Teemu Leino wins ENS season opener in Italy
Teemu Leino has taken the win today in the 1/10th scale class at the opening round of the Euro Nitro Series in Bologna after rain caused a long delay in the day’s proceedings. The Finn took the victory from a hard charging Alessio Mazzeo, with pole man Leo Arnold having to settle for the final podium spot in 3rd after the he ran out of tires at the very end of the race. Thilo Todtmann would take 4th for Shepherd with Jilles Groskamp finishing up in 5th. Asked about his race win the Infinity driver simply said ‘the race was good’, noting that they changed their planned tire strategy during the race, going from an outside only tire stop to a full tire stop, after he felt that the track was more abrasive following the morning rain. Very pleased with the performance of his IF15, Leino was also quick to credit the very fast fuel and tire stops by his pitman Felix for him being able to take the lead in the 30 minute final. Running in 3rd for a very long time, his tire strategy played out in the final 5 minutes as he was able to pass both Mazzeo and Arnold within 1 lap of each other and go onto win the race even though he too began to run out of tires at the very end.
Xray driver Mazzeo finished in a very close 2nd place, less than 1 second behind his Finnish rival, and despite not winning after having lead close to the midway point of the final was happy with his performance. Under some serious pressure at the start of the final from a number of drivers the Italian was happy to keep his concentration despite having to defend so rigorously. Noting that he had a small gearbox problem during the race that saw his NT1 stuck in 2nd gear for most of the run, with the size of the gap at the end of the 30 minutes, without the issue, and with his tire strategy perfect, he felt he could have taken the win.
A disappointed Leo Arnold, ended the race in a lonely 3rd having looked very fast all weekend including the A-main, but a risky tire strategy as well as higher than expected wear saw the Xray driver run out of tires completely on the last laps. Changing only right side tires at 10 minutes, while his competitors changed all 4 at 15 minutes, it at first looked as though the strategy would work but having checked the tires following the final, the Frenchman found that he had 3mm more than expected and so was losing a second a lap on his rivals as the final came to an end. Despite the result, Leo was able to happy to take his first ENS podium and with this performance is very confident for the season ahead.
Taking 4th place, Shepherd driver Thilo Todtmann said ‘everything went great’ especially considering the German crashed heavily in the warmup for the final. With another racer calling a 10 minute delay, he was able to get the car fixed just in time and afterwards the ‘race went as expected’, concluding that ‘4th was the maximum today’. Fifth would go the Jilles Groskamp, the Dutchman needing a retune of his Max Power engine during the first stop, which combined with a messy tires stop that lost him 10 seconds on his rivals, meant his race was compromised from the start. Melvin Diekmann would complete the top half of field.
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Rain stops all action in Bologna
The rain expected to fall after lunch today in Bologna arrived early just as the 1/10th B main was reaching the halfway point. With it now expected to continue until midday the organisers have taken the decision to delay all on-track action until 2pm in the hope that the rain will stop and to give the L.Collari RC Raceway some time to dry before continuing with the re-run of the 1/10th B main. The two remaining lower mains will be shortened from 20 to 15 minutes with the A-mains now all set for 30 minutes in place of 45 minutes.
Leo Arnold claims his first ENS pole position
Taking his 3rd TQ run in Q4 of 1/10th qualifying, Leo Arnold put the pole position starting spot out of the reach of his rivals, the Xray driver dominant this weekend so far save for his Q2 collision with a slowing Teemu Leino. Jilles Groskamp will start directly behind the French man tomorrow with Alessio Mazzeo, Eduardo Escandon and Teemu Leino completing the top half of the grid. ‘My first TQ, I am very happy, the hard work pays off’ was how Leo described his qualifying, continuing ‘my car is easy for the final, if I want to push I can push’. With his father checking over the tires from qualifying, they will make a final decision on tire strategy once they have all the data, no changes to his NT1 planned.
Pleased to secure 2nd but disappointed that they weren’t able to rectify an engine tuning problem in the last two rounds of qualifying, Jilles Groskamp used the final heat to practice his fuel stops with mechanic Armin after it was immediately apparent the tune was once again not good. With the engine now with Max Fantini to see if they can find the problem with his race motor, the Dutchman will have tomorrow’s A-main practice to see if the issue has been solved.
Despite a ‘stupid mistake’ at the start of the heat when he half spun his car just before the loop, Mazzeo was able to recover and take 2nd in Q4 and secure 3rd on the grid. Very happy with the pace of his Xray for the final, he will look for a little bit more steering in tomorrow’s A-main practice. Quick to congratulate his team mate Arnold, the Italian was very happy for his team, saying that they have been working a lot together to get the best from the new car.
‘I think it was OK’ was Eduardo Escandon’s description of his qualifying performance, the Spaniard feeling they are still missing the last little bit. Changing a number of things for the final run, the aim is to make the car more comfortable for the final. Teemu Leino ended qualifying with two 3rd place finishes from the first and last qualifier to end up in 5th with Thilo Tödtmann, Melvin Diekmann, Jakub Rozycki, Leonardo Varga and Sergi Franch Codina from Spain completing the main final direct qualifiers.
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ENS Rd1 TQ goes to Simon Kurzbuch
Getting off to the best possible start to regain his ENS title, Simon Kurzbuch has taking the bonus TQ point here in Italy as the only person who could take that away from him, Dario Balestri, was unable to better the time of his Swiss counterpart despite taking the final round. Dominic Greiner would take 2nd for the round to seal 4th overall on the grid, while starting ahead of him will be Carmine Raiola who was unable to better his Q1 and 2 results. Robert Pietsch will set off for tomorrow’s 45 minute A-main from 5th, ahead of fellow World Champion Lamberto Collari, who starts his home race in 6th. Simon, who took the TQ on tie break due to his blistering Q3 run, said he pushed hard at the start of Q4 to be in a position to respond to Dario but receiving the information over the radio from his father that the Infinity driver wouldn’t be able to beat him, he pulled off the track. Checking the forecast for tomorrow he will prepare his car as normal and maybe make some small changes if any rain is expected.
Starting 2nd despite 2 TQ runs, Balestri simply said it was super hot and therefore he was unable to improve. Asked whether he can take the race to Simon tomorrow, the World Champion and current ENS Champion replied that he ‘absolutely’ has the pace to compete the Simon, continuing that the ‘car is easy and stable to drive, perfect for the final’.
Carmine Raiola had a difficult Q3 and with his results from Q1 and Q2 locking him into 3rd spot, he used Q4 to run-in a new conrod in preparation for tomorrow’s main event. The Infinity driver says he’s now ready for the final and will ‘see tomorrow how it goes’. Asked about tire stops, the Bologna track particularly heavy on right side tires, the Italian replied that most of his competitors will do at least 2 stops and so he will look to see if he can do just a single stop.
Having started qualifying in the worst possible way, being taken out, Saturday’s 3 qualifiers showed marked improvement for the former 1/10th World Champion Dominic Greiner. Ending qualifying with a 2nd, the German simply said ‘only 1/10th behind Dario, not so bad for a 1/10 driver’. Admitting to be being somewhat confused when Kurzbuch opened the door to let him through, he made some small mistakes but overall is very pleased with his Serpent 988 commenting that ‘the car is getting better as it gets hotter’.
Robert Pietsch used Q4 to test some setup changes but admitted afterwards that it had not worked out. Planning to revert to his Q3 setup for the final, he mentioned as others have that when running close behind another car that you lose front grip and so if you steer more to compensate you in turn lose speed on the straight making it very difficult to pass. Another to comment on the large tire wear, the 2011 WC believes that after 15 minutes the outside tires are finished and so we should expect 2 stops.
In the 40+ class, it was Andrea Hachler who took Q1 and 3 to take the overall class TQ ahead of Shepherd driver Andreas Giesa from Germany in 2nd, while reigning class champion Arie Manten from the Netherlands will start his title defence from 3rd.
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