Chassis Focus – Naoto Matsukura

Chassis – Infinity
Engine – OS Speed 2102R Gold Edition
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – MR33
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform R18

Remarks – 4 time EP World Champion Naoto Matsukura is running 1/8th scale for just the 2nd time, the decision to attend the ENS made only last weekend at the ETS in Italy. Given a car with a setup from 1/8th specialist Takaaki Shimo, seeing that 1/8th is very similar to his specialist class 1/12th scale, he made his own changes to the Infinity car to get more steering such as harder rear sway bar and more caster in front and now really enjoys driving the car around the very technical Mulhouse track. Also trying different bodyshells he tried the R19 from Protoform in practice but found the R18 was more stable in the corners.

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Leroux & Thurston bump for first ENS A-Main start

Quentin Leroux and Alex Thurston complete the 1:10 A-Main grid at the season opener of the Euro Nitro Series in Mulhouse, France, after bumping up from the B-Main.  Joining the back of the 12 car grid it will be both drivers’ first time to make the A-Main at an ENS event, this the championship’s 13 events since its creation in 2014.  Starting from 2nd on the grid, Leroux’s Capricorn would take an early lead from the Xray of pole sitter Marco Kaufmann, the Frenchman only dropping off the lead during fuel stops.  Starting out on a 4-minute fuel strategy, the 25-year-old would switch to 5-minute stops for his Orion engine but said afterwards the biggest challenge was the tyre wear.  Describing his car as difficult due to the fact it ‘uses a lot of tyres’, he said with a gap over second place he could drive ‘safe’ to get to the end of the 20-minute encounter.

While Leroux was making his own race out front, there was a good battle for second between Thurston and Kaufmann but with 3-minutes to go Kaufmann would have to pit for fuel allowing Thurston to take second. Despite a charge from the German, Thurston kept his position to the end.  Commenting on the race, the 18-year-old, said, ‘I had a messy start and I got a body tuck and then ended up the grass which left me half a lap down but I kept my head in it’.  Having been signed up to Serpent’s factory team this year, the result is a huge boost for the British driver who wanted to thank his father Martin who he said has been working hard on his pit stop technique.  The improved stops he said was key to the bump up given the start to the race he had had.  On tyres Thurston said, ‘I expected it to be worse especially as I was pushing the whole race.  They lasted pretty well’.  Along with Kaufmann other ENS A-Main Finalist’s whose event ended in the B-Main included 2016 podium finishers Patrick Nähr and Joe Kerry.

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Chassis Focus – Leo Arnold

Chassis – Xray NT1 2017
Engine – Orion R12
Fuel – Energy
Tires (handout) – MR33
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/SRT
Body – SRC Spark

Remarks – Top French racer and local track specialist Leo Arnold is running the 2017 NT1 from Xray. Having done extensive testing prior to the ENS, he received new flex parts just ahead of the race and so had to change his setup completely. Moving to a harder rear spring and shorter front spring, he also made changes to the shock position. The new flex parts include updated rear bulkheads and a new chassis plate that allows the mounting of a brace in the front, the result being a car that is more stable in direction change.

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Coelho on pole for ENS season opener

Bruno Coelho will again start a new season of the Euro Nitro Series from pole.  Having TQ’d Round 1 in Italy last year, the Xray driver is the 1:10 Top Qualifier on the championship’s first visit to Mulhouse in France. The Portuguese driver was somewhat helped by his team-mate Leo Arnold, as the French driver took the fourth & final round of qualifying ahead of the Shepherd of Eduardo Escandon.  Having TQ’d the second qualifier, the Spaniard was the only one who could deny Coelho the overall TQ and he came close to jumping position at the top of the timing screens with Arnold. Setting the fastest lap of the heat, Arnold would get the job done to secure second on the grid for his home race with Escandon third.  Behind, Kyle Branson, Eric Dankel and reigning champion Teemu Leino complete the top half of what will become a 12 car grid once the Top 2 in the B-Main get bumped up.

Putting his P3 in the final qualifier down to a number of mistakes, Coelho was happy to kick off his first nitro race of 2017 with the TQ but went on to air a level of caution for the final due to the high tyre wear.  He said, ‘the final will be difficult and for sure there will be 2 stops, there is no other way’.  Highlighting the higher chances of a 1:10 tyre change going wrong as a result of the wheel nuts, he said his plan for the ‘long race’ was to ‘drive smooth’.  He continued he would try to make no mistakes as ‘one flip and you can break the tyre’.

Describing his car as ‘super good’ for Q4, Arnold said changing the front shock position on his NT1 had made it more stable on braking and it was ‘now ready for the final’.  A driver who has the most experience of the track, Mulhouse his home track, he said deciding tyre strategy was the main thing for tomorrow. Undecided on how many changes to make, needing to still check his tyre wear, he expects most drivers will have to make 2 if not 3 stops but still needs to weigh up the risk of an extra stop.  Highlighting the length of pit lane and its tricky exit he joked he also needs to get his father training hard to change wheels for tomorrow.

Coming very close to the TQ, a very happy looking Escandon summed up Q4 with ‘I was too nervous this one’.  The Spaniard’s best qualifying performance of the ENS, he said, ‘I have a really good car and feel really comfortable so I will try to keep it clean tomorrow’.  On strategy for the final, he said, ‘We will test in the final practice and calculate how much wear but I already know that we will have to make more than 1 stop for sure’.  Wishing to thank his Coten Escuderia team, the Shepherd driver added, ‘the pitlane is dangerous and if you try to go fast out it could destroy the car so I will be sure to control my speed’.

Qualifying fourth, the qualifiers not ending as strongly as it had started, Branson said, ‘when I try to find more steering the rear is too loose and when I try to fix that I have no steering’. The Capricorn driver continued, ‘I’m a little bit behind the other guys going into the final but I hope to get it figured out in the final practice.  The car is ok to run the final but just isn’t fast enough’.  One thing he plans to try in practice is moving the mounting of his bodyshell and the position of the wing.

Changing to a softer front diff for Q4 and getting a P4, Dankel said ,’it definitely gave me more steering but it was difficult to drive so I’m not sure if I will use it in the final’.  A two time ENS race winner, the Mugen driver feels the key to tomorrow’s final is ‘we need to make good tyre changes’.  Predicting ‘everyone needs to change at least 2-times’, he concluded ‘its a long final so everything can happen’.

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Kurzbuch claims first point of new season with ENS France TQ

Simon Kurzbuch has notched up the first championship point of his title defence by securing the overall TQ at the Euro Nitro Series season opener in France.  The Shepherd driver went into the final qualifier up against unexpected TQ challenger Bruno Coelho with the Xray driver needing to take the round. A super close encounter at the end of the 4-minutes however it was Toni Gruber that would post the TQ run ahead of Naoto Matsukura confirming Kurzbuch’s 5th ENS career TQ.  For Gruber, his TQ run will result in him starting in the position he finished up in last season’s overall standings as he demoted ENS debutant Matsukura to a still impressive 4th on the grid.  Former champion Robert Pietsch would make for a very diverse line up of cars at the front of the grid as his Mugen will occupy 5th on the grid ahead of last year’s vice Champion Dario Balestri.

‘It is a great way to start the first race.  The performance of the whole team has been great’, was how Kurzbuch’s reacted to being Top Qualifier at the season opener for the first time.  Commenting on the final qualifier, the defending two time ENS Champion said, ‘the first 3-minutes was good, it was really close between 3-4 cars but then I made a little mistake and Matsukura was right behind me so I let him passed so he could TQ, I knew I only had to watch Bruno.  In the end Toni won which is great for him’. Looking ahead to tomorrow evening’s 45-minute final, his pitman & father Christian known for being one of the best in the pitlane, Kurzbuch said, ‘The tyre wear is high so I think this gives some room for different strategies’.  He continued, ‘Fuel consumption is very low here so that also allows for a different strategy’ adding, ‘the pitlane is very long here so thats a factor as you will earn more time if you can do less stops and on the exit it is very easy to damage your tyres or body’.  On the number of tyres stops he expects to do, the World Champion simply replied ‘100% more than one’.  In terms of his changes to his car, he said he was ‘not sure yet but probably I will change the rear roll centre to give me a more stable car on small tyres’.

Commenting on his career best 1:8 qualifying, Coelho said, ‘Its a great result as I haven’t raced 1:8 since last ENS’.  He continued, ‘Fighting with the guys who always race nitro is the perfect result for our new car’.  On his final qualifier, he said, ‘I tried to force too much which cause me to lose control a few times but it was super close’.  On his strategy for the final, he joked, ‘I don’t have so much experience so we will have to try copy some of the other’s strategy’.  He continued, ‘The tyre wear is quite high so our strategy is super important but my engine has good power and run time so I think in this area we are OK’.

‘To qualify third overall is a good start with a new team’, was Gruber’s reaction.  The WRC driver said other than change to a new body which was the same type as the one he ran in the earlier qualifiers his car was unchanged but for him the grip was better than in Q3 allowing him to TQ.  Asked about the final, the 21-year-old replied, ‘I guess I will try to have fun with the car’.  On tyre consumption he said one stop would be ‘too difficult’ and ’15-minutes per set’ was the most he feels could be realistically expected. ‘Happy with the car’, he plans no changes to the set-up.

Considering he didn’t even know he was doing the race this time last week, Matsukura said, ‘I happy but would have been more happy if in Top 3’.  As an electric racing specialist, when asked about racing for 45-minutes, the 1:12 & 1:10 World Champion simply replied, ‘I hope to finish’.  Setting the fastest lap of the final qualifier, he said he was pleased with his car set-up for qualifying and they would think it over tonight if they need to change anything.  Asked about set-up he said his 1:12 experience meant he had a 50% say in the set-up they have arrived at.  Asked about strategy he said, ‘My goal is to finish so I will let someone else decide the strategy because I don’t know enough yet but I want to race 1:8 more’.

‘Could be better but we’re pretty close’, was Pietsch’s summary of his qualifying. The Mugen designer & former World Champion was to get lost with his set-up following a battery issue. The German said, ‘I had a problem with a low voltage battery.  I was changing the car because it was not doing what I expected.  Then we realised it was the battery but it mean’t we were starting again from zero.  He said since then the car has been getting better and better adding were it is at now he is ‘confident’ for the final.  Admitting ‘the first guys are super fast’ he said the final presents a number of challenges with the pit lane one of them.  With the exit a place were a lot of time can be made or lost he said the high tyre wear will also effect this as it will get more difficult as the tyres get smaller.

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