Chassis Focus – Teemu Leino

Chassis – HB R10
Engine – Novarossi Keep On
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform SRS

Remarks – Top Qualifier at the 2015 ENS season opener here in Bologna, Finnish ace Teemu Leino is running a number of new option parts on his R10.  In addition to a new front bumper, the front end of his car sports a new center body post mount which allows for more flex.  The car is also fittted with an aluminium servo saver horn.

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Balestri TQs 1:8 at Euro Nitro Series

Dario Balestri is the Top Qualifier for the season opening race of the Euro Nitro Series, the Capricorn driver set to start Sunday’s 45-minute Main ahead of host track owner and master of race strategy Lamberto Collari.  Going into the sixth round of qualifying it was only Collari who could deny the European Champion from starting on pole but it would be Alberto Picco that would catch them all by surprise as he TQ’d what would become the days final qualifier.  A scheduled seventh round of qualifying would be cancelled due to the arrival of rain at the L.Collari RC Raceway.  Defending ENS Champion Simon Kurzbuch will line-up 6th for the start of his title defence, two places behind his main 2014 title rival Robert Pietsch.

Despite crashing in the pitlane at the start of the sixth qualifier when unsighted by mechanics he ran into Picco’s Mugen, damaging his Capricorn’s bumper and bodyshell, Balestri was happy to secure the overall TQ.  Taking three of the six qualifiers, the Italian said while he expects a hard race he goes into the final ‘confident’ he can become the first driver to record a win in both categories of the ENS having won last season’s final round in 1:10.  Expecting the greatest challenge to come ‘as always from Lamberto (Collari) and Robert (Pietsch)’.  Describing tyre wear as medium he said everyone will need to stop once but two could be necessary.  His first international race with his new Tesla engines, he said while they managed a 5-minute run in practice the risk was too high for the final and he will play safe with a 4:30 strategy.

While Collari is sure to have a master plan for a track he knows like the back of his hand having started his 9-time World Championship winning career here aged 6 when the track was opened in 1978, starting third on the grid Andrea Pirani’s main focus is to run an error free final.  The WRC driver said with the top 5 very close on pace its going to be a difficult race and while the track is hard on engines he is going to do one more fuel stop to be safe adding he doesn’t think 5-minutes would be possible anyway due to how much of the lap is full throttle. On tyres he said he will make one stop but this would be the case for everyone.

Qualifying just behind his leading team driver Pietsch, Picco was very happy with his TQ run in Q6 which helped him secure 5th on the grid.  Looking to the final the 1:8 onroad veteran said the field was very strong with the gap between them very small. Going up against ‘younger, better drivers’ he would just do his best and ‘see what happens’.  Asking the Picco engines owner about runtime he said 5-minutes was a risk especially repeating it over 45-minutes.  He said the risk of damaging a plug and the engine by running out of fuel made it best to take the conservative option of one extra stop.

‘Sixth not bad considering my heat’ was how Kurzbuch summed up his qualifying performance. Having been seeded in the second fastest heat with traffic delaying the 2-time World Finalist each round, the Shepherd driver said he had hoped to use Q7 to test a different Novarossi engine but will now do that along with his tyre calculations in tomorrow’s practice session.

View complete event results here.

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Chassis Focus – Dario Balestri

Chassis – Capricorn Lab C802
Engine – Tesla T21
Fuel – Capricorn
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Protoform R18

Remarks – Winner of the 2014 season finale in the 200mm class, reigning 1/8th European Champion Dario Balestri is running his trustworthy LAB C802 which sports an aluminium clutch bell and a heavier battery support made out of tungsten. To obtain a better front flex, his team has decided to unfasten the radio plate from the front bulkheads.

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Leino is Top Qualifier at ENS season opener

Just as he did last year when the Euro Nitro Series kicked off in Melzo, Italy, Teemu Leino is the 1:10 Top Qualifier for Round 1 of the 2015 championship at the L.Collari RC Raceway in Bologna.  The HB driver claimed the No.1 starting spot on the grid for tomorrow’s 45-minute final when he took his R10 to its third TQ run of the weekend in the sixth & final round of qualifying. Behind the Finn, Team Xray’s Bruno Coelho secured second overall for his first ENS race start ahead of the Serpent’s of Dominic Greiner and Alessio Mazzeo. For defending champion Eric Dankel his title defence is going to start out in the B-Main, a difficult day meaning he will need to bump up having qualified only 14th overall.

Pleased to take the TQ, Leino said he hoped using a bodyshell painted in his colours for the first time in 5-years would bring him a change of luck for the final.  Asked about strategy for the final, the 2012 Worlds Top Qualifier said having run new tyres each qualifier he has no concerns over big tyres and having also run small tyres in practice he said his R10 is good on both.  Commenting on run time around the high speed track he predicts no one will try to run longer stops due to the nature of the track.  Confident that he has the package to claim his first ENS win he added but ‘over such long races you never know what can happen’.

Topping the third round of qualifying, Coelho said while his new NT1 2015 is ‘super good’ a good result is going to be ‘difficult’ as there are ‘a lot of great drivers’.  The Portuguese star expects his own team-mate and reigning World Champion Alexander Hagberg will be in the fight for the win.  The Swede had a tough qualifying but getting his only Top 6 run of the weekend in the final qualifier, he starts 8th with a car & engine that he has finally got working as a package. Asked about his strategy for the final Coelho said he would use the A-Main practice to work out tyre wear and then decide.

Second fastest behind Leino in the final qualifying, rain forcing the seventh round to be cancelled, Greiner said he was ‘finally happy with both car and engine’.  Topping Q5 despite not liking how his Max powered 748 ran then, he said he had planned to use Q7 to ‘test something’ but that will have to now happen in the A-Main practice.  The winner in Austria last year, he said in long runs his car is normally very good but still running without a tyre change will not be possible and the decision to be made was whether to change all four or just the outside.   Expecting a very close race the German said one danger man could be HB’s Jilles Groskamp who starts 7th due to his ‘super smooth driving style’ which should benefit the 2012 Electric Touring Car World Champion over the long distance.  Also strong will be Greiner’s team-mate Mazzeo, the Italian a proven race winner taking the European Championship in 2013.

Making a big impression on his ENS debut, British National Championship front runner Joe Kerry will start 5th.  Asked about the final, the 23-year-old Capricorn driver said ‘I’m looking forward to it’.  Describing his car as ‘very consistent and easy to drive’ he feels ‘pretty confident’ for the final and with his tyre wear also ‘quite low’ he ‘might be in good shape’.  Admitting that 5-min refuelling would be difficult he said he would play it safe but had still yet to decide on 4 or 4:30 stops with his OS Speed engine.

Completing the top half of the grid, 10 direct qualifiers being joined by the top 2 finishers in the B-Main, Dirk Wischnewski is confident for the final saying racing is a different game to qualifying and normally racing goes better for him.  Describing his 6th overall in qualifying as ‘not bad’, the 2014 ENS championship runner-up will use the A-Main practice to determine his race game plan in terms of tyres.

Set to start 4th on the grid in the B-Main, Dankel said he had no luck today highlighting his final qualifier which was going to plan until the penultimate lap when his Capricorn got launched onto the grass.  The round would still be his best qualifier as he posted the 7th fastest time.  Hoping he can progress to the A-Main, the German said the equipment has the pace to run strong in the A-Main but he just needs to get it there first.

View complete event results here.

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Chassis Focus – Simon Kurzbuch

Chassis – Shepherd Velox V8 EC
Engine – Novarossi Keep-On
Fuel – Meccamo
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Futaba
Body – Protoform R18

Remarks – Defending ENS 1:8 champion Simon Kurzbuch is running the EC version of the German car, upgraded with a few option pars such as aluminium wheel axles, titanium screws, an aluminium servo saver and a brass battery holder. In addition to that, the Swiss driver is using the hard plastic compound and a brand new Shepherd clutch that is meant to hit the market in the next couple of weeks.

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Balestri closes on ENS Round 1 TQ

Dario Balestri closed in on becoming Top Qualifier for the Euro Nitro Series season opener at the track owned by Lamberto Collari, the two Italians swapping position in the latest two rounds of qualifying in Bologna.  With Collari posting his first TQ run just ahead of Balestri in Q4, the order would be reversed in the fifth qualifier as the latter claimed his third TQ run of the event.  Behind, Q4 would see an improved Albero Picco complete the Top 3 while Q3 pace setter Robert Pietsch would post the third quickest time on his fifth run.

Having suffered with a lean bottom end in the day’s opening qualifier, Balestri said his Telsa engine was ‘perfect’ for the next two rounds.  Commenting on Q4, the 2014 1:10 ENS race winner said he had some issues with being held up in traffic but in terms of his Capricorn car ‘all was good’. Leaving it unchanged for Q5, he would set a new fastest qualifying time running half a second quicker than Collari.  With only Collari able to deny Balestri pole position for tomorrow’s 45-minute main, once he finishes the round quicker than the 9-time World Champion the overall TQ is his.

Having suffered a stripped second gear in Q3,  a number of changes to his set-up for Q4 gave Collari a ‘better’ car.  Backing that up with a P2 in Q5, the rc racing legend said his MRX5 is nervous in the corners and for the penultimate qualifier he will make further changes to try and improve stability.

Opening his day with a TQ run, Robert Pietsch would suffer a mistake in Q4.  Touching the curbing on the second lap it forced his kit standard MRX-5, the only modification being a cut in the chassis plate for more flex, wide and out onto the dirty line costing the German over a second in time.  Running the car the same for round 5 he would get third describing the run as ‘quite OK’ given how close the times are.  For Q6, he will try a set-up change his engine sponsor Alberto Picco made which the Italian found improved his MRX-5 which entails removing a side screw from the front upper arm mount bracket.

Fourth in Q5, Andrea Pirani said a rollbar change after Q3 had worked well but he lost time in both runs trying to get by Bruno Coelho.  Setting the fastest lap of Round 5, the WRC driver and designer said the championship’s controlled tyres make the pace of everyone very close making it hard to have any advantage to execute a safe pass. For Q6 his only plan is to freshen up his GTX.

Enjoying good runs in the last two qualifiers, Picco said his standard kit MRX5 ‘set-up is fine’ and he ‘just need(s) to push more in (his) driving’.

Completing the Top 6 in the fifth round, defending champion Simon Kurzbuch is struggling with traffic.  With rain meaning only a single round of timed practice was run the Team Shepherd driver found himself in the second fastest heat after encountering problems in the practice.  Setting the fastest lap of Q4, the Swiss driver said his lap times are good but getting a clean run is the issue.

View complete event results here.

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