Piestch and Greiner top seeds for qualifying

Robert Pietsch and Dominic Greiner are top seeds for qualifying after setting the fastest time in practice at the German ENS.  The second of the timed practice sessions at the Ettlingen track would see no change at the top of the 1:8 time sheets with Pietsch’s TP1 time standing while in 1:10 all the leading drivers would improve, with Greiner going fastest.

Defending champion Simon Kurzbuch, who had issues that left him 21st in TP1, would set the pace in the second but slower session that saw the Top 6 fail to improve.  With his time, the Shepherd driver would end practice third overall behind Pietsch and Rick Vrielijnck, the Dutch driver closest to Kurzbuch in TP2. The other key improvement of the second practice would also come from a Swiss driver with ARC’s Silvio Hächler ending up 8th behind Picco, Balestri, Mack and Tironi.

Benefiting from the reducing tyre diameter of the pre-trued handout Shepherd Tyres being used at Round 3, having run them in TP1, Greiner knocked 6/10ths off his earlier time.  Wischnewski would only improve his pace by 1/10th over the 3-consecutive laps with Leino managing a similar improvement.  Finding the most time among the championship’s title contenders was Jilles Groskamp, his HB R10 going almost 1-second faster to move him into the top heat for qualifying just in front of the man he shares the championship lead with, Bruno Coelho.

View our event image gallery here.

Pietsch leads the way in Ettlingen

Robert Pietsch appears to be the man to beat at Round 3 of the Euro Nitro Series, setting the pace in the first timed practice at Ettlingen.  The Mugen driver was 2/10th faster than new Shepherd signing Rick Vrielijnck who in turn was 2/10ths faster than Alberto Picco, the top three all using Picco engines.  Almost matching Picco’s pace fellow Italian Dario Balestri was fourth fastest ahead of championship returnee Oliver Mack.  For defending champion Simon Kurzbuch his run was hampered by the loss of a front shock spring retainer and he would post the 21st fastest time.

Describing his MRX-5 as ‘the best it’s been’ throughout all the practices, Pietsch said the car is ‘really really good’ adding that while there is always room for improvement he feels they are on top of the set-up for the track’s ‘unique asphalt’.  Having suffered a thrust bearing failure in the final open practice, he said the rebuilt clutch was slipping a little and that is the only thing he needs to sort for the final timed practice, each driver’s fastest 3-consecutive laps counting towards the seeding of the qualifying heats.  Chasing his first win of season #2 of the ENS having finished runner-up last year, the German is liking the new track layout despite the ‘really different’ track conditions the resurfacing has brought.

Having made the switch from Mugen to Shepherd ahead of the race, Vreilijnck has looked very impressive on his debut for the German manufacturer.  Asked about the switch the Dutch driver said ‘the Mugen is a very good car but it was too stable for my driving style’.  Pleased to be able to work a deal to join Shepherd half way through the racing season, he said working alongside Mack he has been able to get the Velox V8 to his liking very quickly.  With both drivers now running very similar set-ups, the multiple Worlds finalist is also enjoying the track, he said the car is fast allowing him to focus for the final practice on scrubbing in tyres for this evening’s opening qualifier.

While describing the track as ‘really nice’, Picco said he was not used to what for him was ‘such low traction’, the Italian National Championship running tyre additive. Feeling they are ‘struggling a bit to find the right set-up’ he continued ‘we are  ‘improving step by step’.  Running a Mugen chassis he said, ‘I can’t complain as we are close but still not 100% yet’.

Balestri didn’t have a good start to his first timed run, chunking a rear tyre on only his third lap.  Having only got to run 30-minutes of testing yesterday, the Round 1 Top Qualifier feels he is still playing catch-up to his rivals. He said ‘for sure’ his C802 was getting better each run adding he hoped they were now going in the right direction in terms of a set-up for qualifying.

Mack was very happy with his early pace on what is his first ENS outing of the season.  While suffering from a broken clutch, the German said his ‘lap times are pretty good’ and with the target being just to make the Main he was ‘happy’ with how things had started off.  Having found working with Vrielijnck in testing yesterday very beneficial he said his Picco powered Velox V8 was ‘pretty easy to drive’ and while he could make it faster it would take away its consistency so he will leave it unchanged.  Behind Mack, team-mate Francesco Tironi completed the Top 6.

While he couldn’t get a good time due to his shock issue, Kurzbuch was happy how the early practices had gone adding he felt everything was ‘ok’ for qualifying.  Having ran a spare engine today, the Novarossi driver will switch to his race engine for the final practice to ensure everything is ready for Q1.

View our event image gallery here.

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.

View our event image gallery here.

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’.

Image Gallery