Video – 1/8th Qualifying Rd3
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpJXJzSGuV0[/youtube]
Pietsch takes Q3 at ENS
After a ‘disastrous day’ yesterday, Robert Pietsch has bounced back at the Euro Nitro Series season opener in Italy to TQ the third round of qualifying ahead of defending champion Simon Kurzbuch. The Mugen driver & designer was able to open Day 2 with a new fastest time with the Shepherd of Kurzbuch just 2/10ths off. Behind them WRC’s Andrea Pirani is proving mister consistent as he ran another Top 3 qualifier while engines issues left yesterday’s pace setter Dario Balestri to record the 5th fastest time.
‘Super happy to start out so well’ said Pietsch adding he was ‘lucky to be even driving today’. Going for dinner last night with his engine sponsors Alberto & Edo Picco, when the 2012 World Champion came out from the restaurant his road car full with his racing equipment was gone. Presuming his car had been stolen they contacted the police who then tracked it down to a towing company. Parking in a disused petrol station across from the restaurant, the owner on seeing Pietsch park his car via a webcam called a towing company who came and took the car away while Pietsch was eating his dinner. With the yard where his car had been taken to closing for the weekend at midnight there was a scramble to get to the location. Luckily with just 5-minutes to closing they arrived to retrieve his car and his racing equipment. In terms of his Q3 performance, he said the car was really good as it was yesterday and that was highlighted by him recording the fastest lap of the round. Suffering an engine cut in Q1 and crashing in Q2 as he struggled to see his MRX5 in the dark conditions, he said today was his first time to get a clean run and planning to leave it unchanged for the next qualifier he said he hopes he can repeat the run again.
Simon Kurzbuch said while he ‘hoped for a TQ run’ Q3 went ‘very good’. Pointing out that he had no traffic issues he said the 4-minutes were really good. Targeting another strong run in Q4 which would lock him into the A-Main, he said other than fitting a new bumper he would make no changes. Suffering an off during the warm up he said while this damaged the bumper it did not affect the car’s performance for the run.
Pirani declared his latest qualifier as ‘another good run’ although the Italian felt his driving wasn’t perfect as he missed his lines a number of times. With the GTX designer now locked into the A-Main, he will use Q4 to try a different front anti-roll bar as he tries to increase the steering and mid corner speed.
Behind Pirani, Italian Mugen driver Mattia Rinaldi would post the 4th fastest time, half a second up on Balestri’s Capricorn. Taking both qualifiers yesterday, the Balestri struggled with a lean bottom end on his Tesla engine and he had to nurse it through the run.
Rick Vrielijnck completed the Top 6, the Dutch driver one of many in the top heat who just could not see his car in Q2 which due to the effects of rain ended up running in the dark with the track only partially lit by floodlights. With the bad Q2 result, the Mugen/Picco driver said he ‘didn’t push fully’ as he needed another good run. Describing the performance of his car & engine as being ‘still great’, he plans to push harder in Q4. If he can get a good result from that he said he might consider, if the weather permits a fifth round of qualifying, switching from an R18 to a 909 bodyshell.
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Coelho opens Day 2 of ENS with TQ run
Team Xray’s Bruno Coelho got Day 2 of the Euro Nitro Series season opener in Bologna, Italy, underway with a TQ run. The third round of qualifying at the L.Collari RC Raceway, the Portuguese driver set a new fastest time as he outpaced Team Shepherd’s Dirk Wischnewski by 1.6-seconds with Serpent’s Dominic Greiner a further 3/10ths off in third. For yesterday’s pace setters the morning run would see Teemu Leino, who took Q2, post the 5th fastest time with Q1 top qualifier Alessio Mazzeo completing the Top 6.
‘Super good, no mistakes’ was how Coelho summed up his run having had incidents in both qualifiers yesterday. Running new tyres on his Max powered NT1 ’15 for each of his runs, he said other than double check the car set-up before the run the car is still as he ran it from the start of qualifying. Happy with how everything is running, he said the plan is to ‘continue the same’.
Wischnewski said he had a ‘clean run’ but the German felt his Orcan engine was ‘maybe too rich’. The former European Champion admitted he benefited from other guys having issues but overall the performance of the car was ‘fine’. With ‘three ok rounds’ he plans to use the next qualifier to test a lighter front diff adding while not far off he could do with a little more steering from the Velox V10.
Having suffered an engine flame out in Q2, Greiner said ‘overall 3rd not bad’ but the World Championship Top Qualifier was annoyed by a mistake he made on his penultimate lap. On a TQ pace he hit the curbing through the sweeper leading onto the straight losing over 2-seconds. Happy with his 748 the German said he will make an engine change for Q4 as he looks for more power.
Setting the fastest lap of the qualifying in Q3 to post the fourth fastest time, Leo Arnold said the qualifier was ‘not so bad’. The French Capricorn driver said his car was hard to drive yesterday as he had too much steering. Also hampered by traffic in Q1 and then making a mistake in Q2, he said a harder front spring made the car easier to drive in Q3. Happy with the car now he will run it unchanged for the fourth qualifier.
Top Qualifier at last season’s opening race and in contention again this year, HB’s Leino would suffer an early spin at the end of the straight that cost him 3-seconds. Running the car the same as when he TQ’d Q2, he said today his R10 felt tweaked with him having to save it a few times as it broke loose. He will check over the car for Q4 to see if he can pin point the problem.
In the closing stages of the run while in the mix for a second TQ run, Mazzeo would suffer a broken gearbox on his Serpent. Stuck in 2nd gear the 2013 European Champion would finish the run with three 17-second laps dropping him to 6th. Very happy with his 748 up to that point, he said with a new gearbox fitted everything should be good for the next round.
For defending champion Eric Dankel it was a again a poor qualifier but this time the Capricorn driver took full responsibility. Having had car issues yesterday, the German said today his car was really good. Running in the same heat as Arnold, the second fastest group, he was on a TQ pace until the final lap when he made a mistake which he said was completely his own fault. With his ‘car good now’ he said the ‘TQ pace is there’.
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Balestri again in Q2
Dario Balestri made it two from two on the opening day of the Euro Nitro Series in Bologna when the Capricorn driver overcame difficult conditions to top a late run Q2 from WRC’s Andrea Pirani and the Shepherd of defending champion Simon Kurzbuch. With rain effecting what was orginally planned to be a day of practice and with more rain forecast for tomorrow, championship organisers were forced to run two qualifiers at the L.Collari RC Raceway but with light fading fast the top heat of 1:8 drivers found themselves running in the dark with only the front side of the track having lighting. Such was the low light that although 3rd fastest in the top group Francesco Tironi would end up only 8th fastest overall while Robert Pietsch and Lamberto Collari found themselves outside the Top 10 as they struggled with visibility.
‘Very difficult’ was Balestri’s reaction to his second TQ run but the Italian added it was a ‘good first day’ for him. Struggling to see his car he said he just tried to drive consistently for the 4-minutes as he couldn’t do the same fast lap as in Q1. With his best lap of Q2, 3/10ths of a second off his fastest lap time of the opening qualifier he said the consistency paid off with him only taking up the TQ pace in the final minute and a half and being the only driver to run 17-laps.
Having set the early pace Pirani said his GTX was working really well and the only problem was the light. Having improved the tune on his OS Speed engine he said he had a better feel with the car and hoping for a ‘dry daylight run tomorrow’ the car’s designer will just continue with an unchanged package.
Having ran out of fuel in Q1, Kurzbuch was able to go the full distance this time around having switched to a different Novarossi engine. The Swiss driver said ‘conditions were very hard for drivers with it nearly too dark but I’m happy with third’. He said while he was slower because of the light the power from his second engine was good and he will continue with it. Hopeful of getting dry running tomorrow he said he had a few small set-up changes to his Velox V8 he planned on trying.
Having had traffic issues in Q1, BP Racing’s Mirko Salemi would have a strong second qualifier to post the fourth fastest time. Making a number of tweaks to the set-up on his RS4, the Italian said this also contributed to the improved pace. Running a Novarossi Vertus engine but feeling he needs more bottom end power for tomorrow he will consider switching to a Keep On unit.
Swiss driver Silvio Hachler, who for 2015 has switched to Mugen, would post 5th for the round. Making small set-up changes to his MRX-5, the World Championship finalist said ‘it was too dark for him to tell if they made any difference.
Veteran racer Stefano Solaroli would complete the Top 6 half a second up on the Capricorn of Kyle Branson. Running a Picco powered Shepherd, this is the Italian’s first race with the Velox V8 and he said it ‘feels really good’. Although not his home track he said he knows it very well and this is a big help when running a new car. Changing to a much heavier front rollbar for Q2 he said the car was able to carry better corner speed and he hopes to be able to build on his performance tomorrow.
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Leino takes Q2 in Bologna
Having lost out on a TQ run after he was blocked by a backmarker on the final lap of the opening qualifier, Teemu Leino was able to run a clean Q2 at the Euro Nitro Series in Bologna to top the times from Bruno Coelho. Finishing 1.2-seconds clear of the Xray driver, the result sees the HB driver end Day 1 of the season opener as the provisional overnight Top Qualifier as rain again looks set to affect proceedings tomorrow. With the second qualifier resulting in a DNF for reigning champion Eric Dankel, it was British driver Joe Kerry who completed the Top 3 ahead of Q1 pace setter Alessio Mazzeo.
Leino said unlike many of his rivals who ran their Q1 tyres for a second time he went with a new set of the handout Matrix tyres adding for now he is happy how that approach has played out. Admitting that small tyres would probably be faster, the Finn’s plans for tomorrow’s Q3 are to stay the same but he added depending on if future qualifiers can be run, the local weather giving rain for the afternoon, he might test something different with a view to the finals.
Challenging Leino for the TQ pace, Coelho said his NT1’15 was ‘super good’ but he was ‘unlucky’. Running behind Alessio Mazzeo, he would crash into him when the Italian suffered a spin, the incident costing him a chance at a TQ run. Having had a mistake in Q1, the Portuguese star said ‘the speed is there and I just need a bit of luck’. Hagberg said it was a day ‘everything went wrong’. Describing his cars as undrivable in Q1 he said he managed to improve it for the second run but in this he had a clutch issue which left him 11th fastest. He says he hoped tomorrow would be dry long enough for him to get in some competitive heats.
Having ran on used tyres for Q1 which left the rear of his Capricorn very lose, Kerry went for fresh tyres in Q2 saying it felt much better. With a poor first round, the 23-year-old said he played it safe for Q2 and he was ‘happy with 3rd’. His first ENS outing, for tomorrow he said he will probably make a set-up change to his OS Speed powered LAB C03 as he would like to have more onpower steering. For Capricorn’s lead factory driver Dankel, the round would see the German struggle with his gearbox changing up with the delayed shift resulting in him getting collected by a following car and he missed the start as the car flamed out and suffered a broken body post.
Another driver to have problems in the warm-up as a crash broke a rear tyre, Mazzeo would manage to get fourth. Having to replace the broken tyre with a brand new one, the Italian said this made his Serpent difficult at the start of the 4-minutes leading to a number mistakes. By the end it was good with him again setting the fastest lap improving on his Q1 lap time by over 1/10th of a second. For his Serpent team-mate Dominic Greiner, having set the fastest opening lap of the heat, an engine flame out would end his chances on lap 2. Rejoining the race after losing over a minute, he said his 748 was very good and he hopes with a higher idle setting he will get the chance to run a good second qualifier tomorrow if it stays dry.
Fifth fastest for the round, Dirk Wischnewski said harder shocks improved his Shepherd but he messed up with a mistake. Clipping the curbing he said this unsettled his Orcan powered Velox V10 and trying to stay off the grass he lost a couple of seconds. Encouraged that the speed is now there he said he would wait and see what tomorrow brings before deciding his game plan.
Completing the Top 6, Jilles Groskamp said things started off good but in the final 2-minutes he would suffer a spin through he sweeper leading onto the straight. Losing almost 3-seconds as result, he said while not sure why it spun out, the corner has been a problem area for his car. Feeling there is a small tweak in his R10 but having checked the chassis and it is straight he said maybe the problem is in the rear rollbar which he will change for tomorrow. Also running 1:8 this weekend, the former European Champion said this is proving a challenge in terms of keeping on top of the finer details of the car’s maintenance.
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Euro Nitro Series Rd1 – Friday Action
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vLye4UAz4c[/youtube]
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