Leino Top Qualifier at ENS Austria

Teemu Leino is the Top Qualifier for the third round of the Euro Nitro Series, the Team Infinity driver dominating the opening three rounds of qualifying at the Austria event to wrap up pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main with two rounds of qualifying still to run.  Winner of the Aigen event last year, the Finn has been the class of the 200mm field this weekend with only World Champion Dominic Greiner looking like providing any kind of serious challenge.  Having only started his 1:10 campaign at Round 2 of the championship in Germany, where he took a narrow victory over Greiner, today’s TQ earns last year’s championship runner up an important bonus point.

Never a driver who says too much, Leino’s reaction to taking his 3rd ever ENS TQ was typically understated with him saying, ‘It was good.  It’s easy to drive the car out there’.   With pole position wrapped up, when asked about his plan for the final two qualifiers he replied, ‘we will use it to try some other stuff on the car’.  Asked if he was looking for a set-up for the 45-minute final, he said, ‘the set-up is already good for the final so we are just testing to get more used to how the car reacts to changes’.  Asked about the long run, last year’s 200mm final in Aigen one of the best races of the season, the former World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘tyre wear but more so fuel consumption were important’ highlighting that due to the track’s ‘really high altitude the run time is much higher’.

Top Qualifier for the race last year and winner the year before, Greiner said, ‘the car was ok but Teemu is still faster’.  Describing his Serpent as ‘very easy to drive’ he added it ‘again missed steering’, something he feels is down to tyres.  The German, who has been joined today by his influential pitman Thomas Günsel, said, ‘the tyres are completely different to yesterday. The rear tyre is harder and for that compound my rear diff is too hard’.  Asked if he would change the diff he replied, ‘maybe I will make the rear softer or maybe I will go harder in the front (diff), I’m not sure yet’.  The driver with the most ENS TQs to his credit with 4 but only a single win, looking to the A-Main he said, ‘I don’t think Teemu can run this pace in the final and I have my WC (pit) crew here and with one tyre change for sure, maybe more, we can race for the win’.

Q3 would bring a marked improvement from championship leader Dirk Wischnewski, the Shepherd driver posting his first P3 time.  Winner of the season opener, which he backed up with a P4 in Ettlingen, the former European Champion said his Orcan powered V10 ‘seemed much better’ after changing the bump steer and front toe in for the round.  The German would however struggle with the car at the end of the 4-minutes as a screw in the front right steering link came loose.  Looking to Q4, he said in terms of set-up they plan to ‘keep it like it is and get used to how it drives’.  He will also use the next qualifier to gauge fuel consumption as the timing is similar to that of tomorrow’s final.

After a not so great start to qualifying, Q3 would also be the best round so far for Francesco Tironi.  Making a rear anti-rollbar change he said he had ‘more traction’.  He continued saying his Infinity ‘was better in some parts but worse in others but overall the compromise was better’.  With the car ‘faster in the beginning and then loose a little’, he said they will try find more consistency for the next one.  Asked about his set-up compared to that of team-mate Leino, he replied, ‘our set-ups are completely different because our style of driving is very different’.  Behind Tironi, Xray driver Nicola Marrone would get fifth ahead of Capricorn’s Thilo Tödtmann.

Having been Top 3 in the opening two qualifiers, 2014 Champion Erik Dankel would end up P8 after a mistake.  The Mugen driver said he would lose further time after the error ‘then fighting with (former team-mate) Thilo’.  With his target set on registering his first podium finish since joining Mugen, the German driver said, ‘Teemu is a hard contender for the win.  The car and Teemu are driving perfect for the track’, Aigen one of the more unique tracks on the calendar.  While slightly off the pace of Leino and Greiner he said, ‘pit crew is going to be key to the result of the final’.

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Chassis Focus – Merlin Depta

Chassis – Serpent Viper 977 Evo2
Engine – Picco EMX-WC
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Blitz TS040

Remarks – German driver Merlin Depta is representing Serpent in the 1/8th class here in Aigen, running the new released “Evo2” version of the Viper977 that features a narrower rear end with longer arms for an improved traction. His car is equipped with aluminium wheel axles, a lighter pulley set and an aluminium clutch bell.

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Kurzbuch opens ENS quali with TQ run

Simon Kurzbuch has opened qualifying for the 3rd round of the Euro Nitro Series with a TQ run.  The Shepherd driver, who topped the time sheets in yesterday’s practice, was over a second & a half faster than Mugen’s Robert Pietsch with Capricorn’s Dario Balestri a similar margin off in third.  Behind 1:8 powerhouse trio, ARC’s Lars Hoppe would post the 4th fastest time ahead of  Team Infinity driver Carmine Raiola while running Serpent’s new 977 Evo 2, Merlin Depta completed the Top 6.

‘A super good run’ was Kurzbuch reaction to Q1.  The World Champion added, ‘I knew from practice Dario and Robert were fast too but my run was really consistent’.  With both Balestri and Pietsch posting faster lap times, the Swiss ace said, ‘I didn’t have the best lap time but there was only 2/10ths between my worse and best lap which is really good’.  Describing his car and engine as ‘perfect’, he said the only change they had to make was to the tuning of his Novarossi engine for the morning temperatures.

Pietsch said his Q1 ‘was good’ but added with a slight laugh of belief ‘Simon is very strong’.  Last year’s Aigen Top Qualifier said while his MRX-6 ‘feels good now’, his Picco engine was ‘a little too lean and (he) lost time at the end to the engine’.  Pleased with  his car set-up the only change he will make for Q2 is to fit a different engine.

Balestri would also report engine tuning problems, his Tesla too rich on the bottom end.  While the engine ‘was ok in the end’, the reigning champion said forward traction is still his biggest problem and they will continue to ‘try something with the car’ to find it.

‘Pretty good. I’m happy with fourth’ was Hoppe’s reaction to the opening qualifier, the German adding, ‘the last 3-laps were not perfect and I lost a position to Dario’.  Describing his ARC as ‘a bit difficult’, he said, ‘at the start it had understeer, then was perfect and at the end had oversteer’.  Running the standard R8.0 2016, while team-mate John Ermen, who got a P7 for the round runs a car fitted with 2017 prototype parts, he plans ‘a small change to the anti-rollbars’ for Q2 to try and get better consistency over the 4-minutes.

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Chassis Focus – Lars Hoppe

Chassis – ARC R8.0 2016
Engine – Reds WCS
Fuel – Brilliant RC
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Blitz TS030

Remarks – Seeded fourth after yesterday’s controlled practice, German ARC driver Lars Hoppe is driving the 2016 version of the R8.0 here in Aigen. His car features low friction transmission parts, aluminium lightweight wheel axles and rear CVDs.

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Leino TQs opening qualifier in Austria

Teemu Leino has TQ’d the opening round of 1:10 qualifying at Round 3 of the Euro Nitro Series in Austria.  Having dominated practice yesterday, the qualifying top seed would open day 2 of the event by taking the first of the five 4-minute qualifier ahead of Dominic Greiner, the pair the only drivers to make 15-laps runs on the technical Aigen track.  Behind them, Mugen’s Eric Dankel would post the third fastest time followed closely by the Capricorn of Thilo Tödtmann.

‘All good’ was Leino’s reaction to taking Q1.  The Finn said his prototype Infinity was ‘twitchy to drive’ compared to yesterday feeling it might be due to the cooler track conditions of the morning run adding, ‘it will be better when the sun comes out’.  For team-mate Francesco Tironi, who was fourth fastest in yesterday’s controlled practice, an early trip on the the damp morning grass as he came out of the hairpin onto the main straight would leave him 13th for the opening qualifier.

Greiner declared the first of the five qualifiers as ‘so, so’.  He continued, ‘yesterday we were looking for steering and now we have so much steering’.  Having taken part in the free practice earlier in the morning he said his Serpent 748 had  ‘good steering both on new and used tyres’ but then for Q1 it was ‘a bit difficult with a few laps not so good’.  Setting the fastest lap for the round with a 16.894, the German will consider a set-up change for Q2 but sad he is conscious the issue could be down to track temperature.

Dankel said his first attempt was ‘pretty good’.  The former champion added, ‘I only had a little trouble when Carmine (Raiola) flipped and I had to lift.  Without this I think I could have got 2nd’.  Unlike Leino and Greiner, the German said he felt ‘the track didn’t change a lot’ adding ‘my car was good’ and for Q2 he will leave it unchanged.

Heading the Capricorn charge this weekend, Tödtmann said, ‘I always try to make the first round clean with no mistakes to get points and it was OK’.  Describing his car as ‘good’ he said he drove too hard on the curbs which cost him time.  Starting behind Xray’s Leo Arnold, he said when the French driver flipped giving him a clear track he pushed too hard leading to a number of moments.  For Q2 he said the only thing that needs to be improved is his driving.   Behind Tödtmann, championship leader Dirk Wischnewski got a P5 with Hotrace’s boss Nicola Marrone completing the Top 6.

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Business as usual for Kurzbuch at ENS Aigen

It was business as usual for Simon Kurzbuch on the opening day of the Euro Nitro Series in Austria as the points leader topped seeding for qualifying at the third round.  The Shepherd driver would set the pace from Dario Balestri although it was the Capricorn driver who would be fastest in the second of the two controlled rounds of practice getting to within 0.038 of a second of Kurzbuch’s CP1 time.  Behind the former & current ENS champions, Robert Pietsch would complete the now traditional Top 3 ahead of the ARC trio Lars Hoppe, John Ermen and Round 2 podium finisher Toni Gruber.

Having also topped the time for the five rounds of free practice earlier in the day, Kurzbuch said ‘the first one was very good and the second one was also good but Dario was a little faster’.  With the pair separated by just 17/1000ths, he said they used CP2 to run in the engine he will use for Qualifying with the World Champion declaring, ‘it felt very good and everything looks good for tomorrow’.

Commenting on his strong pace in the second controlled practice, having been over 2/10th off Kurzbuch in the first, Balestri said, ‘On lap times yes it was good but I was over the limit and can’t drive like this for qualifying’.  The Italian continued, ‘I have the same problem of missing traction so for sure we still have to find something for tomorrow’.

Suffering a broken fly weight in his clutch in CP1, Pietsch said ‘the second one was OK’.  Asked why it was only OK, the German said, ‘I was driving with Dario and I am missing something in the corner coming onto the main straight as he was faster in this corner.  We were the same the rest of the lap’.  Almost half a second off Kurzbuch’s pace over 3-laps, the Mugen designer concluded, ‘I need to find something for tomorrow’.

A podium finisher when the ENS made its first visit to the Aigen track in 2014, Hoppe said after ‘a difficult free practice’ they managed to get the car good for the first controlled practice.  Making a rear anti roll bar change for CP2 as well as adding more flex to the front of the car he said it wasn’t as good.  With ARC having a number of prototype parts here that will form the 2017 version of the R8.0, Hoppe said while he tested them yesterday with the day proving ‘difficult’ he opted to run what he knows and so for today has focused on getting himself up to speed with the standard car.

Winner here in 2014, then racing for Xray, Ermen on the other hand has been able to utilise the prototype parts today saying controlled practice was ‘pretty good actually’.  The Dutch driver used yesterday to back to back test the current car against one fitted with prototype parts. Working off the same set-up to what he ran here last year, some ‘minor tweaks’ have given him a set-up he is ‘pretty happy’ with.  Feeling the new parts are working ‘better here’ he plans to just clean and check over his car for tomorrow.  For qualifying, Ermen feels tyre strategy is going to come into play as the car is a bit difficult on the bigger tyres.  With drivers having to run a pre trued set diameter tyre, Hotrace the official supplier this weekend, drivers have the option to leave a set of tyre in technical control to use them again.

View complete event results here.

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