Groskamp takes Q1 at ENS Germany
Jilles Groskamp has taken the opening qualifier at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany. The Infinity team driver, who is using a Serpent in 1:10 this weekend, topped the 4-minute qualifier from the factory car of Dominic Greiner by almost 9/10th. Winner of the race last year in Ettlingen but struggling in the single round of timed practice yesterday, Dirk Wischnewski would complete the Top 3 while for practice top seed Alessio Mazzeo a tyre issue would leave him 34th fastest among the 69 car field.
‘I was surprised it went so easy, it’s a nice start to the day’, was how Groskamp summed up his Q1 performance. The reigning champion continued, ‘I heard at the beginning I was in the lead and Dirk was 2nd and I could see I was pulling away from him, I was cruising in the end’. Using the same set of handout Enneti tyres he used in the timed practice, he said his 748 was ‘easy to drive’ and having switched to OS power for Round 2 he said he also had a ‘good engine’.
Top Qualifier of the event last year, Greiner said ‘the run was ok but overall there was very low grip’. Describing his Novarossi powered 748 as ‘difficult to drive’ he said ‘I tried my best and P2 was not so bad’. While Groskamp’s fastest lap would be slightly faster than his best, the German said the Dutch driver’s advantage came from being ‘more consistent’. Hoping there will be more traction when Q2 comes around but not knowing how the track is going to be he said ‘I don’t know what to change (on the car)’ . Greiner’s team-mate Mazzeo had one of his tyres come unglued and while the Italian tried to get around with ‘no mistakes’ the car was ‘very hard to drive’ resulting in a number of offs.
‘Better than yesterday’ was Wischnewski’s reaction to his P3 run. The Shepherd driver, who leads the standings having taken victory at the season opener, had ‘a moment’ in the warm-up when he lost a screw from the camber link. Quick work from pitman Marco Muscara meant he made the start but Wischnewski said his Orcan engine wasn’t fully up to temperature as a result of the lost time. Describing his Velox V10 as ‘not perfect’, the former European Champion said ‘as more traction comes up it should suit our car better’.
Leading the Xray charge in Q1 would be Leo Arnold. Running in the second fastest heat, the French ace said having suffered with his NT1 being a ‘little loose’ in timed practice, overnight set-up changes left it ‘not so bad’ for Q1. Driving ‘a safe run’ so as to have a ‘banker’ result should like yesterday the rain halt racing, the 20-year-old plans to leave his car unchanged for Q2. For team-mate Bruno Coelho, the opening round would see him post the 13th fastest time after he lost 3-second when he traction rolled in front of the pits. Struggling for traction in timed practice which left him in the 3rd fastest heat, he said traffic was OK adding ‘I was expecting it to be more of a problem’.
Second fastest in practice, Kyle Branson would open qualifying with a P5 saying, ‘I don’t know how I didn’t crash because my car was terrible’. The Capricorn driver added, ‘It was loose, tried to over rotate and just super hard to drive so 5th was actually OK’. Having made a diff oil change overnight he said ‘this shouldn’t have affected the car this much. Maybe it was all the rain but I need to check over the car to see there is nothing wrong with it’.
Team-mate to Groskamp in 1:8 but using a Capricorn chassis in 1:10 this weekend, Teemu Leino would complete the Top 6. The Finn said his run ‘was ok until I flipped at the end of the straight’. He continued, ‘having struggled for steering there in practice I didn’t expect to traction roll there’. Describing the car as ‘maximum twitchy’, he concluded, ‘we need to change something’.
View complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
Pit Focus – Merlin Depta
Team: Serpent
Neighbours: Rudi Scherer (left), Dominic Greiner (front)
Charger: Xceed
Tools: Arrowmax
Setup Tools: Arrowmax setup board, Arrowmax set up station.
Car Stand: Arrowmax
Transport Bag: Serpent
Features: Self made plug inspection monocole, Hawkers&Co sunglasses, Xceed oil bags, Xceed glow plug igniter, Samsung Galaxy phones, Fanta can.
Image Gallery
Rain halts practice at ENS Germany
Rain has brought proceedings at ENS Round 2 to an early finish, the event now set to go straight into qualifying tomorrow morning when improved weather is expected. While 1:10 would manage to get in a full & dry round of timed practice, which was headed by Serpent’s Alessio Mazzeo, the heaven’s opened as the first of the two 1:8 timed practices was underway. With the sun returning, the organisers waited for the track to dry in the hope of getting at least one run also for the 1:8 drivers. Just as the track was reaching a point at where it could be driven on again the rain returned leaving no option but to call time on the day, the track has an 20:00 curfew for the running of engines. While the 1:10 qualifying heats will be determined by the single timed practice, with no seeding practice the 1:8 heats will be based off the 5 rounds of open practice with manual adjustments for any drivers who find themselves out of position. This means that Mugen’s Robert Pietsch will be the top seed ahead of Shepherd’s 2015 Top Qualifier Simon Kurzbuch and reigning champion Dario Balestri, the Capricorn driver the winner in Germany last year.
View our event image gallery here.
Mazzeo tops TP1 at ENS Germany
Despite a flight delay causing him to miss yesterday’s practice, Alessio Mazzeo has topped the first round of timed practice at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany. Setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps ahead of Kyle Branson ad Jilles Groskamp, the Serpent driver’s time could prove significant. With heavy rain returning over Minidrom Ettlingen as the first 1:8 seeding round was underway, the latest rain delay may mean the qualifying heats may now be based off the single timed practice. While good news for Mazzeo, such a scenario would leave ENS Italy Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho in the third fastest heat as the Xray driver struggled for traction in TP1 and could only manage the 27th fastest time.
Opening his first full ENS campaign with second at the season opener in Bologna, Mazzeo said topping the times was ‘a big surprise’ for him & his mechanic joking ‘Forza Italia’. Describing his Gi-mar powered 748 as ‘very fast’ and having ‘a lot of grip’ he said while ‘very happy to be the fastest for now’ he hopes the weather will allow for a second practice as he still has a programme of set-up changes he wants to work through.
‘Pretty good’ was how Branson summed up his practice, the Capricorn driver adding there was more time in the car as one of his counting 3-laps had a small mistake. Only 0.079 off Mazzeo, the British driver said a diff oil change between the last open practice and the first timed run had made his LAB C03 ‘a little worse actually’. Describing the overall performance of the car around the unique surface Ettlingen track as ‘pretty well balanced’, he plans a front shock oil and diff oil change for the concluding practice ‘if it is dry’.
Looking over the times, reigning champion Groskamp said ‘it’s very close’. Having ‘built a standard Serpent’ for the event, the Infinity team driver said having used a Capricorn at Round 1 he was using the event to see the difference between the cars adding ‘for the Worlds we are not sure if we will have a prototype (Infinity) ready’. Completing the 748 saying ‘it is a really stable car and nice to drive’, the former Electric Touring Car World Champion said he is having to find his own set-up. With Mazzeo and Greiner having ‘different driving styles’, he said their cars also feature some new parts he doesn’t have. Just 0.158 off the fastest time, the Dutch ace said, ‘normally I am off on 3-laps but now I am already there and with a standard car so its a good start to the weekend’.
Top Qualifier in Germany last year, Dominic Greiner posted the 4th fastest time. Not letting the earlier rain stop his preparations, using the very wet track to test a new rain filter which he said worked very well, the factory Serpent driver said the rain was making preparations a bit tricky as the track was changing every run. Feeling he is ‘not the fastest so far’, the German said ‘we are lacking rear traction’. Confident that ‘we can improve it’ he said they will try to achieve this by moving weight around in the car.
Having focused on 1:8 at the ENS season opener, former 1:10 race winner Teemu Leino is double driving in Germany and would post the 5th fastest time. Choosing a Capricorn chassis, the Infinity driver said the main purpose of doing 1:10 this weekend was to get mileage for the 1:10 World Championships and his main focus of the weekend was still on 1:8. The former HB driver’s first time to run the Capricorn, the Finn said he is trying changes every run to get used to the car but overall his problem is that he ‘can’t push (as) it’s too edgy’. To help alleviate this he will switch to a harder shock spring for his next run.
Completing the Top 6 and fastest of the Xray team would be Marco Kaufmann. The German who is better known for his ETS exploits joked, ‘for a novice nitro driver its not too bad’. The 22-year-old described Minidrom Ettlingen as ‘the best asphalt track I have ever driven’ continuing ‘I like it a lot’. Describing both his NT1 and Orcan engines as ‘working good’, the German said the plan is to ‘just drive’ adding ‘now I hope we can have dry weather’. Senior team-mate Coelho said his NT1 having been ‘drivable’ in free practice had ‘completely zero traction’ in the timed practice following the rain.
Winner of this event last year and the 2016 season opener, Dirk Wischnewski reported similar problems. The Shepherd driver said, ‘we have lost overall traction and I’m not sure why as practice was OK’. Posting the 9th fastest time behind the Mugen of former champion Eric Dankel with former EP Touring Car World Champion Andy Moore behind him, he continued ‘the traction is going to be less again after this new rain so I’m not sure what to do’.
View our event image gallery here.
Chassis Focus – Dario Balestri
Chassis – Capricorn Lab C802 RS
Engine – Tesla T21
Fuel – Tesla by Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Enneti
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Protoform R18
Remarks – Winner here in Ettlingen in 2015, reigning ENS Champion Dario Balestri is running the RS version of the Capricorn Lab C-02 with an updated gearbox. Featuring a 6mm axle instead of the usual 8mm, the gearbox takes its drive flange and 2-speed shoe from the 10th scale car while the second gear flange is newly designed. As a result, the whole assembly is about 20g lighter than the standard version.
Image Gallery
