Kurzbuch remains benchmark at ENS Germany

Just as he was at the season opener at ENS Netherlands, Simon Kurzbuch is the 1:8 benchmark going into qualifying at Round 2 of the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  The Shepherd driver was fastest over 3-consecutive laps around the Minidrom Ettlingen track at the end of controlled practice topping the times from fellow World Champions Dario Balestri and Robert Pietsch. On his first outing of the 2018 season, Toni Gruber would settle into the event with the fourth fastest time with Round 1 find Jeffrey Rietveld fifth fastest ahead of fellow Dutchman Rick Vrielijnck who made it six different brands of cars in the Top 6.

‘It was just two more practice sessions. There was quite a lot of practice for everybody and I’m ready for qualifying’, was Kurzbuch’s reaction to topping the seeding practice.  Also fastest at the end of the 1o rounds of free practice, the reigning ENS Champion continued, ‘I am thinking of making a little change to my front shock oil but it’s nothing big.  My engine and everything else feels very comfortable so I’m ready’.  Asked about changes in track conditions from the overnight rain, the Swiss driver replied,’ the track is much slower than yesterday but it is still good for me but lap times like yesterday are not possible anymore’.

Balestri also seemed keen to get down to the more serious business of qualifying.  The Infinity driver said, ‘practice was ok so we are almost ready.  Today we needed to change to set-up because the track changed.  Yesterday the traction was maximum, today it is normal which is a little better for us’.  Looking to Q1, the reigning World Champion said, ‘it is important to be consistent but it is not easy on the track because you have a lot of front traction’.

‘The car is super good, it is only a matter of my driving it.  The car for sure has the pace’, was how Pietsch summed up his practice pace.  The Mugen designer said, the track is completely different to yesterday. I prefer the higher traction but still today it is ok. It wasn’t only the track that was different it is a lot more hot today.  When clouds come my car is faster than when in the sun’.

Gruber described his P4 in practice as ‘not bad so far’.  The WRC Racing driver continued, ‘the temperature is a little high today so the lap times are slower but it is the same for everybody.  The balance of the car is good also for the hot weather so we will see how it goes for qualifying but I feel pretty good going into Q1’.  Asked about finding a set-up for the track, the German replied, ‘from the start the car felt good and we just made the usual small changes and it was quickly got to a good set-up’.

‘It is going really good today’, was Rietveld’s reaction after practice. Qualifying a surprise fourth in Rucphen, he said, ‘yesterday we struggled a bit. The traction was really high and I am not used to that’. Making his ENS debut here last year, returning to racing after a number of years away from competition, he continued, ‘We made a few set-up changes and they worked out well so I will leave it now for qualifying. It is easy to drive which is good for the 4-minutes of qualifying. I will try to keep it clean’.

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Groskamp tops practice at ENS Germany

Jilles Groskamp has topped practice at Round 2 of the Infinity Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  Winner of the season opener in the Netherlands, the Infinity driver was fastest around the challenging Minidrom Ettlingen track from Dominic Greiner. Groskamp set his fastest 3-laps in the first of the two controlled practices while Greiner found improvement in the final practice round, all drivers reporting overnight rain had changed the track from yesterday’s free practice. On his first outing of the 2018 championship, Eric Dankel made it three different manufacturers at the top of the time sheets ahead of Mugen team-mate Dirk Wischnewski who also missed the season opener.  Behind, Rucphen podium finisher Eduardo Escandon completed the Top 5, the entire field very closely matched with 4/10ths covering the Top 10.

With Infinity owner Kenji Taira joking his driver hasn’t stopped smiling all day, Groskamp said, ‘I’m really happy with the car.  We had a pretty good free practice yesterday too when we were quickest but today the track feels to have a little less bite, I guess because of the overnight rain’.  The Dutchman continued, ‘It was really nice yesterday (his car) but still feels good today just there is not as much grip as yesterday’.  Trying two different engines over the two controlled practice, which he called a qualifying engine and finals engine, he said the one from CP1 was better and this is what he intends to use for this evening’s opening qualifier which will bring the day to a close.  Expecting Q1 to be ‘a little cooler’ due to the evening timing he said ‘maybe this will go more my way but deciding tyre strategy will be important. Smaller were better in controlled practice but I need to decide if I go with used or new.  The traction is not as much now so new could work’.

‘Compared to yesterday I am much happier’, was how Greiner summed controlled practice.  The Serpent driver continued, ‘we got lost with the set-up yesteday and I couldn’t drive 1 clean lap but now we have a completely different set-up and today I am almost in the 1st place.  I’m not super happy with the car but it is getting better. I am close to Jilles who is super fast’. The German added, ‘the track being slower today is good for me, our car is not so good on the asphalt but we will fix that hopefully’.

Setting the fastest of his times in CP1 as radio problems caused him to stop early in the second run, Dankel said, ‘I don’t know what the problem is. I don’t know if it is the receiver or the battery, I really don’t know what it is’.  Asked about his car set-up the 2015 champion replied, ‘it is pretty ok, it’s not perfect but ok.  Last year conditions were a bit more easy but there is more in the set-up for sure’.

Wischnewski said, ‘yesterday went quite good but the track changed hugely after the (overnight) rain and we needed to adapt the set-up so I struggled in the morning’.  Getting his seeding time in the second run, the 2015 winner continued, ‘the change in traction messed up everything.  We had a good car in the high traction yesterday but that last one was good after we changed back my set-up for lower traction’.

Summing up practice ahead of Q1, Escandon  said, ‘It went OK, I’m happy’.  The Shepherd driver continued, ‘it takes more time than usual to adapt to this track and get used to the grip which is completely different to any other track’.  He added, ‘we changed the car every time to get it better.  A change we made for the second one was not better so I will go back for Q1 but the important thing will be to have a clean run because it is super tight at the front’.  Behind the Spaniard, Francesco Tironi rounded out the Top 6 ahead of Infinity team-mate Lamberto Collari who clearly enjoyed his 1:10 debut at the Dutch ENS encounter and is back for more.

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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 – 3 (2015 – 17)

Joining the Euro Nitro Series calendar in 2015, a year after it was resurfaced, 2018 marks the fourth visit of the championship to Minidrom Ettlingen in Germany.  A traditional nitro track layout featuring a banked sweeper at the end of the straight it is the surface which has become the track’s unique feature.  Resurfaced with a very fine asphalt the surface is super smooth presenting a unique feeling between the car and track that presents some set-up challenges although now an established venue for the championship, most drivers have now have three years of experience to work from. 265 metres in length, the track came into existence in the 1990s and in that time has had just had one change made to its original layout with the addition of 25 metres in 2014 when undergoing its resurfacing.

Since holding the ENS for the first time, the first international race since the track underwent a resurfacing, the race has produced a new winner each year in 1:10 and two different winners in 1:8.  The only man to take victory in Ettlingen more than once, Simon Kurzbuch described the track as ‘very challenging to find a car set-up’.  The Shepherd driver who has TQ’d on every visit, said while the track is getting ‘more and more normal’ with each year he comes it still presents a unique challenge saying ‘it is very direct in the steering so you feel the slightest of inputs and then you have not so much grip in the rear’.

Winner of the 2018 season opener, Jilles Groskamp, who was 2nd on the championship’s debut here, called the Minidrom Ettlingen ‘a unique track for the driving feeling’.  The Infinity driver said, ‘the balance of the car is different. It tends to oversteer here more than other tracks. You have so much steering the car tends to suck into the curbs but they are quite high. It is hard not to touch them.  It is difficult to get a good set-up but you have to make the car easy to drive.  I like this track more for 1:10 than 1:8 (which he raced here last year) because you have too much steering so it is hard to get into that rhythm you need. It is not easy to go around this track’.

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