Wischnewski tops first timed practice at ENS

Dirk Wischnewski has topped the first timed practice at Round 3 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  Mastering the Minidrom Ettlingen’s ‘strange’ track conditions the best, the Shepherd driver set the fastest 3-laps ahead of the HB of Round 2 winner Teemu Leino.  Top Qualifier in Austria, Serpent’s Dominc Greiner completed the Top 3 ahead of Capricorn team-mates Thilo Tödtmann and Eric Dankel.  Joint championship leaders Bruno Coelho and Jilles Groskamp would post only the 9th and 14th fastest times respectively.

Having struggled at the opening two rounds of the championship, Wischnewski was pleased to get the weekend ‘off to a better start’.  Describing the newly resurfaced track as being’ completely different to any other track’ he has been too and requiring a ‘completely different set-up’ he said the extra front traction suited his Orcan powered Velox V10.  Although he previously tested at the track, the German said it has changed a lot and even the clouds that covered the sun for his run made a difference, with his adding ‘you need to adapt all the time’.

‘OK’, that was how Leino summed up his pace.  The Finn would use most of the 6-minute session to tune his Novarossi engine adding ‘no power, no chance’.  Looking to get as much power without overheating the engine he said with the track’s high speed layout combined with the high traction and high temperatures, having the engine right was so important here.   In terms of his R10 set-up he said it was good but stopping so much to adjust the engine he didn’t get to scrub in the tyre as well as his rivals and this cost him pace also.

Dominic Greiner was more positive than usual about his car saying it was ‘going very well’ adding ‘the times are very close’.  The German said traffic towards the end of the run cost him a better three lap time adding the controlled Shepherd tyre took some time to come in.  Describing the traction as ‘very strange’, the German is running the same front end weight in his 747 that he used when when he TQ’d last November’s World Championships in Thailand he said without it it was not possible to drive. He said while the nature of the track made for a ‘strange corner feeling’ his car was very easy but feeling it is maybe a bit too easy he will make some changes for the second of the two timed practices.

‘If I am between 3 and 7 everything is good’ was how Tödtmann summed up his time. While this is his home track, he said the traction is completely different to a regional race he contested earlier in the year due to the record entry the event has attracted.  Already 0.7 of a second a lap quicker than that event, he is running a very different set-up on his LAB-C03 which has shorter gearing, softer suspension and is running a solid axle.  Looking to tweak the cars set-up for the final practice he will run less front camber to try reduce the steering.

Winner of the season opener Coelho described the track as ‘quite difficult’ but said overall his NT1 was ‘not bad’.  The Portuguese ace struggled a little in open practice yesterday due to running old engines but with Massimo Fantini arriving this morning with a new batch of Max engine he said things were now much better.  Using the first timed practice to scrub in tyres for qualifying later today, he said on big tyres it was easy to traction roll so he didn’t push hard to avoid the risk of damaging the tyres.

Suffering a problem with something getting stuck in his R10’s drive train leading him to roll and at the end of the straight and damage his tyres, Groskamp said it wasn’t a good first timed run.  In the morning’s free practice however he said his pace was ok as he was not so far off but added he would like to be a bit faster.  Running in both classes this weekend, the Dutch ace said they are too busy and this is leaving them always one step behind with silly things going wrong.  Predicting a ‘hard weekend’ he hopes they can get on top of things in time for qualifying.

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Track Focus – Minidrom Ettlingen

Track Name – Minidrom Ettlingen
Club – Mini Car Club Ettlingen
Country – Germany
Location – Ettlingen (SW of the country)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Asphalt
No. of ENS Races hosted – 0

Round 3 of the Euro Nitro Touring Series takes place at Minidrom Ettlingen with the German round attracting a record 157 entries. Walking around the busy pit area, drivers having travelled from 22 countries including for the first time Brazil, the big talk is how nice it is to see so many drivers at a nitro race again. Built on land owned by the local city, which has a population of almost 40,000, the track that has been in existence for 25-years and is run by Mini Car Club Ettlingen,  a club of around 60 mainly nitro racing members. Having previously hosted the 2001 1:5 World Championships and four European Championships, the ENS marks the first international race since the track underwent a resurfacing last year.  During the resurfacing, the asphalt used been very fine, the club also used the opportunity to change the layout adding a new 25-metre section that brings the total track length to 265-metres.  In open practice 1:8 cars are doing a lap in late 12-seconds while a fast 1:10 lap time is a low 14-seconds.

Racing this weekend in both classes, 1:10 title front runner Jilles Groskamp described Minidrom Ettlingen as ‘not an easy track’.  The HB/HPI Racing driver said normally when you have a good basic balance for a car it works at everything but ‘for some reason the front bites more than the rear (of the car) can handle’ and it takes a completely different set-up to get the cars to work.  Having previously raced here at the 2011 1:10 200mm European Championships, he said the old surface was very tough with 2 tyres stops required in the Main but with the new surface the wear is very low and he predicts the Sunday’s main will be completed without the need for a tyre change.  Asked about the extra infield added to the right side of the track he said layout was better describing the track as ‘quite open’ which will be ‘good for racing’.

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