Chassis – Capricorn Lab C802
Engine – Tesla T21
Fuel – Capricorn
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Protoform R18
Remarks – Starting his quest for the ENS title from pole in tomorrow’s 45 minute final, Dario Balestri is running a completely standard version of the Italian manufacturer’s car, the only option being a set of Avid bearings.
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Dario Balestri is Top Qualifier for the title deciding season finale of the Euro Nitro Series in Fiorano, Italy. The Capricorn driver secured pole position for tomorrow’s 45-minute main when he posted a second TQ run in the fourth & final qualifier at the Mini Autodromo Jody Scheckter track ahead of Robert Pietsch and Lamberto Collari. With only reigning 1:8 champion Simon Kurzbuch and Daniele Ielasi in contention for the overall TQ going into Q4, both would fail to repeat their early TQ runs with Ielasi posting a P4 run while Kurzbuch was 5th fastest. The result means that Kurzbuch will start second behind Balestri with the third of the title contenders Pietsch lining up 4th behind Ielasi.
commenting on his second TQ of the Season #2 of the ENS, Balestri said ‘this is the best year for me with the package I have and I want to thank Capricorn and Tesla for this and in particular Patrizio (Rossi) and (Massimo) Fantini who have been a super help this year’. On the final qualifier he said a rear camber change was ‘very good’ but added the times are ‘very close’ with it ‘very competitive between me Lamberto, Robert and Simon’. Gaining the bonus point offered for the overall TQ, last year’s 1:10 race winner said now he only needs to finish 3rd to claim the title but this doesn’t change his strategy and he will ‘start (the race) for the win’. Asked about how he felt his package would deal with the longer race conditions he simple replied ‘no problem’.
Having targeted the TQ bonus point, Kurzbuch said his ‘strategy didn’t go well’. Passing both Mattia Collavo and Andrea Lorenzi on his out lap so as he would have a clean track behind Collari, he said Collari had some mistakes and running close to the Infinity driver, when he tried to pass him he made mistakes of his own which cost him a shot at the TQ. As result of missing out on the TQ, the Shepherd driver said ‘I have to attack in the final as I have to win, but we are ready for that’. Asked about his strategy for the final he said ‘I think the tyre wear is not that high but the problem is the front wear much faster than the rear’. On run time the factory Novarossi driver said he will fit a different venturi adding ‘I think we should be fine as we have improved mileage a bit this year’.
The man with the biggest smile in the paddock, having not been on the radar until the penultimate round of qualifying, Ielasi stated ‘I am super happy and I know I have a competitive car for tomorrow’. Posting a surprise TQ run in Q3 despite running in Heat 11 of 15, the WRC driver said he lost out on challenging for the overall TQ in the opening 5-6 laps of the final qualifier due to having to run new tyres. Only 0.5 off Balestri’s time at the end of the 4-minutes he said things are so close that every fraction is critical. Feeling he has a very consistent car for the final, he said he has a really good feeling for tomorrow pointing out that while he has nothing to lose, the two starting ahead of him are fighting for the title.
Pietsch said his final qualifier was ok but in the last 2-3 laps he lost out on the TQ due to a small mistake, the deficit to Balestri just 0.180 of a second. Debuting the Japanese manufacturer’s new MRX-6, the German said the car is easy to drive and he has no plans to change it for the final adding ‘you are not going to find anything that allows you to pull clear of the others’. Predicting it is ‘going to be a very tight race’, the factory Picco driver feels mileage might be one advantage he has over the three starting ahead of him.
Top Qualifier and winner of this race last year, Collari said his run was ok but not enough to get him a Top 3 starting position. Winner of all three previous ENS races he has contested, the 9-time World Champion is famed for his race strategies and although starting from 5th on the grid he appeared to be confident for the final saying he had tyre wear and fuel consumption ‘under control’.
Joining his WRC team-mate in the final, Andrea Pirani will complete the top half of the grid, two cars bumping up from the B Final for a 12 car grid. A podium finisher at the season opener, Pirani said an engine problem forced him to pull off early but having ran a modified front upper arm in Q4 he had improved the car. Targeting a podium in the final which should in term secure him a Top 3 in the overall championship he said with the car working good he is confident for tomorrow. Behind Pirani, Bruno Coelho secured both his and Xray’s first 1:8 A-Main appearance of the season with the 1:10 title contender securing 7th ahead of Shepherd’s Francesco Tironi, Serpent’s Merlin Depta and BP Racing’s Mirko Salemi.
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Chassis – WRX GTX
Engine – Novarossi Ielasi Tuned .21 CL9
Fuel – MLC
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Xtreme Aerodynamics R18
Remarks – Former World Champion Daniele Ielasi stormed to TQ in round 3 of qualifying here in Fiorano running a kit standard version of the WRC manufactured GTX. Having destroyed one of his cars which featured some prototype parts in the front end, he switched back to the standard spare car which is powered by the latest development stage Ielasi Tuned engine.
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Daniele Ielasi put in a surprise TQ run in the third round of qualifying at the ENS in Fiorano to top the times from Q2 pace setter Simon Kurzbuch. Having snapped a car in half on the opening practice day, the WRC driver would also damage his second car in controlled practice yesterday leaving him to be seeded in Heat 11 of 15, however despite the slower heat the Italian would top the times by 2/10th from Kurzbuch and the Swiss driver’s title rivals Robert Pietsch and Dario Balestri. Another surprise for the round would be the performance of 1:10 championship contender Bruno Coelho, the Xray driver taking his RX8 to the 5th fastest time ahead of Lamberto Collari.
Commenting on his TQ run, Ielasi said ‘finally I have some luck’. Explaining what has been a challenging start to the ENS season finale, the former 1:10 World Champion said, ‘two days ago I broke my good car in half and in controlled practice I had more bad luck when I also destroyed my spare car’. With his ‘good car’, that particular GTX featuring a prototype front end, unsalvageable due to the parts being one off pieces he was able to rebuild his spare ‘standard’ car. Describing his surviving car as ‘feeling good’, he added it was a pity he didn’t have his ‘good car’ as the prototype was ‘for sure better’. A driver who always finds a positive out of every situation, he said ‘racing in Round 11 it is harder to pass but anyway he is happy now to fight for the overall TQ’.
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Simon Kurzbuch has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at the Euro Nitro Series season finale in Italy. Only 5th fastest in Q1, the Shepherd driver topped the round ahead of last year’s race winner Lamberto Collari with Robert Pietsch completing the Top 3. For yesterday’s Q1 pace setter Dario Balestri, Q2 would result in a DNF after the championship leader had an off after running wide and hitting a damp patch from the overnight dew.
Not happy with his Q1 performance, Kurzbuch described his latest qualifier as ‘very good’. Changing the set-up on his Novarossi powered Velox V8 back to what he ran yesterday morning in free practice he said he had reached the goal of how he wanted his car to feel. While the car was fast over a lap in Q1 he said it lacked consistency, but the change to a wider front and rear set-up improved this. ‘Super happy to TQ’, he said he was now ready to fight Balestri for the overall TQ, the two title contenders separated by just 2-points at the top of the standings.
Almost 8/10ths off Kurzbuch, Collari was content with his qualifier but had a issue with his Infinity weaving on the main straight, something he believes may be tyre related. Having had issues with traffic in Q1, which ended his challenge for the TQ, the 3-time ENS race winner said ‘this time all was ok’. Looking for ‘more stability’ from the pre-production chassis of the yet to be model named Infinity, he has planned a few as yet undecided changes for the third of the four qualifiers.
The other key title contender, Pietsch described his qualifier as ‘ok’. The Mugen designer & lead driver felt he was slightly disadvantaged by having to run new tyres describing them as ‘not perfect’. Using CP1 to run in a set of tyres for qualifying, a rear would come unglued and having used the set he ran in in CP2 in Q1, he had no choice but to use a fresh set. For his next run he plans to leave his all new MRX-6 unchanged, however he will make a transmitter setting change to reduce the steering servo speed so as to try to make the car a little less nervous.
‘Today is starting in a good way’, was how Andrea Pirani summed up posting the 4th fastest time. The WRC driver had a mistake half way through Q1 while on a Top 3 run but said today it was a clean round. Having made no changes to his OS Speed powered GTX, the Italian will continue with the same car with the aim being another clean run, however for Q3 will try a different manifold to gauge fuel consumption for the final.
Setting the fifth fastest time was Francesco Tironi. The Shepherd driver struggled with tyres in Q1, opting to start on used tyres but running out of front tyre by the end of the 4-minutes leaving him to struggle with understeer to the 11th fastest time. Also changing to a narrower front end set-up on his XRD powered Velox V8, he was much happier with the car on the new tyres with the only issue being a ‘little mistake’ on the first lap of the qualifier. Behind Tironi, Serpent’s Merlin Depta completed the Top 6.
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ENS 1:8 championship leader Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the season finale in Italy. The Capricorn driver topped the first of the four qualifier but just a tenth of a second from Robert Pietsch, the Mugen driver running in the second fastest heat after issues in controlled practice. Behind the two title protagonists, qualifying top seed Lamberto Collari completed the Top 3 with his new Infinity chassis. The third key title contender, reigning ENS champion Simon Kurzbuch would get a fifth for the round behind fellow Swiss racer Silvio Hächler.
Having struggled a little in practice with the batch change of the handout Hot Race tyres as drivers had to start using tyres from the tyre impound area, Balestri was happier with his LAB C802 for the opening qualifier. The Bologna Top Qualifier and Aigen race winner, said his Tesla engine was a bit rich at the start forcing him to have to wait for it to come in but once it did he could push and ‘all was ok’. Setting the fastest lap of Q1, a 14.859, for the second qualifier he will make a front caster change as he looks to get more steering in the first part of the corner.
Asked how he felt his qualifier went Pietsch replied ‘Good, I’m happy’. Giving his new MRX-6 creation its race debut this weekend, the Mugen designer joked he would have been even happier having the 0.1 second gap be the other way round putting the deficit down to a ‘little traffic’. The former World Champion said with the lap times so close you can overtake immediately if a driver doesn’t open up and these slight delays are enough to cost places. Very happy with his 4-minute pace, the German plans to leave his car unchanged for Q2.
Another driver to feel traffic hampered his challenge for the TQ, Collari said overall he had a good feeling with the car adding he is a lot more confident with his new chassis. Admitting he ‘need(s) to improve the car a little bit’ for tomorrow he said its down to ‘really small details’ in the set-up. A driver famed for his race strategies, already the legend of the sport is using the tyre wear and fuel economy of his OS Speed engine to start to his calculations for the finals adding that unlike his Mugen he is having to learn how the car works the tyres and its effects on run time.
Having found his second gear carrier very loose after controlled practice and opting to replace it for Q1 meaning he needed to re-adjust his gearbox setting, Hächler said he was a little nervous about his gearbox but it ‘was a good’. Making some small mistakes, he was otherwise happy with the run adding his ARC R8.0 has been good from the start of the event.
Not happy with his Shepherd in controlled practice, Kurzbuch said his ‘car was now better’. As a run he said ‘he wanted to TQ too much’ and this lead to him making ‘too many mistakes’. Pleased with the pace of his Novarossi powered Velox V8, he is confident tomorrow he can fight for the TQ. Behind Kurzbuch, BP Racing’s Mirko Salemi completed the Top 6.
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