Chassis Focus – Eric Dankel

Chassis – Mugen MTX-6
Engine – Orcan “Cesare Rossi” WC Edition
Fuel – Maxima fuel
Tires (handout) – Enneti
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform SRS

Remarks – Top qualifier here in Ettlingen, 2014 Champion Eric Dankel is using a number of new parts on his Orcan powered Mugen MTX-6. Eric is running prototype rear bulkheads with the camber link on the bulkhead itself instead of having it on the shock tower and a prototype chassis, which is wider in the rear with a smaller rear cutout for different flex. He is also using pre-production, harder compound suspension arms.

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Cuypers makes 1st A-Main along with Hächler

Steven Cuypers will line up for his first Euro Nitro Series A-Main this evening, the Mugen driver doing so by winning the B-Main at Round 2 in Ettlingen, Germany. Starting from 5th on the grid the former European B Champion would win the quarter hour final by just 8/10ths of a second from the ARC of Silvio Hachler who led for most of the early part of the race. A well loaded race after the rain shortened qualifying meant the grid was determined by a single round, drivers having got to only complete 2 qualifiers between the rain showers. Battling for a bump up position, one casualty of the race would be Robert Pietsch, the Mugen designer retiring after an off with one and a half minutes to go. The race would also mark the end of the event for Francesco Tironi, the Infinity driver only 1.9-seconds off Hachler at the finish.

After the rain yesterday Cuypers said he ‘wasn’t confident about (his) set-up’ for the race but the conditions and his MRX6 ‘all fell into place’ with his car ‘very good’. Considering the risk of trying to get 5-minutes from his Picco engine he said it was safer to go 4-minutes as he could also push for the entire race with this strategy adding ‘it worked out’. Looking to his first A-Main appearance, the Belgian said he is aiming to finish in the Top 5. No stranger to A-Main finals at the ENS, Hachler said he had a lot of pressure from Pietsch until the former World Champion touched the curb adding ‘after that it was easy’. Admitting to being ‘a little surprised by Cuypers (pace)’, the 24-year-old said first place didn’t matter and now that he is in the Main event ‘a podium finish would be cool’.

View complete event results here.

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Hagberg & Kragefski bump into A-Main

Just as he did at the season opener, World Champion Alexander Hagberg has booked a place in the Main event at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series by winning the B-Main. The Swede, who found himself 14th at the end of the truncated qualifying, would start 4th on the grid for the shortened 15-minute encounter but it was his team-mate Tom Krägefski’s fuel strategy that would allow the Xray/Orcan pairing into the A-Main. Starting from pole, Rene Püpke initially led from Infinity driver Andy Moore until a mistake dropped the German out of contention. Moore would now lead but with an extra stop to do this played into Hagberg’s hands. While Hagberg would pull clear at the front, Moore now had to contend with Krägefski but a slight bobble would be enough to let the German passed for second spot. While the British driver would fight back over the closing laps, Krägefski had enough in hand to book his place in the final.

After the race, Hagberg said, ‘we had good fuel consumption and having to do only two stops gave us the upper hand’. Posting one of the slowest laps of the race, he added, ‘I was not the fastest but did enough to bump up and now we need to make changes for final. Let’s see how it works out’. Krägefski said ‘we were not sure about the fuel strategy. It was a gamble but it paid off’. He continued, ‘When I had a gap I had to be very smooth. We had the engine very lean, I don’t think we can run the same way in the final’.

View complete event results here.

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Q3 scrapped, 1/8th grid set

The Top 10 direct qualifiers for the 1:8 A-Main at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series have been set, organisers attempts to complete the third round of qualifying thwarted by a damp Ettlingen track greeting competitors this morning. With conditions not comparable to yesterday when they got all but the last three heats of Q3 complete, the entire round was scrapped and the grid determined by each driver’s best result of the two completed rounds.  While this didn’t effect the outcome of the Top Qualifier, that honour already secured by Team Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch who TQ’d both rounds, it did change the rest of the grid. Capricorn’s Dario Balestri will start second thanks to a quicker time than Infinity driver Jilles Groskamp, both drivers counting a P2, but one of the biggest benefactors of the single counting round is Bruno Coelho. With a DNF in Q1, the Xray driver was third in the second round and will line-up P4 ahead of Serpent’s Merlin Depta.  With 2 cars set to join the A-Main from the B-Main, it is Capricorn’s Robin D’hondt who completes the top half of the grid followed by ARC’s Toni Gruber and Infinity’s Lamberto Collari.  Securing the final two direct grid spots for 45-minute encounter in 9th & 10th are new Capricorn signing Rick Vrielijnck and Picco engines front man Alberto Picco.

View complete event results here.

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Kurzbuch Top Qualifier in German as qualifying cut short by rain

Simon Kurzbuch is Top Qualifier for tomorrow’s second round of the Euro Nitro Series after rain cut short qualifying in Germany.  With four runs of qualifying originally planned, the arrival of rain towards the end of Q3 left the already under pressure timetable unable to fit in a fourth round, a 20:00 curfew on the running of engines at Minidrom Ettlingen adding to the difficulties of running a full schedule.  With Kurzbuch TQ’ing the opening two qualifiers and Q4 scrapped, the Team Shepherd driver can’t be denied pole position for tomorrow’s 45-minute A-Main and the important bonus championship point it carries.  Running up as far as the third fastest 1:8 heat run before ran brought Day 2 to a premature finish, the organisers hope to complete Q3 in the morning by running the remaining three heats in order to have two from three rounds determine the grid.  If that doesn’t prove possible then 1 of 2 will count which would leave Dario Balestri second on the grid followed Jilles Groskamp and Bruno Coelho.

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Chassis Focus – Dominic Greiner

Chassis – Serpent 748 ‘Natrix’ TQ
Engine – Novarossi Mito .12 C
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Enneti
Radio/Servo – Futaba
Body – SRC Spark

Remarks – Top qualifier here in Ettlingen last year, German Serpent driver Dominic Greiner is running the TQ version of the 748 Natrix. His car features a brass suspension bracket that adds weight to the front end, aluminium roll bar ball studs and titanium screws, while the big bore shocks are taken from the electric Serpent touring car.

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