schäfer & Nähr bump up to A-Main

Team Shepherd’s Patrick Schäfer and Patrick Nähr have bumped up to main event at Round 3 of the Euro Nitro Series after finishing 1-2 in the B-Main at the Hockenheimring.  Starting from 4th on the grid, Shepherd boss Schäfer would lead pretty much from start to finish with pole starter Leo Arnold, having a difficult race retiring his Capricorn half way through the 20-minute encounter after running out of fuel.  Runner-up at Round 2 of the championship in Aigen, this is Schäfer second time to bump up having also done so at the season opener in Melzo, Italy.  Starting from 5th on the grid former European B Champion Nähr would finish the race half a lap behind his team boss saying afterwards his Sonic powered Velox V10 was very difficult to drive.  His first ENS A-Main, Nähr will change his set-up for the 45-minute encounter in the hope of being able to progress up from his 12th place starting position.

View the complete results here.

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Chassis Focus – Rick Vrielijnck

Chassis – Mugen MRX-5 WC Edition
Engine – Picco
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Enneti
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – ProtoForm R18

Remarks – A multiple Worlds finalist, this weekend marks a return to Mugen for Rick V with the Dutch ace showing good pace qualifying 5th for the A-main. This being his first outing with the Japanese car, he is using a pretty standard example of the MRX-5 “World Championship” edition, with the only exception being a full set of titanium screws.

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