Kurzbuch from Gruber in opening ENS Austria qualifier

Simon Kurzbuch has taken the opening round of qualifying at Round 3 of the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Aigen, Austria.  A 3-time winner of the event, the Shepherd driver took the first of the 4 qualifiers by 7/10ths of a second from yesterday’s practice pace setter Toni Gruber.  Behind, championship leader Dario Balestri posted the 3rd quickest time a further 4/10ths off with Robert Pietsch next up ahead of Lars Hoppe and Carmine Raiola.

Coming into the weekend needing a perfect event if he is to keep his hopes of retaining his title alive, Kurzbuch summed up his TQ for the first qualifier as ‘very good’.  With the start of qualifying delayed because rain yesterday and also reduced from 5 to 4 rounds because of the time lost, the Swiss driver was quick to not take things for granted on a track he has enjoyed much success saying, ‘we still have three more rounds’. Commenting on the 4-minute qualifier, he said, ‘the first 1 or 2-minutes I drove very well but then I controlled the heat and so for the next one I will try to keep my pace for the whole run but I think for the first qualifying my approach was right because now I have one (TQ) already in the pocket and I can push a little more the next one’.  He also feels he will be forced to push harder by his rivals saying, ‘I think the others will improve the next round’.

‘The car has more to come from it. I was just a little nervous and the first few laps were not great’, was Gruber’s thoughts on his first qualifying attempt.  The WRC driver continued, ‘the car is good and fast enough to TQ and this was an easy second’.  Setting the fastest lap of Q1, more than a 1/10th fastest than the second best set by Kurzbuch, the German said while conditions were different to yesterday after the rain, his car was still working well today with the only adjustment they made being the positioning of the rear wing.

Winner at the previous round in Ettlingen, Balestri summed up his Q1 performance as ‘OK.  The World Champion said, ‘we tried something in the car because today the track is completely different to before and there is not much grip after the rain so we need to change more.  The Infinity driver continued, ‘yesterday the car was really good but now we need to fine tune for the lower traction and find again a good balance’.

Piestch said, ‘I feel I have the pace in the car just it is to difficult to drive a clean run’.  The Mugen driver continued, ‘I have to find something for the rear traction’.  Explaining the problem he said before the rain the balance between the front and rear grip was normal but now it is ‘worse than Ettlingen’ with the car having all the grip in the front and none in the rear. With Ettlingen famed for its unique surface that requires untraditional set-ups on cars, Pietsch feels one factor that might now be at play is the shore of the championship’s handout tyre with the front slightly too soft.

View the complete event results here.

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Greiner TQs opening qualifier at ENS Austria

Dominic Greiner has TQ’d the opening round of 1:10 qualifying at the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Austria.  With qualifying originally scheduled to get underway yesterday evening before rain forced the cancellation of the second half of the day, Greiner picked up where he left off.  Fastest in free practice yesterday, those times determining the seeding after this morning’s planned controlled practice were made into untimed practice as the track proved much slower following the rain, Greiner took the first of the four qualifiers by a second over a much improved Jilles Groskamp.  Francesco Tironi would post the third fastest time followed by Alessio Mazzeo and Eric Dankel, the latter two both suffering early mistakes at the start of the 4-minutes.

Summing up Q1, Greiner said, ‘It was pretty OK. I was a little nervous in the beginning’.  The Serpent driver continued, ‘I am not 100% happy with the set-up.  After the rain the track is not like the first day so we need to make small changes to make it easier to drive’.  Describing the car as ‘a little nervous’ he is confident they can make it more stable for Q2 but concluded ‘the grip and track conditions are now difficult. You need to drive close to the curb but if you touch them you have problems. It’s not easy here’.

‘Not bad for the first round’, was Groskamp’s reaction to Q1 as he looked over the time sheets.  The Infinity driver added, ‘I was surprised I wasn’t more off.  1-second is acceptable especially given how much we were off in practice and after the rain the track changed again.  Looking at practice I expected worse than that’.  Coming into the weekend leading the points standings he said, ‘I had a few bad laps and lost half a second but we need to improve the car.  The problem is the middle of the run when the tyres come in the rear gets more loose.  We need to find a solution for that and if we can find another 1/10th a lap we are there’.

Tironi called his P3 performance ‘ok’.  A former Top Qualifier at the Aigen track, he said, ‘we made some changes between the last practice and qualifying and that gave us a little more traction’.  The Italian continued, ‘it felt ok but I think we can be more competitive for the next one’.  Hoping to ‘find a little more traction’ he is considering a rear roll bar change for Q2.

‘The track has change and there is less grip so it is very hard to keep the car in the right direction’, was Mazzeo’s reaction after the first qualifier.  The Xray driver’s run got off to a bad start after he ‘lost the rear on the first lap’, but the Italian added, ‘we are fast for sure and without the mistake would could fight with Dominic but for the next one we need to find more grip in the rear’.

Completing the Top 5, Dankel said his first attempt was ‘not a good run’.  The Mugen driver continued, ‘I had a small mistake already on the first lap.  My driving was not good enough and it cost me 1 or 2 places’.  Asked about his car, the German replied, ‘the car could be better.  The speed is not enough for sure’.  Planning to go for a harder front diff in Q2, he said, ‘On new tyres and when the diff is cold it is ok but with the long warm-up during the qualifier I get oversteer so I hope a heavier diff with fix this’.

View the complete event results here.

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Chassis Focus – Thilo Tödtmann

Chassis – Shepherd Velox V10
Engine – Gimar Race
Fuel – Brilliant RC
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Futaba/Power HD
Body – Protoform P47

Remarks – Thilo is running a completely redesigned rear end on his Velox V10.  Still in prototype stage, he said the design is to combat the car suffering a lack of corner speed in high traction conditions.  No release date has been set for the new parts but he said they hope to have it ready for release before the World Championships later this year.  The other main item on his car is the new for 2018 radio tray.  Offering more flex, this now comes standard with the latest Velox V10 kits. This weekend see a new power source for Thilo with him having switched to Gimar engines.

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Chassis Focus – Silvio Hächler

Chassis – ARC R8.1
Engine –OS Speed R2103
Fuel – Energy
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Xtreme Diablo

Remarks – Back in ENS action here in Aigen having had to miss Round 2 due to attending his sponsor ARC’s Trophy Race in Italy, Silvio is running an almost identical car to that which he used to secure his best ever ENS qualifying position of 2nd at the season opener in the Netherlands.  The car continues to feature a prototype narrower rear bulkhead together with longer arms.  Finding track conditions ‘different to last year’ here in Aigen, he said springs have netted the greatest improvement in set-up together with the rear anti roll bar.

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Chassis Focus – Francesco Tironi

Chassis – Infinity IF15
Engine – Max XP3
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – KO Propo
Body – Protoform P47

Remarks – A former Top Qualifier here in Aigen, Francesco is running Infinity’s recently announced IF15, saying his car is pretty much what racers can expect to come in the kit.  The only difference is the choice of spring he is using.  Commenting on the set-up work he has carried out so far to get the car dialled in to the track here, he said the biggest difference is the front diff having going away from the softer diff he normal prefers to use to a much harder set-up.  With ‘not a lot of rear traction’ he has also changed the rear shock position a lot as well as running the rear of the car ‘close to the limit’ in terms of width.  Used to racing with the rear 198mm wide he said they are now very close to 200mm.

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