Balestri again in Q2

Dario Balestri made it two from two on the opening day of the Euro Nitro Series in Bologna when the Capricorn driver overcame difficult conditions to top a late run Q2 from WRC’s Andrea Pirani and the Shepherd of defending champion Simon Kurzbuch.   With rain effecting what was orginally planned to be a day of practice and with more rain forecast for tomorrow, championship organisers were forced to run two qualifiers at the L.Collari RC Raceway but with light fading fast the top heat of 1:8 drivers found themselves running in the dark with only the front side of the track having lighting.  Such was the low light that although 3rd fastest in the top group Francesco Tironi would end up only 8th fastest overall while Robert Pietsch and Lamberto Collari found themselves outside the Top 10 as they struggled with visibility.

‘Very difficult’ was Balestri’s reaction to his second TQ run but the Italian added it was a ‘good first day’ for him.  Struggling to see his car he said he just tried to drive consistently for the 4-minutes as he couldn’t do the same fast lap as in Q1.  With his best lap of Q2, 3/10ths of a second off his fastest lap time of the opening qualifier he said the consistency paid off with him only taking up the TQ pace in the final minute and a half and being the only driver to run 17-laps.

Having set the early pace Pirani said his GTX was working really well and the only problem was the light.  Having improved the tune on his OS Speed engine he said he had a better feel with the car and hoping for a ‘dry daylight run tomorrow’ the car’s designer will just continue with an unchanged package.

Having ran out of fuel in Q1, Kurzbuch was able to go the full distance this time around having switched to a different Novarossi engine.  The Swiss driver said ‘conditions were very hard for drivers with it nearly too dark but I’m happy with third’.  He said while he was slower because of the light the power from his second engine was good and he will continue with it.  Hopeful of getting dry running tomorrow he said he had a few small set-up changes to his Velox V8 he planned on trying.

Having had traffic issues in Q1, BP Racing’s Mirko Salemi would have a strong second qualifier to post the fourth fastest time.  Making a number of tweaks to the set-up on his RS4, the Italian said this also contributed to the improved pace.  Running a Novarossi Vertus engine but feeling he needs more bottom end power for tomorrow he will consider switching to a Keep On unit.

Swiss driver Silvio Hachler, who for 2015 has switched to Mugen, would post 5th for the round.  Making small set-up changes to his MRX-5, the World Championship finalist said ‘it was too dark for him to tell if they made any difference.

Veteran racer Stefano Solaroli would complete the Top 6 half a second up on the Capricorn of Kyle Branson.  Running a Picco powered Shepherd, this is the Italian’s first race with the Velox V8 and he said it ‘feels really good’.  Although not his home track he said he knows it very well and this is a big help when running a new car.  Changing to a much heavier front rollbar for Q2 he said the car was able to carry better corner speed and he hopes to be able to build on his performance tomorrow.

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Leino takes Q2 in Bologna

Having lost out on a TQ run after he was blocked by a backmarker on the final lap of the opening qualifier, Teemu Leino was able to run a clean Q2 at the Euro Nitro Series in Bologna to top the times from Bruno Coelho.  Finishing 1.2-seconds clear of the Xray driver, the result sees the HB driver end Day 1 of the season opener as the provisional overnight Top Qualifier as rain again looks set to affect proceedings tomorrow.  With the second qualifier resulting in a DNF for reigning champion Eric Dankel, it was British driver Joe Kerry who completed the Top 3 ahead of Q1 pace setter Alessio Mazzeo.

Leino said unlike many of his rivals who ran their Q1 tyres for a second time he went with a new set of the handout Matrix tyres adding for now he is happy how that approach has played out.  Admitting that small tyres would probably be faster, the Finn’s plans for tomorrow’s Q3 are to stay the same but he added depending on if future qualifiers can be run, the local weather giving rain for the afternoon, he might test something different with a view to the finals.

Challenging Leino for the TQ pace, Coelho said his NT1’15 was ‘super good’ but he was ‘unlucky’.  Running behind Alessio Mazzeo, he would crash into him when the Italian suffered a spin, the incident costing him a chance at a TQ run.  Having had a mistake in Q1, the Portuguese star said ‘the speed is there and I just need a bit of luck’.  Hagberg said it was a day ‘everything went wrong’.  Describing his cars as undrivable in Q1 he said he managed to improve it for the second run but in this he had a clutch issue which left him 11th fastest.  He says he hoped tomorrow would be dry long enough for him to get in some competitive heats.

Having ran on used tyres for Q1 which left the rear of his Capricorn very lose, Kerry went for fresh tyres in Q2 saying it felt much better.  With a poor first round, the 23-year-old said he played it safe for Q2 and he was ‘happy with 3rd’.  His first ENS outing, for tomorrow he said he will probably make a set-up change to his OS Speed powered LAB C03 as he would like to have more onpower steering.  For Capricorn’s lead factory driver Dankel, the round would see the German struggle with his gearbox changing up with the delayed shift resulting in him getting collected by a following car and he missed the start as the car flamed out and suffered a broken body post.

Another driver to have problems in the warm-up as a crash broke a rear tyre, Mazzeo would manage to get fourth.  Having to replace the broken tyre with a brand new one, the Italian said this made his Serpent difficult at the start of the 4-minutes leading to a number mistakes. By the end it was good with him again setting the fastest lap improving on his Q1 lap time by over 1/10th of a second. For his Serpent team-mate Dominic Greiner, having set the fastest opening lap of the heat, an engine flame out would end his chances on lap 2.  Rejoining the race after losing over a minute, he said his 748 was very good and he hopes with a higher idle setting he will get the chance to run a good second qualifier tomorrow if it stays dry.

Fifth fastest for the round, Dirk Wischnewski said harder shocks improved his Shepherd but he messed up with a mistake.  Clipping the curbing he said this unsettled his Orcan powered Velox V10 and trying to stay off the grass he lost a couple of seconds.  Encouraged that the speed is now there he said he would wait and see what tomorrow brings before deciding his game plan.

Completing the Top 6, Jilles Groskamp said things started off good but in the final 2-minutes he would suffer a spin through he sweeper leading onto the straight.  Losing almost 3-seconds as result, he said while not sure why it spun out, the corner has been a problem area for his car.  Feeling there is a small tweak in his R10 but having checked the chassis and it is straight he said maybe the problem is in the rear rollbar which he will change for tomorrow. Also running 1:8 this weekend, the former European Champion said this is proving a challenge in terms of keeping on top of the finer details of the car’s maintenance.

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Euro Nitro Series Rd1 – Friday Action

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vLye4UAz4c[/youtube]

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Balestri TQs first 1:8 qualifier at ENS

Making the switch to 1:8 for this season’s Euro Nitro Series, a number of key drivers changing over as it is a 1:8 World Championship year, Dario Balestri has topped the opening round of qualifying at L.Collari RC Raceway. Racing at the home track of Lamberto Collari, the 2014 ENS 200mm race winner TQ’d the first qualifier of a rain affected day by 0.360 of a second from the 9-time World Champion with WRC’s Andrea Pirani completing the Top 3.  For last year’s title protagonists Simon Kurzbuch and Robert Pietsch the round would see them both have engine issues.  For Pietsch a flame out on his out lap cost the Mugen driver a run while Kurzbuch’s engine would run out of fuel on the last lap however such was the champions pace he managed to get the 6th fastest time.

Setting the fastest lap on the way to taking the qualifier, Balestri was clearly happy at having taken the TQ from Collari in his own backyard.  The Capricorn driver said other than his 2nd gear coming in a bit late everything else was ‘all ok’ and he was ‘happy’.  Planning to adjust his gearbox the Italian said other than this he would just run the car as is for Q2 which is set to bring Day 1 of the event to a close.

Making some small changes to his OS Speed powered Mugen, Collari said while it felt pretty good it was better in the morning’s free practice. Having ran a 6mm chassis on his MRX5 yesterday which he said improves the car for the high grip conditions, following the overnight rain and the overcast day he reverted the car back to a kit standard spec.  Very happy with the run time from his engine, for Q2 he plans to ‘try something different’ in terms of the car set-up adding it will be through small tweaks rather than anything too significant.

Pirani was very happy with his performance considering he finished with a stripped front belt and came close to an engine cut on the third lap.  ‘Really happy’ with the performance of his WRC chassis, he said his OS engine was set too lean and coming onto the straight for the third time he had to come off the throttle to keep it running which lost him valuable 1/10ths of a second.  Happy to keep it going he said he drove the rest of the race controlling full throttle on the radio. Not making any set-up changes for Q2, the Italian is very confident for the next run.

Having not raced 1:8 since last year’s European Championship, Francesco Tironi described his 4th fastest time as ‘not bad’.  Still trying to find his rhythm with the 1:8, having finished 3rd overall the ENS last season in 200mm, he said Q1 was like a test for him.  Making the move to XRD engines for 2015, he said he was very happy with how they ran and while he would like to try a longer 2nd gear he said to be safe he will leave everything as is for Q2 and if that goes well he will change the ratio for tomorrow.

Mugen’s Rick Vrielijnck said he went for an ‘easy run to have a finish’ and he was pleased to end up 5th fastest.  Not quite sure of the run time from his Picco engine around the power circuit he said this was also a factor in him taking it easy but afterwards he said he had plenty of fuel left so he now knows he can push much harder in the second qualifier.  The Dutch driver said he is also driving the track ‘better and better every run’ so things are looking good.

‘I think I am very fast but the tank was empty on the last lap’, that was Kurzbuch summary of things.  The Swiss ace said said both his Velox and Novarossi engine where great but the engine is using too much fuel.  For Q2 says he expects to change to a different engine to try make the 4-minutes.

Former World Champion and ENS instigator Pietsch will also make an engine change for the second qualifier. The Mugen designer said his Picco engine flamed out and on checking things afterward everything looks fine including the glowplug.  Looking to allow a gap to build up between himself and the car starting ahead of him he said he didn’t throttle the car and this was the problem but as a precaution they will change engine.

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Video – 1/10th Qualifying Rd1

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-fOwbHxYEk[/youtube]

Mazzeo takes opening ENS qualifier

2013 European Champion Alessio Mazzeo has TQ’d the opening round of 200mm qualifying at the Euro Nitro Series season opener in Bologna, Italy.  With rain affecting the schedule for the first official day of the event, when qualifying did get underway on a dry track it was the championship debutant who put his Serpent at the top of the times.  Just 0.185 behind, last year’s Round 1 Top Qualifier Teemu Leino would post the second fastest time with the Top 3 being completed by Mazzeo’s Serpent team-mate Dominic Greiner.  It was a poor start to qualifying for reigning Champion Eric Dankel and World Champion Alexander Hagberg as they managed only the 9th and 19th fastest times respectively.

‘A good start’ was Mazzeo’s reaction, the 23-year-old highlighting the fact that this is his first outing in the ENS.  With all drivers starting out on a brand new set of Matrix tyres, the Italian company the official tyre supplier for Round 1, the Italian said as a result the traction at the start was not perfect on the large tyres but over the run his Gimar powered 748 improved.  Asked if the rain had affected the track in any way he said for him it was the same as yesterday when drivers tested in sunny conditions.  For Q2, which is hoped to run today as more rain is forecast for tomorrow, he said as he is ‘very happy’ with his car he will leave it unchanged.

Using some colourful language to describe a driver that delayed him on the final lap of the qualifier costing him the TQ, Leino said other than this he was happy with the run and the important thing was he has a good run to his credit should the weather take a turn.  Describing his R10 as feeling good, the Finn said the track is ‘an engine track’ and in that department everything was working well too.

Greiner wasn’t happy with his run and in particular with his own driving.  The World Championship Top Qualifier said while his 748 had a little oversteer, a few small mistakes over the 4-minutes were down to him not driving well.  While the car got better he said the ‘oversteer was not much’ and for Q2 he will only make a weight distribution adjustment to the weights positioned in the chassis under the tank.  ‘Always looking for more power’, the German said his engine was a little too rich so there should also be improvement from getting this right for the next run.

Running Xray’s new NT1’15, Bruno Coelho posted the 4th fastest time.  The Portuguese star, who has been at the L.Collari RC Raceway all week for testing, described his car and Max engine as ‘super good’ but a mistake cost him a Top 3 for the round.  Happy to run the car as is for Q2 he will just focus on trying to tidy up his driving and making a clean run.

Setting the fifth fastest time Jilles Groskamp said ‘it was just a steady run’.  His first nitro outing with his new HB team, the Dutch ace said after a lot of trouble with his set-up on arriving at the track, a switch to Leino’s shock set-up for Q1 improved the car a lot.  Finding the race tyres to have more traction than the sets he used in practice, he said for a first run it was ‘not bad’ and ‘step by step’ they were making progress.

Completing the Top 6 was Dirk Wischnewski.  The Shepherd driver said it was a ‘difficult run’ with traction an issue for the former European Champion.  Describing his pace as ‘just too slow’, he said the track felt like it had less traction than in practice and he also looked to have less traction than the other cars on track. To try improve this he will try a little harder shock set-up for Q2.

Having been right on the pace in practice yesterday, Dankel said his Capricorn was ‘super slow’ in Q1 with the car suffering from understeer. With his Tesla engine also going rich towards the end of the run, the German said the only thing he can put the lack of pace down to is the fitting of a new bodyshell.  Suffering a heavy crash in practice but seeing out the day with the damaged body he said he fitted a new Protoform SRS to his car for qualifying but for some reason it brought in understeer.  For Q2 he said he will revert back to his rather secondhand looking SRS bodyshell.

Hagberg was clearly frustrated with his car, the factory Xray driver saying ‘I can’t even drive it in a straight line’.  Struggling with the car he said this led to a couple of mistakes one of which lost him more than 10-seconds. With the issue developing in practice yesterday he said there is ‘something wrong’ with the car as he hasn’t been able to get the car in any way drivable.

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