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Bruno Coelho was unassailable in the opening round of the Euro Nitro Series today in France, the Portuguese ace leading an Xray 1-2 on the championship’s first visit to the Mulhouse track.  Top Qualifier for the 45-minute encounter, Coelho was quickly able to establish a lead and taking control of the race, the lack of pressure meant he could even switch from his originally pit strategy after the first refuelling.  His second ENS career win, Coelho would finish over two laps up on new team-mate Alessio Mazzeo, the Italian having a battle over second with the Mugen of Eric Dankel for a time with the German having to settle for third in the end.  Unfortunately for Leo Arnold he couldn’t pull off a home podium finish, tyres issues at the start of the race dropping up from his P2 starting position to 10th.  Once on new tyres however he would do well to recover to fourth.  For reigning champion Teemu Leino his weekend wasn’t to improve in the final with the Infinity driver crashing out at the 20-minute mark leaving him 12th in the final classification.

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Bruno Coelho was unassailable in the opening round of the Euro Nitro Series today in France, the Portuguese ace leading an Xray 1-2 on the championship’s first visit to the Mulhouse track.  Top Qualifier for the 45-minute encounter, Coelho was quickly able to establish a lead and taking control of the race, the lack of pressure meant he could even switch from his originally pit strategy after the first refuelling.  His second ENS career win, Coelho would finish over two laps up on new team-mate Alessio Mazzeo, the Italian having a battle over second with the Mugen of Eric Dankel for a time with the German having to settle for third in the end.  Unfortunately for Leo Arnold he couldn’t pull off a home podium finish, tyres issues at the start of the race dropping up from his P2 starting position to 10th.  Once on new tyres however he would do well to recover to fourth.  For reigning champion Teemu Leino his weekend wasn’t to improve in the final with the Infinity driver crashing out at the 20-minute mark leaving him 12th in the final classification.

‘It was a very good race. I didn’t expect my car and engine to work so well’ was how Coelho summed his race.  He continued, ‘It was that good we changed strategy in the race.  After 5-minutes I already had a gap and could drive smooth. The tyres wear is much less when you are smooth so then we could change strategy.  We started the race to do 2 tyre stop and 4:30 refuelling but after the first fuel we changed to one time all tyres and second time half.  And for the fuel we went to 5-minutes’. With just two incidents over the final, he said the biggest was ‘something strange’.  With his Max powered NT1 veering on to the grass and costing him 3 to 4 seconds, he said I must have touched the paint or something because the car just turned, there was nothing I could do’.  On the second incident where he would hit a back marker he said, ‘I came in to the corner too fast and didn’t expect him to brake there but apart from this all was OK’.  Having taken the TQ bonus championship point, he concluded, ‘Its the perfect start to the championship for sure’.

Summing up his final, Mazzeo said, ‘It was a very hard race due to the management of the tyres’.  The World Championship podium finisher’s continued, ‘I had to start from the back down the grid and it was hard to pass and on the 3rd or 4th lap I tried to make an overtake and flipped which put me 1/2 a lap down’.  Originally planning to run the tyre strategy Coelho would switch to in the race, the former ENS race winner would end up switching to his team-mate’s original strategy.  He said, ‘After the flip I had to push a lot which was not good for the tyres for sure so we had to then switch to changing all tyres twice.  We were on the same laps as Bruno but then had a flame out at the tyres stop.  Congratulations to Bruno, he is an amazing driver’.  His first ENS event as an Xray driver he said, ‘I’m happy that we ca get Xray 1-2.  We work a lot this winter so this is a great result for the car’.

‘It was tough’ was how former Champion Dankel summed up his race.  The German continued, ‘In the A-Main practice the car had oversteer and no traction so we changed it for the final and it was easy to drive but how far it was off the pace was incredible’.  Running two complete tyre stops he said his biggest issue of the race was the ‘pace was not there’ but added ‘3rd is ok for the first race and hopeful we will much much stronger for the next race’.

Disappointed to not make the podium having taken the final round of qualifying at his home track yesterday, Arnold said his first set of tyres cost him the race.  With the rear left coming unglued he would lose half a lap in the first 15-minutes before his scheduled tyre change.  He said on the second set of the tyres his Orion powered NT1 was ‘good again’ and he could push hard. Pleased to be able to recover to 4th, which he said ‘showed the speed was there to fight for the win’ he concluding ‘but that’s racing’.  Behind Arnold, Spain’s Eduardo Escandon would open his Shepherd account with a 5th ahead of the Serpent of Mark Green and Infinity of 2015 ENS champion Jilles Groskamp.

‘Just a shit weekend’ was Leino response when asked to recap his weekend.  The Finn continued, ‘at the end the car was not that bad and was good enough to get a podium.  There was no chance to race Bruno but I could have raced the other two guys’.  Ultimately his race would come to an end when he crashed at the end of the straight which result in a broken rear shock tower.

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Jilles Groskamp and Merlin Depta complete the 1:8 A-Main line-up for the opening round of the Euro Nitro Series in France.  Starting fourth on the grid, Groskamp would run most of the 20-minute encounter in second behind Infinity team-mate & pole sitter Jessie Davis until the Australian ran out of tyres with four minutes to go.  Nursing his car around the track and dropping 3-seconds a lap, Davis would drop to fourth with Serpent’s Merlin Depta the main benefactor. Running the race without stopping for tyres, the former 1:10 ENS Champion said he knew tyre wear would be a factor towards the end of the race and even though he had lost ground early on his tactic was to drive smooth and save the tyres for the end. It worked and now he is in for a busy afternoon as he runs both the 1:8 and 1:10 A-Mains at Mulhouse. Depta declared himself ‘a little lucky’ to bump up due to Davis’ issues. A multiple ENS finalist, the German, who started sixth, would also not have a good start with a trip onto the grass dropping him a place. Opting to only change his left side tyres, he said it was ‘on the edge’ at the end but the gamble had paid off.  Behind Depta, former World Championship finalist Carmine Raiola would finish 3rd ending his event with the race also the end of the road for former ENS race winner John Ermen and reigning European Champion Robin D’hondt.

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Chassis – Xray RX8 2017
Engine – Max Power RP9S
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – MR33
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – SRC DTRS Evo

Remarks – Bruno Coelho is using the new for 2017 RX8 from Xray, his first time driving the new car, he started the event with a setup from team mate Alessio Mazzeo. Having not made many changes to the setup, he has just made some small adjustments to the camber and sway bars as well as playing with different bodies and mounting positions, he believes on this track more time can be found with the driver rather than the car.

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Chassis – Infinity
Engine – OS Speed 2102R Gold Edition
Fuel – Runner Time
Tires (handout) – MR33
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform R18

Remarks – 4 time EP World Champion Naoto Matsukura is running 1/8th scale for just the 2nd time, the decision to attend the ENS made only last weekend at the ETS in Italy. Given a car with a setup from 1/8th specialist Takaaki Shimo, seeing that 1/8th is very similar to his specialist class 1/12th scale, he made his own changes to the Infinity car to get more steering such as harder rear sway bar and more caster in front and now really enjoys driving the car around the very technical Mulhouse track. Also trying different bodyshells he tried the R19 from Protoform in practice but found the R18 was more stable in the corners.

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Quentin Leroux and Alex Thurston complete the 1:10 A-Main grid at the season opener of the Euro Nitro Series in Mulhouse, France, after bumping up from the B-Main.  Joining the back of the 12 car grid it will be both drivers’ first time to make the A-Main at an ENS event, this the championship’s 13 events since its creation in 2014.  Starting from 2nd on the grid, Leroux’s Capricorn would take an early lead from the Xray of pole sitter Marco Kaufmann, the Frenchman only dropping off the lead during fuel stops.  Starting out on a 4-minute fuel strategy, the 25-year-old would switch to 5-minute stops for his Orion engine but said afterwards the biggest challenge was the tyre wear.  Describing his car as difficult due to the fact it ‘uses a lot of tyres’, he said with a gap over second place he could drive ‘safe’ to get to the end of the 20-minute encounter.

While Leroux was making his own race out front, there was a good battle for second between Thurston and Kaufmann but with 3-minutes to go Kaufmann would have to pit for fuel allowing Thurston to take second. Despite a charge from the German, Thurston kept his position to the end.  Commenting on the race, the 18-year-old, said, ‘I had a messy start and I got a body tuck and then ended up the grass which left me half a lap down but I kept my head in it’.  Having been signed up to Serpent’s factory team this year, the result is a huge boost for the British driver who wanted to thank his father Martin who he said has been working hard on his pit stop technique.  The improved stops he said was key to the bump up given the start to the race he had had.  On tyres Thurston said, ‘I expected it to be worse especially as I was pushing the whole race.  They lasted pretty well’.  Along with Kaufmann other ENS A-Main Finalist’s whose event ended in the B-Main included 2016 podium finishers Patrick Nähr and Joe Kerry.

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Chassis – Xray NT1 2017
Engine – Orion R12
Fuel – Energy
Tires (handout) – MR33
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/SRT
Body – SRC Spark

Remarks – Top French racer and local track specialist Leo Arnold is running the 2017 NT1 from Xray. Having done extensive testing prior to the ENS, he received new flex parts just ahead of the race and so had to change his setup completely. Moving to a harder rear spring and shorter front spring, he also made changes to the shock position. The new flex parts include updated rear bulkheads and a new chassis plate that allows the mounting of a brace in the front, the result being a car that is more stable in direction change.

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Bruno Coelho will again start a new season of the Euro Nitro Series from pole.  Having TQ’d Round 1 in Italy last year, the Xray driver is the 1:10 Top Qualifier on the championship’s first visit to Mulhouse in France. The Portuguese driver was somewhat helped by his team-mate Leo Arnold, as the French driver took the fourth & final round of qualifying ahead of the Shepherd of Eduardo Escandon.  Having TQ’d the second qualifier, the Spaniard was the only one who could deny Coelho the overall TQ and he came close to jumping position at the top of the timing screens with Arnold. Setting the fastest lap of the heat, Arnold would get the job done to secure second on the grid for his home race with Escandon third.  Behind, Kyle Branson, Eric Dankel and reigning champion Teemu Leino complete the top half of what will become a 12 car grid once the Top 2 in the B-Main get bumped up.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

Bruno Coelho will again start a new season of the Euro Nitro Series from pole.  Having TQ’d Round 1 in Italy last year, the Xray driver is the 1:10 Top Qualifier on the championship’s first visit to Mulhouse in France. The Portuguese driver was somewhat helped by his team-mate Leo Arnold, as the French driver took the fourth & final round of qualifying ahead of the Shepherd of Eduardo Escandon.  Having TQ’d the second qualifier, the Spaniard was the only one who could deny Coelho the overall TQ and he came close to jumping position at the top of the timing screens with Arnold. Setting the fastest lap of the heat, Arnold would get the job done to secure second on the grid for his home race with Escandon third.  Behind, Kyle Branson, Eric Dankel and reigning champion Teemu Leino complete the top half of what will become a 12 car grid once the Top 2 in the B-Main get bumped up.

Putting his P3 in the final qualifier down to a number of mistakes, Coelho was happy to kick off his first nitro race of 2017 with the TQ but went on to air a level of caution for the final due to the high tyre wear.  He said, ‘the final will be difficult and for sure there will be 2 stops, there is no other way’.  Highlighting the higher chances of a 1:10 tyre change going wrong as a result of the wheel nuts, he said his plan for the ‘long race’ was to ‘drive smooth’.  He continued he would try to make no mistakes as ‘one flip and you can break the tyre’.

Describing his car as ‘super good’ for Q4, Arnold said changing the front shock position on his NT1 had made it more stable on braking and it was ‘now ready for the final’.  A driver who has the most experience of the track, Mulhouse his home track, he said deciding tyre strategy was the main thing for tomorrow. Undecided on how many changes to make, needing to still check his tyre wear, he expects most drivers will have to make 2 if not 3 stops but still needs to weigh up the risk of an extra stop.  Highlighting the length of pit lane and its tricky exit he joked he also needs to get his father training hard to change wheels for tomorrow.

Coming very close to the TQ, a very happy looking Escandon summed up Q4 with ‘I was too nervous this one’.  The Spaniard’s best qualifying performance of the ENS, he said, ‘I have a really good car and feel really comfortable so I will try to keep it clean tomorrow’.  On strategy for the final, he said, ‘We will test in the final practice and calculate how much wear but I already know that we will have to make more than 1 stop for sure’.  Wishing to thank his Coten Escuderia team, the Shepherd driver added, ‘the pitlane is dangerous and if you try to go fast out it could destroy the car so I will be sure to control my speed’.

Qualifying fourth, the qualifiers not ending as strongly as it had started, Branson said, ‘when I try to find more steering the rear is too loose and when I try to fix that I have no steering’. The Capricorn driver continued, ‘I’m a little bit behind the other guys going into the final but I hope to get it figured out in the final practice.  The car is ok to run the final but just isn’t fast enough’.  One thing he plans to try in practice is moving the mounting of his bodyshell and the position of the wing.

Changing to a softer front diff for Q4 and getting a P4, Dankel said ,’it definitely gave me more steering but it was difficult to drive so I’m not sure if I will use it in the final’.  A two time ENS race winner, the Mugen driver feels the key to tomorrow’s final is ‘we need to make good tyre changes’.  Predicting ‘everyone needs to change at least 2-times’, he concluded ‘its a long final so everything can happen’.

View complete event results here.

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