D’hondt claims first ENS win in thrilling season opener

Robin D’hondt has claimed his first ever ENS victory today in the Netherlands, the Capricorn driver securing victory ahead of three of the 1:8 Onroad’s greatest drivers.  Starting from fifth on the grid, the Belgian was able to capitalise on others hitting trouble but when they came back at him he kept is nerve together with running a flawless race both on the track and in the pits.  Top Qualifier Simon Kurzbuch looked like he was on another of his Sunday drives but coming up to his second fuel stop the Shepherd driver’s car stopped.  This allowed the Infinity of Dario Balestri to move to the front but he would have problems on his first tyre stop with a stray tyre in the pitlane which he thought had come from his car.  All the while D’hondt was there to take control, and while Kurzbuch somehow recovered the 2-laps he lost early on, the European Champion kept the ENS Champion at bay.  With thrilling battles throughout the race for the podium positions, Silvio Hächler in the mix until hitting problems, when all the final pitstops were done & dusted, the final 4-minutes would produce a great battle for second between Kurzbuch and Balestri, the latter holding off his rival.  With Lamberto Collari a part of the battle but getting caught at the line he would just miss the podium.

‘It was a good race’, was D’hondt’s reaction after the race.  The quiet Belgian continued, ‘at the first fuel stop I could feel we were at the last of the tank so for the rest of the race I didn’t push only when I had to.  I was surprised Simon came so close given the problems he had but everything went perfect with the pitstops. It was a great job by my crew’. On his car, he said, ‘It felt really easy to drive throughout the final. My engine was a little rich but it was OK’.  Notching up his first ENS win, when asked if he now had title ambitions he replied, ‘due to work I can’t drive all the rounds but today was really nice to drive these drivers’ – those drivers being the current World Champion, his predecessor and a 9-time World Champion .

Balestri said, ‘We had many problems in the pits.  In my first tyre stop I hit a tyre in the pitlane and thought it was mine. Then in the second tyre stop there was trouble from my pit crew’.  On hitting a tyre of another driver in the pitlane in the first stop, the Italian stopped at the exit of the lane thinking it was from his car and was brought back to his pit space costing him a lot of time.  Despite his dramas in the pits, Balestri said, ‘It was a fun race with many overtaking and at the end we finished the weekend competitive.  I have to thank Kenji-San for giving me this opportunity to race’.

‘The first 4-minutes was perfect but then all of a sudden we ran out of fuel before the second stop’, explained Kurzbuch after the race.  The Swiss driver continued, ‘It took quite a long time to get back to the pit because there was no marshal where I stopped.  After this I just tried to come back as best I can’.  Dropping to the tail of the field, he would put in an impressive recovery before being hampered by a broken body in the final stages of the race. Having already made two ‘good’ full tyre stops, he said, ‘the body got broken on the curbs and was touching the ground so we had to make an extra stop for right side tyres only and that cost me the battle for the win’.

‘Tight’ was Collari’s reaction on missing out on an extra lap to battle for second by 6/10ths of a second.  The Infinity driver  continued, ‘At the start I crashed with other guys and the body came out’.  Stuck under the right side he opted to wait until his first fuel stop to fix it but by that time had already gone a lap down to Kurzbuch.  He said the race was about ‘recovery’ after that.  Behind him, team-mate Chavit Saligupta would complete a great weekend by claiming 5th Hächler, Merlin Depta and Jeffrey Rietveld. Surprise of the weekend, unfortunately a flame out denied us the chance to see Rietveld’s full potential but the Serpent driver was well in the mix for a podium before hand.

In the new for 2018 season 1:8 40+ class, the Dutch had plenty of reason to celebrate with Arie Manten completing the perfect weekend.  Taking the TQ, the Infinity driver would put in a dominant performance in the final to win ahead of fellow countryman Martin Zevenhoven driving a Serpent.  Having qualified 2nd, Denmark’s Bo Nielsen lost 2nd early in the race but held on to complete the Round 1 podium with his Infinity.

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Chassis Focus – Alessio Mazzeo

Chassis – Xray NT1 2018
Engine –Gimar Race 2018
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark Precut

Remarks – Claiming the TQ at the ENS Season opener, Alessio is running a ‘straight from the box to the track’ 2018 version of the NT1.  On whether he is running any optional parts he replied, ‘it all original. The box comes full of the option parts’.

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Chassis Focus – Dominic Greiner

Chassis – Serpent Matrix 748 WC
Engine –Novarossi WCS
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – Xtreme Avenge

Remarks – The World Champion is running an almost standard car with upgrades being an aluminium throttle arm, chassis weights and titanium screws in the top of the car.  Another optional on the car is aluminium clutch bell.

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Chassis Focus – Jilles Groskamp

Chassis – Infinity IF15
Engine – SMJ Kabuto
Fuel – RunnerTime
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark

Remarks – Taking his first ever ENS race win on the IF15’s ENS debut, Jilles is running what is effectively a pre-production version of Infinity’s new nitro touring car kit.  With many of the moulds already in production compared to their previous car the IF15 is far more Infinity.  Jilles pointed out, ‘the production car will be really close to what we have now. We are using our own clutch, our own gearbox and even our own (fuel) tank.  Everything is almost Infinity now except the diffs (Xray) and pulleys (Capricorn).

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Groskamp opens ENS season with first win

Jilles Groskamp has opened the 2018 Infinity Euro Nitro Series in the Netherlands with his first ever win of the championship.  Despite being the 2016 Champion, a title that came from consistency, the Dutch driver claimed the win in Rucphen with a perfect strategy while his rivals hit problems. Top Qualifier Alessio Mazzeo would quickly struggle with an engine problem dropping him off the earlier lead. Having quickly worked his way from fifth on the grid, World Champion Dominic Greiner would also have a similar faith after looking like he was about to dominate proceedings. Eventually retiring from the final, the race was a continuation of what was to be an ‘unlucky’ weekend for the pre-season favourite. With their rivals out of contention, the race turned into a battle between Groskamp and his Infinity team-mate Teemu Leino but with the INS box knocked off in the previous fuel stop the Finn’s engine ran lean resulting in plug failure. In the end it would be WRC Racing’s Melvin Diekmann who would take second with Eduardo Escandon, who had clutch issues in the second half the race having lead for a time, completing the Round 1 podium. While Mazzeo would cross the line third, when Diekmann was reinstated missed laps, the Xray driver was classified 4th ahead of 1:10 rookie Lamberto Collari.

‘It is really nice to win my first ENS in Holland.  The new car was great this weekend’, was the reaction of Groskamp.  He continued, ‘the race started really good but then I back off behind Alessio until he had a problem.  I tried to stay ahead but Dominic was fast and I didn’t know what strategy he was on so when he made a pass down my inside I let him go.  I then just planned to keep in touch but at 15-minute I could feel the car was getting loose so I made the call to stop for tyres at 20-minutes but that meant I would have to run 25-minutes on my second set.  I then started to have trouble with my throttle finger which start to go numb so I was trying to stretch out my arms to get the feeling back.  I looked it was going to be a battle to the end between me and Teemu but he flamed out but then I had to deal with a lot of traffic and even on the last lap Lamberto spin in front of me and I hit him.  Anyway in the end we had good pace and a good strategy and I am super happy to get the win’.

Somewhat in disbelieve that he finished 2nd, Diekmann said, ‘I’m very happy.  I don’t believe that this could happen at the beginning of the weekend’.  The 19-year-old German continued, ‘the car was awesome, the pitstops were awesome. Everything was awesome.  I have to say a big thanks to my dad and Tim (Benson) for the tyres stop’.  Asked about his strategy he said we planned to stop for tyres half way and fuel at 4:30, it was all perfect.  The only problem in the race was at 10-minutes when I had one mistake and went off at the end of the straight’.

‘I’m not 100% happy’, was how Escandon summed up his 3rd place.  The Shepherd driver added, ‘the first half was the best race ever. I was behind Dominic and could take the lead but after the tyre change the clutch was gone and after that I just tried to go to the end.’  On the clutch issue he said, ‘I was only getting second gear on the straight nowhere else. I pushed to get second gear in the field but started making mistakes’.  Now an established 1:10 front runner, the Spaniard, who is now in his 2nd season with Shepherd, said, ‘for sure we are much more competitive now so I am looking forward to the next one’.

Having opened the season with his first ever ENS TQ, Mazzeo said, ‘for sure it was a bad race’.  The personable Italian continued, ‘we had too much problems with the engine which lost us too much time in the pits. We don’t know what the problem is because the first 6-laps all was OK’.  The Xray driver concluded, ‘After all the hard work to arrive a 4th is very disappointing’.

Making his first ever 1:10 race this weekend, Collari said, ‘As a first time, finishing 5th is like a small win but I have a bit cheated because another driver hit me and I had to pit for the body’.  He continued, ‘for the conditions I think we made the best strategy. I started 8th, was 3rd most of the race and was 2nd near the end. I can’t do better’. Asked if he would race 1:10 again the 9-time 1:8 World Champion didn’t give a definitive yes or no answer but with this a 1:10 World Championship year he did hint he might be interested in making the trip to Miami later in the year.

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