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Bruno Coelho has denied Eric Dankel a home TQ at ENS Germany, the Xray driver putting in a dominant Day 2 qualifying performance at Minidrom Ettlingen. With Dankel in control of Q1 & 2 yesterday, championship leader Coelho found his form in Q3 and backing that up with TQ runs in the 4th & 5th rounds claimed his second consecutive Euro Nitro Series pole position.  Dankel would round out qualifying with a P2 and that is where the former champion will start tomorrow. Runner-up at the season opener having to come from the back of the grid, Alessio Mazzeo will line up third ahead of the previous two winners of the German round, Dirk Wischnewski and Teemu Leino.

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Bruno Coelho has denied Eric Dankel a home TQ at ENS Germany, the Xray driver putting in a dominant Day 2 qualifying performance at Minidrom Ettlingen. With Dankel in control of Q1 & 2 yesterday, championship leader Coelho found his form in Q3 and backing that up with TQ runs in the 4th & 5th rounds claimed his second consecutive Euro Nitro Series pole position.  Dankel would round out qualifying with a P2 and that is where the former champion will start tomorrow. Runner-up at the season opener having to come from the back of the grid, Alessio Mazzeo will line up third ahead of the previous two winners of the German round, Dirk Wischnewski and Teemu Leino.

Capping off qualifying with the fastest time of qualifying, Coelho said, ‘I drove (the last round) like the other qualifiers, easy at the start so as to make no mistakes’.  He continued, ‘This let Dankel ahead but after 1-minute I started to catch him and when he made a mistake I could overtake him’.  Pleased to bag the championship point offered for the TQ, he said, ‘the finals will be a different story, the tyre wear is not much, its strange and because of this there is many strategies you can use’.  He added, ‘Fuel consumption is very important here, it is high and a lot of guys cannot go more than 4:20.’  Asked where he expects his biggest challenge to come from the Portuguese driver replied, ‘I can’t really say. I know who is fast over 4-minutes but longer than that could be a different story.  Maybe some guys will be faster after 4 minutes, because I already know the car changes a lot over 4-minutes in qualifying’.

‘Too slow’ was Dankel’s reaction to missing out on repeating the TQ he took last year at his home race, the Mugen driver adding, ‘yesterday was better’.  Opting to not change his set-up for the showdown with Coelho, he said his car was ‘a little edgy’ and there was nothing he could do to take the fight to his rival.  Conceding ‘if Bruno has a clean run he will be hard to beat’, he said ‘we need to make a good tyre changes and I need to make no mistakes from my side’.  Asked about a strategy for the final he replied, ‘to make 5-minutes is too difficult especially on small tyres but 4:30 is no problem for us’.  On tyres he said, ‘It won’t be two sets like the first round (at Mulhouse) and I think we will do the outside only’.

Making some changes to his NT1 for Q5 after struggling with his set-up in the previous round, Mazzeo said, ‘the car was for sure better but the engine was too rich.’ Planning to change engine for the A-Main practice as well as use the track time to test one further change, the Italian wanted to congratulate his team-mate on his impressive performance today taking all 3 qualifiers but added, ’45-minutes will also be hard for Bruno so the race is wide open’.  Referring to the track’s ‘strange traction’ he said ‘it is very difficult to set the car’ and while it is easy to make the car fast at the start ‘the problem is after 10 or 15-minutes’.

After starting out the event looking very strong on his Mugen debut Wischnewski is struggling with the reason he lost his early form.  Topping practice and opening qualifying with a P2 behind team-mate Dankel he said, ‘At the beginning of qualifying the pace was good but Bruno has left us behind now and honestly I don’t know what to do’.  Winner of a rain effected race here in 2015, the German changed his set-up for the final qualifier but ‘the behaviour on the track was the same as before’.  On the final he said, ‘the cars are going to be edgy to drive on small tyres and I think you have to play safe on the refuel because of the high consumption.  It is not going to be an easy race’.

Taking one of his two victories here last year, reigning champion Leino was much happier with his car in the final qualifier as he posted another P3 to secure 5th on the grid. The Infinity driver said, ‘I changed the car for the last one and the engine too and it was much better and I have one more set-up change I now want to try in the final practice’.  He continued, ‘the fastest lap is there and its not far from Bruno but its still edgy to drive’.  Asked about strategy he replied, ‘last year we changed all four tyres and it worked for us while other just changed the outside. We can make 4:30 but in small tyres and with the (high) temperature maybe we will go safe and stop at 4:10 or something’.

Completing the Top 6, the final qualifier was a stressful one for Eduardo Escandon.  Needing to get a good result to get onto the A-Main, the Shepherd driver said, ‘there was too much pressure from my side but the team told me to relax and I could make the main so I’m happy to get P5 but I’m still not driving well’.  Qualifying third at the season opener, the Spaniard said, ‘I have the car and engine for a good result but I’m not happy with myself and how I am driving this weekend. My goal for the final is don’t hit the curbs.  There will be a lot of mistakes so I just want to keep putting in clean laps’.  Behind Escandon, team-mate Thilo Tödtmann will start seventh.

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The final 1:10 qualifier at ENS Germany will determine the Top Qualifier for tomorrow’s 45-minute A-Main, Q5 set to be a dual between Bruno Coelho and Erik Dankel.  With Dankel having taken the first two qualifiers yesterday, today has so far belonged to championship leader Coelho with the Xray driver backing up his first TQ  in Q3 with another in the penultimate round.  With the third qualifier resulting in a DNF for Dankel, the Mugen driver while able to get second still wasn’t happy with his car in Q4 describing it as difficult to drive.  Dirk Wischnewski would set the third fastest time in Q3 but the top seed’s chances of the overall TQ are now gone.  Giving Xray a 1-2 in Q3, Alessio Mazzeo tried a different set-up but struggled leading to an off and without any chance of a good run opted to pull off.  Reigning champion Teemu Leino got a 4th for the round locking last year’s winner into the A-Main while Eduardo Escandon got an important P5 but the Spaniard driver still needs another good round to qualify his Shepherd directly into the final.

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With the Top Qualifier having been decided in Q3, Simon Kurzbuch taking his second pole of the season, the 4th & 5th rounds of 1:8 qualifying at ENS Germany would determine how they lined up behind the Shepherd driver and Infinity’s Dario Balestri who was second to Kurzbuch in the first three qualifiers. Kurzbuch was on target for yet another TQ run in the penultimate round but on the final lap coming out of the track’s banked sweeper he would collect a spun car sending him onto the grass and denying him the perfect performance. Infinity’s Oliver Mack was there to capitalise and take the TQ, a result that would secure the German 3rd on the grid for tomorrow’s 45-minute A-Main. After a difficult morning, top seed Bruno Coelho would finally post a Top 3 run with second behind Mack, backing that up with another P2 in the final qualifier behind Kurzbuch. Together with his P4 from last night’s Q1, this would see the ENS Round 1 winner get 4th on the grid demoting Robert Pietsch to 5th. Completing the top half of what will become a 12 car grid once the Top 2 from the B-Main bump up, will be Naoto Matsukura, the 5 time electric World Champion and nitro onroad newcomer, putting his Infinity into the final once again.

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Bruno Coelho led an Xray 1-2 in the third round of qualifying at ENS Germany, the championship leader setting the pace from team-mate Alessio Mazzeo. With Erik Dankel having topped both of yesterday’s qualifiers, the first round of Day 2 was to prove a difficult one for Mugen with Dankel suffering a flameout after an off and Dirk Wischnewski hitting traffic leaving him with a P7. Completing the Top 3 with his best run so far would be reigning champion Teemu Leino with Thilo Tödtmann getting a fourth that locks him into the A-Main.

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Bruno Coelho led an Xray 1-2 in the third round of qualifying at ENS Germany, the championship leader setting the pace from team-mate Alessio Mazzeo. With Erik Dankel having topped both of yesterday’s qualifiers, the first round of Day 2 was to prove a difficult one for Mugen with Dankel suffering a flameout after an off and Dirk Wischnewski hitting traffic leaving him with a P7. Completing the Top 3 with his best run so far would be reigning champion Teemu Leino with Thilo Tödtmann getting a fourth that locks him into the A-Main.

Third in Q1 but struggling to P5 in the second round due to a rich engine, Coelho said, ‘the car was very good yesterday but the engine didn’t co-operate but we leaned it out a little today and everything was very good’.  Bringing the battle for the overall TQ alive with his run, the ENS France winner said, ‘In the ENS the most important thing is to get in the final and use the qualifying to test for the final.  A lot can happen in 45-minutes so where you start is not so important but for sure we will try to get the TQ’.  Top Qualifier at the season opener, he will leave his NT1 unchanged for the penultimate qualifier.

‘We are happy for sure, we are fast and a second for the round is good for the grid’, was Mazzeo’s view of his Q3 performance.  The World Championship podium finisher said he had a couple of mistakes, the conditions today somewhat different to yesterday and making it more difficult to push hard.  Set to change body position and his downstops for the conditions, the Italian said, ‘we didn’t want to make the same mistake as Mulhouse and start from the rear but we have a Top 4 start position now so we will try to improve on that for sure’.

Leino summed up his third attempt as ‘a good, pretty clean run’.  The Finn who won here last year and currently sits 12th in the qualification ranking, added, ‘I need one more run’.  In terms of his car, the Infinity driver said, ‘I didn’t change the car from yesterday but I need more smooth steering so I will change for the next one’.

Commenting on his DNF, Dankel said, ‘My car was a little tweaked but in the end my driving was not clean enough’.  He added I think maybe it was a tyre but it was difficult in left corners and because of this I made a mistake which caused the flame out.  Team-mate Wischnewski said his car and also engine this time were really good but he hit a back marker and that was any chance of a good run gone but the top seed in Germany he is confident for Q4.

‘I benefited from the mistakes of the other guys and got important points’ was Tödtmann view of his P4.  The Shepherd driver added, ‘I just brought it home and made sure I didn’t throw it away’.  Asked about his car, the German replied, ‘It is not so good as the traction goes up but I’m in the final now I have two more runs to try make it easy to drive’.

Setting the fifth fastest time ahead of Xray team-mate Leo Arnold, Marco Kaufmann said, ‘It was better than before, now I have a chance for the Main’.  The German suffered engine problems yesterday and with a new unit fitted for today he said it was much better’.  Happy with his car he said, ‘It is not super fast but it is easy to drive’.

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Simon Kurzbuch is the Top Qualifier for the German round of the Euro Nitro Series, the Shepherd driver getting the job done early as he posted a third TQ run this morning at Minidrom Ettlingen. While Round 1 winner Bruno Coelho would top seeding from the Swiss driver, once qualifying got underway the reigning champion has taken control of proceedings to claim his second pole of the season and the all important bonus championship point that goes with it.  Like the previous two qualifiers, the top of the Q3 time sheets would read the same with Dario Balestri the closest to Kurzbuch followed by Robert Pietsch in third.  Having found his way in Q2, Oliver Mack would again set the fourth fastest time ahead of Infinity team-mates Naoto Matsukura, Takaaki Shimo, Lamberto Collari and Teemu Leino.

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

Simon Kurzbuch is the Top Qualifier for the German round of the Euro Nitro Series, the Shepherd driver getting the job done early as he posted a third TQ run this morning at Minidrom Ettlingen. While Round 1 winner Bruno Coelho would top seeding from the Swiss driver, once qualifying got underway the reigning champion has taken control of proceedings to claim his second pole of the season and the all important bonus championship point that goes with it.  Like the previous two qualifiers, the top of the Q3 time sheets would read the same with Dario Balestri the closest to Kurzbuch followed by Robert Pietsch in third.  Having found his way in Q2, Oliver Mack would again set the fourth fastest time ahead of Infinity team-mates Naoto Matsukura, Takaaki Shimo, Lamberto Collari and Teemu Leino.

‘It is good to be first in 3 out 3 (heats) because now we can practice for the final’, said Kurzbuch on taking his 6th career ENS TQ.  With two rounds of qualifying still to run, he said, ‘now we try a different engine and some changes on the car to prepare for the final’.  Asked about the final, he said, ‘the tyre wear is quite low here but the fuel consumption is high so its important get a good strategy because fuel stops can be just as important as tyre stops in determining the race’.

Setting the fastest lap of the third qualifier and the only one to run 12-seconds, Balestri was particularly pleased with his latest run.  The 2015 Ettlingen winner said, ‘I changed something on the car and it was really good but at the end I lost the clutch’.  With temperature’s picking up, ‘in the hot conditions our car is really competitive and it is really good now’.  Now assured of starting towards the front of the grid for tomorrow’s 45-minute Main, like Kurzbuch, the Italian will now use the remaining two qualifier as track time to ‘try something for the final’.

‘Positions are fixed, the same result again’ joked a pleased looking Pietsch after Q3.  The Mugen driver continued, ‘I improved my beginning but the result was still the same. Anyway I’m in the A-Main so now we can try some different set-ups for the final’.

‘My car is so easy to drive, I can’t make a mistake’, was Mack’s reaction to another competitive run from the 4th fastest heat.  The German said his only problem was his engine was ‘a little lean the last few laps’.  Having had a difficult first qualifier last night, the former European Champion needs another good qualifier saying, ‘only one more to go’, and unlike the Top 3 will leave his car unchanged with the focus on making the Top 6 once more.

The surprise of the season opener in France, Matsukura was quick to put his Q3 improvement down to the driver doing a better job and him also having a better feeling from his engine.  Asked about the first two qualifiers he replied, ‘Driver errors, the car was good’.  Only his second international 1:8 race, the 1:12 World Champion admitted to having been bitten by the bug in terms of nitro racing adding ‘I really like it, its a lot of fun’.  Still needing to secure an A-Main starting position, he said his focus now is on locking down two strong results saying, ‘I need to go for single digits results in the next two’.

Fellow countryman & team-mate Takaaki Shimo is hoping his P6 for Q3 is a turning point.  Having started the day with too much steering and no rear grip, switching to a harder front swaybar greatly improved the Japanese veteran’s car making it ‘very easy’ to drive.  His first time to the Ettlingen track he said ‘its very difficult’ adding banked corners don’t exist on Japanese tracks. Needing two more string runs he said after his Q3 performance, ‘I hope we are on a good way now’.

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Source: Phat Bodies [phatbodies.bigcartel.com]

Having opened qualifying at Round 2 of the ENS in Germany with a TQ run last night, Simon Kurzbuch got Day 2 of the event off to the perfect start as he again set the pace in Q2.  The second of the five qualifiers in Ettlingen was a repeat of the Q1 result with Dario Balestri again Kurzbuch’s closest challenger and Robert Pietsch completing the Top 3.   The surprise of the qualifier would be Oliver Mack, who running in the fourth fastest heat, would set the 4th fastest time just 0.026 off Pietsch.  Francesco Tironi would improve on his opening run post his first Top 6 run with fifth ahead of the Belgian Steven Cuypers.

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

Having opened qualifying at Round 2 of the ENS in Germany with a TQ run last night, Simon Kurzbuch got Day 2 of the event off to the perfect start as he again set the pace in Q2.  The second of the five qualifiers in Ettlingen was a repeat of the Q1 result with Dario Balestri again Kurzbuch’s closest challenger and Robert Pietsch completing the Top 3.   The surprise of the qualifier would be Oliver Mack, who running in the fourth fastest heat, would set the 4th fastest time just 0.026 off Pietsch.  Francesco Tironi would improve on his opening run post his first Top 6 run with fifth ahead of the Belgian Steven Cuypers.

‘A perfect run’ was how Kurzbuch referred to his run.  Making a front downstop change to his Novarossi powered Shepherd, the reigning ENS Champion said, ‘the car was very stable and easy to drive, I just had to lift once when a car came out of the grass but despite that it was perfect’.  Improving on his time by almost one and a half seconds and also improving his fastest lap, the Swiss ace said, ‘the lower temperatures are better for my car’.  Looking to Q3, when another TQ run would make him Top Qualifier for the second time this season, he said, ‘I don’t think I will change anything, I have one hand on the point (for TQ) so lets try bring it home’.

‘Simon was too fast.  Simply he is more fast than me at the moment’, was Balestri’s reaction after Q2.  The Infinity driver continued, ‘my car & engine are good so I’m still happy but we need to see what we can do’.  The only driver to TQ a round of the ENS last season apart from Kurzbuch, the 2015 ENS Champion said, the ‘hotter conditions are better for our car’ and with the sun already warming things up, today’s schedule having started earlier due to yesterday’s rain delays, he will be hoping to try take the fight to his arch rival.

Pietsch said, ‘again I was too nervous at the beginning but when I settled down my mind I was ok again’.  The Mugen driver said, the reason for being nervous this morning was because his nerves yesterday had led him to making mistakes in the first lap of Q1 and he was trying to make sure not to repeat that. Describing traction conditions as ‘a little different’ with the track having more traction, he plans to adjust the rear shock position for the next one.

‘Finally’ was Mack’s reaction to his P4, the popular German adding, ‘this is my track’.  Having tested for the event 2-weeks before he said ‘now its totally different’ and having worked on his Infinity to remove front grip based on the test that has led him to playing catch up.  Winner of the European Championships held at Ettlingen in 2015, Mack said he had the benefit of running earlier in the round and had cooler track conditions but an engine change for Q2 has improved his performance, the engine one he had loaned to a friend who is pitting next to him.

Tironi summed up his run as ‘ok’.  The Italian added, ‘from the first free practice my car feels ok and I have worked on improving my driving.  It is a long time since I am competitive and I am working to get that feeling back’.  He continued, ‘Dario, Simon and Robert are faster and it will be hard to get on their pace, for this time I am happy with where I am at and we will of course try to improve on this’.

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Simon Kurzbuch has TQ’d the opening round of 1:8 qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  With rain delaying the schedule, the reigning champion took what would turn out to be the day’s only qualifier from arch rival Dario Balestri, both drivers previous ENS race winner at the Minidrom Ettlingen track.  Behind them Robert Pietsch maintained the strong form he showed in the morning’s seeding practice as he set the 3rd fastest time to make it an all Champions affair Top 3.  Having topped seeding, Bruno Coelho would end up fourth with the ENS France winner taking the blame for less than perfect driving over the 4-minutes.

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

Simon Kurzbuch has TQ’d the opening round of 1:8 qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  With rain delaying the schedule, the reigning champion took what would turn out to be the day’s only qualifier from arch rival Dario Balestri, both drivers previous ENS race winner at the Minidrom Ettlingen track.  Behind them Robert Pietsch maintained the strong form he showed in the morning’s seeding practice as he set the 3rd fastest time to make it an all Champions affair Top 3.  Having topped seeding, Bruno Coelho would end up fourth with the ENS France winner taking the blame for less than perfect driving over the 4-minutes.

‘All the changes paid off, and we were there on the point’, was Kurzbuch’s reaction to taking the TQ in the first of the 5 qualifiers, the second round due to run today rescheduled into tomorrow’s timetable.  The Shepherd driver continued, ‘I made a very good start and pulled away but then had a little traffic with 2 cars and lost a little time there.  I knew it was going to be close at the end so I had to really push’.  Setting the fastest lap of Q1 on his last lap, the Swiss driver said the performance has him ‘happy for tomorrow’.

Not happy with his seeding performance, Balestri was much happier looking after Q1.  The Infinity driver said he went back to the set-up he arrived to the track with and just adjusting the rollbars for the grip levels ‘all was fine again’.  Winner on the ENS’ first visit to the track in 2015, the Italian continued, ‘it was a good run and it was good to fight with Simon but in my opinion we can improve the car for tomorrow, at least I hope’.  Also setting his fastest lap of the race on his final lap, being the only driver along with Kurzbuch to get down to 12-seconds, there was a sense from Balestri that is now game on for the rest of the weekend.

Pietsch was pleased with his P3 admitting to be ‘nervous at the beginning’ but happy ending the qualifier on the pace again. Once settled in to the run the Mugen driver said, ‘I could make time on Bruno and Dario but my last lap was a little slow and Dario passed me again’.  Pleased with the performance of his car which features some prototype parts he is testing for the World Championship later this year he plans to leave the car set-up unchanged for Q2.

‘Mistakes on my side’, was how Coelho replied when asked about how his first 1:8 qualifying attempt had gone.  The championship leader continued, ‘I had a number of slides because I over used the power.  The car and engine where all good it was just my mistakes that were the problem’.

Opening his event with the fifth fastest time ahead of Mirko Salemi, Lars Hoppe was pleased with his run.  New to the Shepherd team for the 2017 season, the German said his car was good but his Reds engine was ‘a little too lean especially at the end’.  Describing it as a very clean run, he said for tomorrow he would change nothing on the car except tweak his gearbox to change a little earlier and get a better tune on his engine.

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It was a good first day at ENS Germany for Eric Dankel as the Mugen driver made it two out of two in the second round of qualifying at Minidrom Ettlingen. Having led a Mugen 1-2 in the opening qualifier, the German picked up where he left off when Q2 was finally run after a number showers delayed the day’s schedule. With Dankel having a much greater advantage in the second qualifier it was Alessio Mazzeo, 1.2-seconds back, who would be closest to the German. With a lack of rear grip forcing him to pull off in the first round, Eduardo Escandon would resume his Top 3 seeding form and take 3rd for the round ahead of Dirk Wischnewski with Bruno Coelho and Thilo Tödtmann completing the Top 6. Having got a P4 in Q1, reigning champion Teemu Leino would hit trouble just as the cars completed the warm-up for Q2 – the screw in the pulley on the two speed shaft coming loose with him missing the first 3-minutes of the qualifier as they fixed it.

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