Video – 1/10th Qualifying Rd4
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAALKvTylhQ[/youtube]
Greiner posts first TQ run in Bologna
World Championship Top Qualifier Dominic Greiner posted his first TQ run of the Euro Nitro Series season opener with the Serpent driver claiming the fifth qualifier in Bologna. Becoming the fourth driver to top the time sheets, only Teemu Leino managing two TQ runs when he was again fastest in Q4, Greiner headed the times by just 0.093 of a second from an impressive Joe Kerry. Having got Day 2 of the event off to a strong start but retiring from Q4, France’s Leo Arnold would post his first Top 3 time.
Not looking like someone who just posted a TQ run, Greiner said his car & engine combo was the worst it’s been around the L.Collari RC Raceway since the start of qualifying but he was more than happy to take the TQ. Making a set-up change for Q5 he said his 748 had too much steering and was lacking corner speed. Also not happy with his engine, for the penultimate round of qualifying he will put his World’s Max engine in the car along with switching from a solid front axle to a diff. The 2014 ENS race winner and top qualifier will also revert to his ‘standard caster set-up’.
Feeling he got a bad set of tyres for the first qualifier of the day, Kerry said this left him struggling in Q3. With a new set for the next run he said his Capricorn was better although the car did suffer a little understeer but working around this he would post the fourth fastest time. Taking off some rear toe and increasing the rear ride height for Q5 the British driver said the changes gave him a ‘really good’ car with him having more steering. His first ENS appearance and on target to put himself directly in the 12-car A-Main grid, he said he was happy to leave the car as is for Q6.
Having found a good set up for Q3 and posting the fourth fastest time unfortunately for Arnold the fourth qualifier would be short lived. On the opening lap the 19-year-old would get caught up in a mistake by defending champion Eric Dankel with his car making heavy contact with the German resulting in a broken front body post mount and a hole in the bodyshell. Fixed for Q5, he said his Orion engine was ‘very good’ and getting 3rd but still needing another strong run he would be leaving everything the same for the second last qualifier.
Having posted the third fastest time in the fourth round, Alessio Mazzeo was on target for his second TQ run but with Leino running on his tail he was asked to give way to the Finn. Obeying the incorrect call, he opened up for the HB driver but then ended up running into his rival. Commenting on the incident afterwards the 23-year-old said they both had ‘the same speed’ and the crash was ‘unfortunate’ for both of them. Just how even they where could be seen in their fastest laps of the race with Mazzeo running a 16.464, fastest lap of the race, compared to Leino’s 16.467. Making a droop change to his Gimar powered 748 for the qualifier the former European Champion said this gave him better steering and he will leave it the same for the next run.
Having made a mistake of his own earlier in the run, Leino wasn’t overly concerned about the incident with Mazzeo. Having found his chassis to be a little tweaked after Q3 he fixed it as well as fitting all new bearings to the car, the former Worlds Top Qualifier said his R10 felt really good as he took it to a TQ run in round 4. With two rounds of qualifying remaining he sits top of the qualification ranking.
Another driver making his ENS debut this weekend is electric touring car ace Viktor Wilck. The new Serpent signing, who has raced a Serpent nitro programme before when he was a Tamiya driver, said Q5 was the first time he finally didn’t have engine issues. Suffering engine cuts, a change of fuel to one with a higher oil content allowed the Swede to complete the full 4-miutes with him able to take his 748 to the 6th fastest time.
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Chassis Focus – Alessio Mazzeo
Chassis – Serpent 748 Natrix TQ
Engine – Gimar Speed .12
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – 2013 European Champion Alessio Mazzeo is making his ENS debut running a pretty stock version of the Serpent’s 200m platform. The Italian’s 748 features an aluminium screw set and brake lever, as well as a hard anodised chassis. The car is also using 1mm spacers to increase the both the front and rear track width.
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Video – 1/8th Qualifying Rd3
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpJXJzSGuV0[/youtube]
Pietsch takes Q3 at ENS
After a ‘disastrous day’ yesterday, Robert Pietsch has bounced back at the Euro Nitro Series season opener in Italy to TQ the third round of qualifying ahead of defending champion Simon Kurzbuch. The Mugen driver & designer was able to open Day 2 with a new fastest time with the Shepherd of Kurzbuch just 2/10ths off. Behind them WRC’s Andrea Pirani is proving mister consistent as he ran another Top 3 qualifier while engines issues left yesterday’s pace setter Dario Balestri to record the 5th fastest time.
‘Super happy to start out so well’ said Pietsch adding he was ‘lucky to be even driving today’. Going for dinner last night with his engine sponsors Alberto & Edo Picco, when the 2012 World Champion came out from the restaurant his road car full with his racing equipment was gone. Presuming his car had been stolen they contacted the police who then tracked it down to a towing company. Parking in a disused petrol station across from the restaurant, the owner on seeing Pietsch park his car via a webcam called a towing company who came and took the car away while Pietsch was eating his dinner. With the yard where his car had been taken to closing for the weekend at midnight there was a scramble to get to the location. Luckily with just 5-minutes to closing they arrived to retrieve his car and his racing equipment. In terms of his Q3 performance, he said the car was really good as it was yesterday and that was highlighted by him recording the fastest lap of the round. Suffering an engine cut in Q1 and crashing in Q2 as he struggled to see his MRX5 in the dark conditions, he said today was his first time to get a clean run and planning to leave it unchanged for the next qualifier he said he hopes he can repeat the run again.
Simon Kurzbuch said while he ‘hoped for a TQ run’ Q3 went ‘very good’. Pointing out that he had no traffic issues he said the 4-minutes were really good. Targeting another strong run in Q4 which would lock him into the A-Main, he said other than fitting a new bumper he would make no changes. Suffering an off during the warm up he said while this damaged the bumper it did not affect the car’s performance for the run.
Pirani declared his latest qualifier as ‘another good run’ although the Italian felt his driving wasn’t perfect as he missed his lines a number of times. With the GTX designer now locked into the A-Main, he will use Q4 to try a different front anti-roll bar as he tries to increase the steering and mid corner speed.
Behind Pirani, Italian Mugen driver Mattia Rinaldi would post the 4th fastest time, half a second up on Balestri’s Capricorn. Taking both qualifiers yesterday, the Balestri struggled with a lean bottom end on his Tesla engine and he had to nurse it through the run.
Rick Vrielijnck completed the Top 6, the Dutch driver one of many in the top heat who just could not see his car in Q2 which due to the effects of rain ended up running in the dark with the track only partially lit by floodlights. With the bad Q2 result, the Mugen/Picco driver said he ‘didn’t push fully’ as he needed another good run. Describing the performance of his car & engine as being ‘still great’, he plans to push harder in Q4. If he can get a good result from that he said he might consider, if the weather permits a fifth round of qualifying, switching from an R18 to a 909 bodyshell.
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Coelho opens Day 2 of ENS with TQ run
Team Xray’s Bruno Coelho got Day 2 of the Euro Nitro Series season opener in Bologna, Italy, underway with a TQ run. The third round of qualifying at the L.Collari RC Raceway, the Portuguese driver set a new fastest time as he outpaced Team Shepherd’s Dirk Wischnewski by 1.6-seconds with Serpent’s Dominic Greiner a further 3/10ths off in third. For yesterday’s pace setters the morning run would see Teemu Leino, who took Q2, post the 5th fastest time with Q1 top qualifier Alessio Mazzeo completing the Top 6.
‘Super good, no mistakes’ was how Coelho summed up his run having had incidents in both qualifiers yesterday. Running new tyres on his Max powered NT1 ’15 for each of his runs, he said other than double check the car set-up before the run the car is still as he ran it from the start of qualifying. Happy with how everything is running, he said the plan is to ‘continue the same’.
Wischnewski said he had a ‘clean run’ but the German felt his Orcan engine was ‘maybe too rich’. The former European Champion admitted he benefited from other guys having issues but overall the performance of the car was ‘fine’. With ‘three ok rounds’ he plans to use the next qualifier to test a lighter front diff adding while not far off he could do with a little more steering from the Velox V10.
Having suffered an engine flame out in Q2, Greiner said ‘overall 3rd not bad’ but the World Championship Top Qualifier was annoyed by a mistake he made on his penultimate lap. On a TQ pace he hit the curbing through the sweeper leading onto the straight losing over 2-seconds. Happy with his 748 the German said he will make an engine change for Q4 as he looks for more power.
Setting the fastest lap of the qualifying in Q3 to post the fourth fastest time, Leo Arnold said the qualifier was ‘not so bad’. The French Capricorn driver said his car was hard to drive yesterday as he had too much steering. Also hampered by traffic in Q1 and then making a mistake in Q2, he said a harder front spring made the car easier to drive in Q3. Happy with the car now he will run it unchanged for the fourth qualifier.
Top Qualifier at last season’s opening race and in contention again this year, HB’s Leino would suffer an early spin at the end of the straight that cost him 3-seconds. Running the car the same as when he TQ’d Q2, he said today his R10 felt tweaked with him having to save it a few times as it broke loose. He will check over the car for Q4 to see if he can pin point the problem.
In the closing stages of the run while in the mix for a second TQ run, Mazzeo would suffer a broken gearbox on his Serpent. Stuck in 2nd gear the 2013 European Champion would finish the run with three 17-second laps dropping him to 6th. Very happy with his 748 up to that point, he said with a new gearbox fitted everything should be good for the next round.
For defending champion Eric Dankel it was a again a poor qualifier but this time the Capricorn driver took full responsibility. Having had car issues yesterday, the German said today his car was really good. Running in the same heat as Arnold, the second fastest group, he was on a TQ pace until the final lap when he made a mistake which he said was completely his own fault. With his ‘car good now’ he said the ‘TQ pace is there’.
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