Gruber & Greiner top free practice as rain halts action at ENS Austria

In an all too familiar situation at races this Summer, rain has halted action at the third round of the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Austria.  After completing 8 rounds of free practice in dry conditions yesterday and a further 3 rounds this morning, just after the drivers briefing and scheduled lunch the rain arrived at the Aigen-Schlägl.  With 2 rounds of controlled practice and the first of the 5-scheduled qualifiers on today’s timetable, racers waited for the track to dry with the Uruguay – France World Cup game helping to pass the time.  However, with the track drying slowly, the rain returned and with no chance of any meaningful running the ENS organisers called time on the day.

In terms of free practice it was Toni Gruber who was fastest over 3-consecutive laps, the WRC driver running a time of 44.002 in the 11th and final run.  Behind him, championship leader Dario Balestri managed a best of 44.136 with Robert Pietsch, yesterday’s pace setter, completing the Top 3.  Chasing four wins in a row at Aigen, Simon Kurzbuch would end free practice half a second off Gruber’s pace.  In 1:10, Serpent’s Dominic Greiner had a 1/10th of a second advantage over the Mugen of Dirk Wischnewski who in turn had the same advantage over his team-mate Eric Dankel. Championship leader Jilles Groskamp would end up 7th fastest but as we have come to know, the Dutchman’s practice pace usually has little reflection on his qualifying form.  Instead for Infinity it was former event Top Qualifier Francesco Tironi who was their quickest driver in 4th ahead of Alessio Mazzeo.  With dry weather expected for the rest of the weekend, a revised Saturday timetable will start with a round of free practice followed by 2-seeding round and all four qualifiers, the fifth round cut from the program.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Merlin Depta

Chassis – Serpent 988 Viper
Engine – OS Speed 2103
Fuel – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Blitz TS0040

Remarks – Not just a team driver for Serpent but also a supplier of prototype parts to one of nitro onroad racing’s pioneering manufacturers, Merlin’s car features a a prototype rear body mount.  Using the Blitz as a template for profile of the mount, it is designed to provide a better sitting of the bodyshell and Merlin’s says the profile is almost uniform across the various brands of bodyshell.  While not running them here this weekend, the mount also has the option to run additional adjustable side stiffeners.  From his own ‘Merlin McFly’ brand, he is running a carbon throttle lever, which he says offers ‘play free’ movement, as well as a carbon radio cover.  Running a low profile servo in his car, he says the radio cover which has a mounted tungsten weight corrects the cars centre balance.  The car is fitted with a selection of both aluminium and titanium screws.

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Chassis Focus – Léo Arnold

Chassis – Xray NT1 2018
Engine – Orion R12
Fuel – Energi
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/SRT
Body – SRS Spark

Remarks – The 2018 French National Champion is running a host of optional parts on his NT1 but only the brass battery plate is the specific to the Aigen track here in Austria.  His first time to run it this season Leo says its has helped make the car more stable.  Other optionals on the car, which he likes to run as his regular set-up, are a lightweight 2-speed shaft and brake disc, aluminium rear drive shafts and brake lever, hard plastic suspension arms and Xray’s new low-friction graphite composite belt pulley.  The car is also fitted with an alu screw set from Hiro Seiko.

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Track Focus – Aigen-Schlägl

Track Name – Aigen-Schlägl
Club – Modell Auto Verein Aigen-Schlägl
Country – Austria
Location – Aigen-Schlägl (50km Northwest of Linz)
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Surface – Asphalt (new surface 2017)
No. of ENS Races hosted – 4 (2014-17)

Over 600 metres up in the Austrian hills, 2018 marks the fifth visit of the Euro Nitro Series to the Aigen-Schlägl which together with Fiorano in Italy is the only track to feature on the calendar of every ENS Season to date.  Situated near both the German and Czech borders, since hosting the world’s best nitro drivers for the first time in 2014, the host club MAV Aigen Schlägl has developed the track into a facility that has put it up there with the best in the world.  For the 2015 ENS, the covered pits were doubled in size and for the 2017 visit the track as completely resurfaced.  With a reputation for high tyre wear, the new surface eliminated that issue and has helped the club secure next year’s 1:5 Bike World Championships.  The popular British electric touring car championship, the Essex Winter Series or EWS as it is better known, will make use of the facility when they host their first ever ‘EWS Abroad’ event here in September.

With the new asphalt still very fresh for the 2017 event, having now had almost 12-months of running on it this year’s laps times are already proving considerably quicker.  The first resurfacing of the track since it was built in 2006, a lap of the track covers 290 metres with one of the features being the 5-degree inclined 65 metre long main straight.

One driver making the trip to the hilly Austrian countryside location for the first time, Alessio Mazzeo has a good first impression of the facility.  The Xray driver said, ‘It is a really relaxed place and it is really nice. I like it’.   Not just here for the scenery, on driving the track the 1:10 title contender said, ‘it is really fun but it is very technical so it is important to have a good balance in the car’.  Asked the track’s most challenge section the Italian replied, ‘for me it is the end of the straight.  You see one corner but in reality when you drive it is two corners and getting the braking position right is difficult.  One lap you brake short and then the next you brake long. It is hard to get right every time’.

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