Pietsch takes penultimate qualifier

The overall TQ at the ENS season finale in Fiorano will be decided in the fifth & final round of qualifying after Robert Pietsch claimed his second TQ run in the penultimate qualifier.  Taking the round from Lamberto Collari, the two former World Champions now have identical scores going into deciding qualifier. While becoming Top Qualifier will make little difference to Collari’s ENS season, for Pietsch the bonus point on offer for securing pole position could prove vital in terms of his battle with Simon Kurzbuch to become the championship’s inaugural 1:8 Champion.  Kurzbuch, who leads the standings by 2-points would for a third time complete the Top 3 for the round.

With his mechanic Felix Heyse getting the Picco powered MRX-5 out ahead of Collari as the top heat left the pitlane to start the 4-minute qualifier, Pietsch said he ‘benefited from the good start’.  Posting the fastest lap of the round, the German who struggled in the morning’s cooler track conditions said his car ‘worked good’ this time round.  With the ENS championship on the line, he said he would be trying extra hard to top the final qualifier and looking to get more rotation in the car, to help make that task easier, he would make a small change for Q5.

Pleased that the gap to Pietsch was ‘still only 1/10ths’, Collari said having tried something different on his privately run Mugen he would revert back to his Q3 set-up.  Asked about the possibility of taking the overall TQ, the winner of the season opener in Melzo said while it wasn’t the main goal of his weekend he thinks he can do it.  Also running privately bought OS Speed engines, the 9-time World Champion’s lack of factory support doesn’t seem to be hampering his performance in any way. Declaring for now he is enjoying being a free agent in terms of which equipment he can use he confirmed his intentions to travel to Brazil next year to vie for World title number 10.

Top Qualifier at Round 3 of the championship in Germany, Kurzbuch said his last run ‘was ok’.  The Swiss ace and former Worlds Finalist believes he has a very good car for tomorrow’s 45-minute main with his Novarossi powered Velox V8 easy to drive.  With third on the grid pretty much locked in, for Q5 he will discuss with the car’s designer Patrick Schafer if there is anything they should try in the last qualifier and tomorrow’s A-Main practice that might give them an advantage over title rival Pietsch for the final.

In a championship battle of his own with Daniele Ielasi, who was only 8th in Q4 due to an out of balance set of tyres, and Oliver Mack, Andrea Pirani posted the fourth fastest time.  The WRC driver was pleased with the improved steering he had after changing to a harder rear anti roll bar on the GTX.  Hoping to start the final ahead of his rivals for a Top 3 in the final championship standings he said he will leave the car the same for the last qualifier.

Starting to find his form just in time, Xray’s John Ermen would post his first Top 6 run just behind Andrea Lorenzi.  Winner of a wet Round 2 in Austria, the Dutch driver said he has been improving his RX8 every run.  Having had issues with his Reds Racing engine going lean after three & a half minutes he said the fitting of a new fuel tank for Q4 cured the issue which cost him time in the previous rounds.  Also lowering his ride height he said this too improved the car but they had to make some prompt changes in the 3-minute warm-up to the rear spoiler and the steering end points to compensate for that change.  Describing the car as now a little twitchy particularly under braking he will make an adjustment to the downstops.

In the penultimate round of 1:10, Top Qualifier Dario Balestri continued his domination of the top of the time sheets.  Wrapping up pole position in Q3, the Capricorn driver topped the latest round by 2.2 seconds from the Shepherd of Dirk Wischnewski.  Dominic Greiner completed the Top 3 ahead of Eric Dankel, the champion elect still needing another top time to ensure he directly qualifies for the final, with KM Racing’s Silivio Hachler enjoying his best run taking 5th.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – John Ermen

Chassis – Xray RX8
Engine – Reds M7 WCS
Fuel – Tornado
Tires (handout) – Hot Race Tyres
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Blitz R18 V2
Remarks – ENS Round 2 winner John Ermen is running the latest RX8 from Xray with a number of self made modifications to the geometry. At the rear he has cut the upper a-arm to create more flex which gives the car more on throttle traction. He has also lowered the front upper arm holders by 1mm for less roll and as a result get more steering. He is also using Italian company Project’s 1/8th quick release wheel axles front and rear. The setup he is running is his basic one from the recent German nationals but he has tried to reduce roll by running harder oil in the shocks and opting for softer springs.

Image Gallery

Q3 1:8 Update – second TQ run for Collari

The third round of qualifying in 1:8 was a repeat of Q2, with Lamberto Collari again topping the times for the 85-strong entry from Robert Pietsch, the pair again separated by 3-tenths. Behind the two Mugen’s, Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch turned around a tough Q2 to record the 3rd fastest time followed by Daniele Ielasi, the round being the best run so far for the BMT driver. Andrea Pirani and Alberto Picco completed the Top 6.  The round also saw the best run from ENS Round 2 winner John Ermen, the Xray driver taking his Reds Racing powered RX8 to the ninth fastest ahead of fellow countryman Rick Vrielijnck.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Balestri Top Qualifier at ENS Finale

Dario Balestri is Top Qualifier for the fourth & final round of the Euro Nitro Series.  The Capricorn driver wrapped up pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main with a clean sweep of the opening three qualifiers at the Fiorano event, taking Day 2’s opening Q3 from team-mate Thilo Todtmann.  Dirk Wischnewski completed the Top 3 for the round ahead of Shepherd team-mate Francesco Tironi while ENS race winners Eric Dankel and Dominic Greiner both had issues.

The only driver to run 15-laps this morning, Balestri was pleased to secure his first overall TQ of the ENS, declaring his latest qualifier as being ‘very good’.  Seeking his first ENS race win, the Italian said ‘all is perfect’ in terms of his car and XRD engine but added he was taking nothing for grant going into the final.  Happy that his car is ready for the final, having tested on small tyres in practice yesterday, he planned to use the remaining two qualifiers to test different clutch systems saying that in some situations Capricorn’s old clutch can be better and this is what he will test in Q5.

Although Dankel tried it on his CO3 and didn’t like it, Todtmann on advice from Balestri ran a front bulkhead brace on his car for Q3 and found it to be a huge improvement.  Giving the car more front end traction, the European B Champion said he was able to push harder in the corners especially in the sweepers.  Also helped by having clear track for most of the 4-minutes and benefiting from mistakes by quicker drivers in his heat, the German said he planned to run the same set-up for the penultimate qualifier with his goal being to put in two more clean rounds and improve on his opening two qualifiers.

Wischnewski said the ‘result was ok’ but he ‘did not have a good feeling’ with his car.  Changing to lighter shock oil in the front of his Orcan powered Velox V10, he said the change made the car worse and for Q4 he will go back to what he ran yesterday.  With Balestri ‘super fast’, the former European Champion said he was now working towards the final and improving his car for that.

Describing his Novarossi powered example of the Velox V10 as being ‘quite good’, Tironi said while he is ‘not super fast he is quite consistent’.  The World Championship podium finisher is confident he is headed in the right direction with set-up to have a competitive car for the final.  Planning to make a small change to increase steering he will also go up in the size of his second gear looking to get a better transition from 1st to 2nd gear.

After getting hit in each of the opening two qualifiers, Mark Green managed an incident free Q3 allowing him to post the 5th fastest time.  The factory Serpent driver said his 748 has been working good but twice he found himself pushed off the track yesterday.  Without a Top 10 finish in the first two rounds and 3 from 5 to count, he said he has to just focus on being really careful today something which meant he had to sit behind a slower driver towards the end of the latest run. Needing two more solid runs if he is to directly qualify for the A-Main, the British driver said his focus for now is just on finishing the last two qualifiers.

‘Finally got a good one’, that was the reaction of Shepherd boss Patrick Schafer to his sixth fastest time.  Suffering a mistake in Q1 and slowed by his Sonic engine being set too rich in Q2, the ENS Round 2 podium finisher said his car was a little loose in the rear this morning but he was hopeful a harder rear spring would cure that for Q4.

Having retired with broken exhaust springs in Q1, Champion elect Dankel suffered a stripped second gear in the warm-up for Q3.  While Capricorn owner Patrizio Rossi managed to return to the pits and get a new one by the time it was fitted the German had missed the start.  Running the rest of the round, the Round 1 & 3 race winner said his C03 felt really good but needing two results from the final qualifiers he is going to have to drive safe rounds.

Posting the fastest lap of the round, Greiner said he drove more than 100% trying to take the TQ battle to Balestri but this caught him out.  Running up on the curbing, which following last weekend’s large 1:5 race at the Mini Autodromo Jody Scheckter are very grippy, his Serpent was pulled into the corner ending up on the morning’s damp grass.  The ENS Round 2 winner said his 748 had more understeer this morning and for the next one he will change the rear shock position as well as the camber angle.  While the battle for pole is done, the German is confident he has the pace for the final adding that his car is easier to drive than Balestri’s and that his Max engine has better consumption that the XRD.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Dirk Wischnewski

Chassis – Shepherd Velox V10 Pro
Engine – Orcan GT3
Fuel – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Hot Race Tyres
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Futaba
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – Former European Champion Dirk Wischnewski is running the basic Velox V10 Pro with some option parts as well as some new prototype parts. Up front there is a new servo saver Ackermann plate which is narrower than the standard version and which helps give the car more steering. There is also a new monoblock engine mount which stiffens the area around the engine to again help give the car more steering. In terms of setup it is based on his European Championship setup from earlier in the year at Valencia with harder front springs and a softer front diff.

Image Gallery

Video – 1/8th Qualifying Rd2

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odnKgxmUIfY[/youtube]