Chassis – Infinity Prototype
Engine – Novarossi Mito .12 C
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – HotRace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – SRC Spark
Remarks – Having qualified second for the start of the A-Main behind Dominic Greiner, Finnish star Teemu Leino is going to battle for the overall Championship running the same prototype he used to win in Aigen with an SRC Spark bodyshell being the only significant change from the Austrian race.
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Teemu Leino has TQ’d the final round of qualifying at the concluding round of the Euro Nitro Series in Italy and will start the title deciding 45-minute A-Main in Fiorano from second on the grid behind Top Qualifier Dominic Greiner. The Team Infinity driver topped Q3 by 6/10ths from Q1 & 2 pace setter Greiner, with new team-mate Marc Rheinard a further 7/10ths off completing the Top 3. For Leino’s main title rivals the round would net a P6 for championship points leader Dirk Wischnewski while Erik Dankel would go out with conrod failure while setting the TQ pace. The result means Wischnewski starts 5th while 2014 Champion Dankel will line up 9th.
Describing his car as ‘a little bit easier to drive that time’, Leino added, ‘but sometimes the rear got loose but I think it was the same for everyone’. Planning to ‘keep it the same for the final’, this year’s only double race winner added, ‘there is no need to win the final’, fourth place or better enough to secure him his first ENS title even if Wischnewski or Dankel can take the win. In terms of his tyre strategy the Ettlingen and Aigen race winner said ‘we know what to do’ adding ‘Aigen the tyre wear was maximum high but here its more normal’. Looking to take over the ENS title from team-mate Jilles Groskamp, who just missed a direct spot in the final ending qualifying P11, Leino said, ‘If I remember right Jilles did this race last year on one set (of tyres) but ran out and got passed for the win on the second last lap’.
Using the final qualifier as a test session, Greiner would use his standard bodyshell in the warm-up and then switch to a new prototype shell from Xtreme Aerodynamics. The World Champion said the prototype made his Serpent 748 ‘a bit difficult’ but he plans to back to back test it again in the morning’s A-Main Warm-up. Also using the qualifier to run a second Novarossi engine he said it ran well and now the plan for tomorrow is to just refresh everything on the car adding in terms of a race strategy ‘everything seems ok’.
Securing third on the grid, Alessio Mazzeo would make a mistake on his opening lap and opt then to use the rest of the qualifier as a test session. Having completely changed his car’s set-up, the Serpent driver would pit for further changes. Rejoining, he was happy to go back out and set his fastest lap of all three qualifiers. Describing the car as ‘now more stable but not perfect’ the Italian said they ‘still need to find more’ from the set-up saying ‘stability in the corner continues to be the problem’. One change he will try for the morning’s 10-minute warm-up is to change the position of the weight in the car concluding ‘I think this is the problem’.
Having struggled in Q2 after a rear diff set-up change, Marc Rheinard would revert back to his Q1 ‘softer diff’ set-up to better his Q1 P4 run and secure fourth on the grid. The German, who hasn’t raced nitro since the 2012 World Championships, said ‘because of my Q2 result I just drove a safe round to put it in the final, I didn’t try too hard, I did nothing crazy’. Describing his Team Infinity as ‘easy to drive,’ he continued ‘maybe this is good for the final’. More used to the short burst 5-minute finals format of the electric touring car, the 4-time electric World Champion said, ‘Qualifying 4th is a good result for my first ENS but I really have no idea what to do for the final’. Although he ran the 1-hour Main at the 2010 World Championship and finished Runner-up he said working out a strategy wasn’t something he had any experience of.
Behind Rheinard in the final qualifier, Thilo Tödtmann would post the fourth fastest time to 7th on the grid between the Xray’s of David Loppini and Leo Arnold. The Capricorn driver, who finished on the podium in Aigen, said, ‘the car has always been good but the problem was with the driver but the last one I put it all together’. The German, who sits fourth in the championship standings, added, ‘I am happy to be mixing against such great drivers’. Describing his tyre and fuel consumption as ‘pretty good’, he said he will decided on his strategy once he has a better idea of the weather.
Wischnewski was pleased that he had improved his set-up but ‘unfortunately (he) made a mistake in traffic’. The Shepherd driver described the car’s Q3 performance as being ‘quite positive for the final’ adding the car was ‘getting better as the run goes on’. Content to race the car as is for the final, the former European Champion said his strategy would depend on the race start time. Currently set to start early in the morning due to the impending rain which is forecast, he said he would need to consider the conditions, adding track moisture could be a factor at the current start time.
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Chassis – ARC R8.0 2016
Engine – Novarossi Mito C “WC”
Fuel – Meccafuel
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – KO Propo
Body – Blitz TS035
Remarks – Breakthrough star of the 2016 ENS, Toni Gruber is set to start from second spot on the grid in tomorrow’s A-Main here in Fiorano at the controls of an R8.0 2016. His car is equipped with a number of options, such as aluminium wheel axles, low friction pulleys and belts, a front carbon steering plate and front air disks. He is also using the rear long arm suspension block set, which utilises a narrower suspension mount to compensate for the longer arms.
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Chassis – WRC GTX ’16
Engine – XRD FT Line
Fuel – Energy
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Futaba
Body – Xtreme Aerodynamics R18
Remarks – Italian top driver Andrea Pirani is running the 2016 version of the Italian manufacturer’s GTX, equipped with kevlar pulleys and Hiro Seiko aluminium screws. He is also using a FT Line clutch and handmade front bodyshell stabilisers.
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Dominic Greiner has secured the overall TQ at the season finale of the Euro Nitro Series again taking the second round of qualifying in Fiorano. The Serpent driver became the fourth different Top Qualifier of the season after topping the Q2 times ahead of Top Qualifiers of the last two races Erik Dankel and Teemu Leino. Top Qualifier of the event last year but lasting just 3-minutes in the final before suffering a conrod failure, today’s TQ marks Greiner’s first of the season with the World Champion determined to convert it into his first win of the season this time round. Unfortunately for this season’s other Top Qualifier, Round 1 pole sitter Bruno Coelho was to again suffer engine wows and failed to start the qualifier and with 2 out 3 heats to count it means the Portuguese driver is going to need a good run of bump ups if he is to stand a chance of making tomorrow’s A-Main.
The ENS’ most successful qualifier, this his fifth TQ in the championship’s 12 race history, Greiner was pleased to claim the TQ a round early but only described his Q2 performance as ‘OK’ adding it ‘it was a close qualifying again’. Topping the times by 4/10th, the World Champion said his Novarossi powered 748 WC Edition ‘was a bit loose in the rear’ adding ‘Teemu had the same problem’. Putting this down to the fact ‘the track changed a bit from yesterday’, the German said now that the TQ was wrapped up they could use the final qualifier to try improve the car for the conditions. One item he is considering testing a a new prototype bodyshell from Xtreme Aerodynamics. With rain limiting track time with no dry running on Thursday and then just two dry practice rounds on Friday, he said they hadn’t had the chance to test it so its something he would like to compare to the SRC Spark he has run so far. In terms of the final, he said ‘without a tyre change is not possible but we need more running to calculate tyre wear because so far we have only been able to measure twice (the two qualifiers). He concluded, ‘everything else is fine and like always run time is no issue’.
‘Without mistake this time’ was how Dankel summed up Q2. The Mugen driver was on TQ but said when pitman Robert Pietsch told him he was on a ‘super good run’ he started to push too hard causing him to lose time. The 2014 Champion felt he also had a better set of tyres saying the set he had in Q1, in which he was only P12, left the car to understeer in one direction and oversteer in the other. One of the contenders for this year’s title, the German said for Q3 he will ‘change nothing’ and instead ‘just make no mistakes’. Happy with his ORCAN powered MTX6R, he said his ‘main problem is I push too hard and then start to make mistakes, the car is fine and I just need to drive it’.
‘It felt absolutely loose, in the warm-up I spin three times’, was Leino’s reaction after Q2. The only driver this season to back up a TQ with victory, he continued, ‘it was better in the race but still loose and I had one spin’. Putting the lower traction down to ‘the weather change’ it a much sunnier day today in Fiorano, he said the problem was also compounded by a set-up change after Q1 to give his Team Infinity more steering. He will go back to his Q1 set-up for the final qualifier saying it gave him a ‘more safe car’ which would also be better for the longer final.
Posting the fourth fastest time, Serpent’s Alessio Mazzeo said, ‘I don’t have a good feeling with the car’. Having changed his set-up he said this caused his Gimar powered 748 to ‘lose stability in the chicane and mid corner’. Describing the car as ‘difficult’ adding ‘there is less grip now’, the Vice-World Champion said he initially pushed to try and run with Greiner but he was competitive leading to a mistake after which he decided to just finish the qualifier to make sure he made the A-Main. For the final qualifier, last year’s race winner plans to run ‘a completely different set-up’.
Championship leader Dirk Wischnewski would take his Shepherd to the sixth fastest time behind Italian Xray driver David Loppini despite a late mistake. The winner of the season opener in Bologna, he said, ‘I was running one second behind Dominic and it was going quite ok but then I had a mistake that lost me 2-seconds’. He continued ‘Anyway I got two runs and I’m in the final which was my first goal. Look at Bruno (Coelho) he had two bad runs which leaves him nowhere’. Describing his car as ‘still not super perfect but OK’ for the final qualifier he will try a different diff and anti roll bar set-up to try to ‘improve the overall set-up’ adding the lack of practice had made it hard to try something big up to now. Behind Wischnewski, reigning champion Jilles Groskamp would get a P7 for the round.
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