Leino heads HB 1-2 at ENS Austria
Teemu Leino headed a HB/HPI Racing 1-2 at the Euro Nitro Series in Austria after a super close race long 3-way battle for the win. In the end it was a perfect strategy that secured Leino his first ENS win ahead of team-mate Jilles Groskamp. Top Qualifier Dominic Greiner would complete the podium at Aigen-Schlägl, the top 3 covered by just 6-second after a hot 45-minutes of racing. Winner of the season opener in Italy, Bruno Coelho would finish 4th, a result that leaves him tied at the top of the championship with Groskamp.
‘Finally’ was Leino’s reaction as he hugged his mechanic Takashi Miyashita, the race not just marking his first win but the first time the two time Top Qualifier has finished a race. Starting from second on the grid, having lost out on the overall TQ on a tie breaker with Greiner, the Finn said it was ‘different strategy’ that gave him the edge. Having crashed out while leading Round 1 in Bologna, he said stopping twice for tyres when they did meant he could ‘push maximum speed’, something the former World Championship Top Qualifier said is the easiest way for him to drive. Changing the outside tyres at 11-minutes and then all four at 27-minutes he said he knew his tyres and fuel were good and he could could just drive. Knowing before hand that Groskamp would do a single tyres stop, adding the Dutch driver has a smooth enough driving style for such a strategy, he said what gave him the edge over Greiner was a ‘super fast’ pit crew. Joining Miyashita in the pits was 1:8 A-Finalist Daniele Ielasi who would turn out to be lightening fast with changing tyres. The Italian’s role came about after Leino build shocks for the WRC driver that helped him take a P3 run in qualifying with Leino crediting both him and Miyashita for the 4-second winning margin.
‘A great result for the team to finish 1-2 and I am delighted for Teemu’, that was Groskamp’s reaction to what he described as the perfect race by all three drivers. With the result putting him joint leader of the standings he was ‘maximum happy with 2nd’ today. Commenting on his strategy, stopping for a complete tyre change midway through, the 2012 Electric Touring Car World Champion said his second set were not so good as his first set and in such a close race with was enough to end his challenge. Setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 24, when asked if he felt his strategy was the right one he said it was but he would analyse the times sheets and see how his fuel & tyre stops compared to his rival and see if there is anything they are missing. Groskamp said towards the end of the final he knew he couldn’t catch his team-mate and it being the first race for his engine & fuel sponsor Maxima to use the OS T4R he said he also played safe, conscious of the high revs & fuel consumption of small diameter tyres.
‘Very, very, close race’, was how Greiner summed up the final. Winner of the event in very different, wet, conditions last year, the Serpent team driver said ‘maybe we chose not the best tyre strategy today’. Leading for the first third of the race, he said they stopped for a full tyre change one stop too late and for that extra 5-minutes he ran on small tyres he lost valuable time to his rivals. The World Championship Top Qualifier said HB had a better car on smaller tyres and he also felt his tyre stops were not so good particularly when compare to those of Leino. Congratulating Leino on his win the 23-year-old said his own podium finish was ‘very good’ for the championship, him having also collected the bonus TQ championship point.
Finishing in front of his World Champion team-mate Alexander Hagberg, Coelho described his race as ‘so, so’. The Xray driver said his strategy was not the best, the Portuguese ace opting to stop just once for four tyres at the 25-minute mark. He said this meant he had to drive smooth and as a result lost a lot time. He said it was ‘difficult to decide’ the right strategy but ‘Teemu made the best call’ being able to drive at his maximum rather than trying to conserve tyres. Happy with his NT1 and Max engines over the race, he said having qualified 6th fourth was an ok result as it keeps him at the top of the points table.
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