Pietsch provisional Top Qualifier in Ettlingen

Mugen’s Robert Pietsch is the overnight Top Qualifier for the 8th running of the 200mm European Championships after the German ace bettered Patrick Schäfer’s Q1 topping time by over 5-seconds in the second round of qualifying this evening in Germany.

Having reported a lack of feeling in his throttle after Q1 following a change of gearing on his MTX-5, Pietsch discovered during the warm-up for Q2 that the settings on his distinctive Sanwa radio, which features the throttle on the right, had been tampered with.  Describing the discovery as ‘upsetting’, the 1:8 Onroad World Champion managed to reset the throttle positioning in time to start his run.  Able to put the matter to the back of his mind, Pietsch was able to run 31 laps in 7:06.232 saying a change to a harder shore tyre on his Novarossi suited the cooler conditions well. Bringing the matter of his radio being interfered with to the attention of race officials Pietsch plans to bag his radio for the remainder of the event but said despite this he is very happy with his day especially as rain is being forecast for tomorrow’s final two rounds of qualifying.

Using Q2 to test a different exhaust set-up with a view to attempting to run 5-minute stops in the finals, Schäfer said he just fell short of making the time. Pitting after 2-minutes his Novarossi powered Shepherd Velox V10 ran dry on the main straight on his final lap.  Having proven to himself that 5-minute stops are too high a risk, the German said he will stick with 4:30 stops. Very happy with how his car is working he said if tomorrow is dry the only change he plans is to revert back to the exhaust/manifold he used to TQ the opening qualifier.

Jumping from 11th fastest after Q1 to end the day 3rd, Team Xray’s Teemu Leino gave a lot of the credit to a super fuel stop by 1:12 European Champion Simo Ahoniemi who is here as his pitman.  The Top Qualifier at the 2007 Euros in Spain, where Xray made their 200m class debut, the Finn said it was a good run but he actually preferred the hotter conditions of Q1.  Having had to change little on his NT1, Leino said he particularly happy with the performance of his prototype LRP engine on the high speed track.

Impressing the establishment with his run to the fifth fastest time in Q1, local driver Simon Balk was able to better his time in the second round moving himself up to fourth.  The Xray/Orcan driver said that despite the better track conditions his NT1 was still difficult to drive, something he hopes to cure tomorrow, if the weather holds, by changing the shore of tyre he has been using.

Sitting fifth at the end of the first day of qualifying Dario Balestri managed only a single lap in Q2 after the rear diff broke in his KM Racing H-K1. Behind him in sixth Eric Dankel also failed to improve as he ran out of fuel. The Xray driver said upon catching a group of four cars he descided to pit a lap earlier than planned but it left him short at the end of the 7-minutes. Xray team-mate Dirk Wischnewski also ran out of fuel due to pitting too early.  Describing his Orcan powered NT1 as ‘really good’ he felt he had the pace to TQ, a new fastest lap for the day proof of that. Having run out of fuel in both his qualifiers the 2009 Champion said he hopes tomorrow morning is dry so he can try put in a full run. Despite stopping on his second qualifier the run was still fastest enough to move Wischnewski in the all important Semis with him lying 9th overnight.

Another driver moving inside the Top 14 was young Italian talent Biagio Spataro. The Gi-Mar engines backed driver was running a very fast pace which put him on target for the second fastest time but he received a Stop & Go penalty for bad refuelling. His pitman said afterwards that the rule was that the car and fuel bottle must remain behind the line and not his elbow but the race official who called the penalty said it was deserved.

Top 14 after Q2
1. Robert Pietsch – Mugen/Novarossi – 31/7:06.232 (Q2)
2. Patrick Schäfer – Shepherd/Novarossi – 31/7:11.444 (Q1)
3. Teemu Leino – Xray/LRP – 31/7:11.708 (Q2)
4. Simon Balk – Xray/Orcan – 31/7:12.029 (Q2)
5. Dario Balestri – KM Racing/Novarossi – 31/7:12.297 (Q1)
6. Eric Dankel – Xray/Novarossi – 31/7:12.643 (Q1)
7. Biagio Spataro – Xray/Gi-Mar – 31/7:13.131 (Q2)
8. Adrian Berntsen – Xray/Capricorn – 31/7:13.429 (Q1)
9. Dirk Wischnewski – Xray/Orcan – 30/6:55.806 (Q2)
10.Giuseppe D’Angelo – Xray/Max – 30/7:00.411 (Q1)
11.Giorgio De Felici – Capricorn/Novarossi – 30/7:00.610 (Q1)
12.Rico Kröber – Xray/Novarossi – 30/7:00.821 (Q2)
13.Mark Green – Serpent/Novarossi – 30/7:01.383 (Q2)
14.Toni Gruber – Serpent/Xceed – 30/7:01.965 (Q2)

View the full event results here.

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Schäfer tops opening qualifier

Team Shepherd’s Patrick Schäfer has topped the opening round of qualifying at the 200mm European Championships in Ettlingen, Germany outpacing World Championship Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch by 11/1000ths of a second with former back to back champion Dario Balestri third fastest.

The owner of Team Shepherd which is based less than 30 minutes from the track, Schäfer said with rain forecast for tomorrow his target for Q1 was to just run a safe run and he never expected it would produce the fastest time. A clean run, the German said his car, engine and tyres performed perfectly and he had a really good feeling with the whole package.  Confident that his time of 31 laps in 7:11.444 is good enough to put him in the Top 14, and therefore in the all important Semis, Schäfer said he will use today’s second & final qualifier to test an exhaust he is considering using for the finals.

Pietsch, who is not enjoying the incredibly hot conditions on the rostrum, said he ran a shorter gearing on the new MTX-5 which caused him to loose feeling in the acceleration.  A slower track than this morning, the Mugen designer said it was a clean run but he expects this evening to be faster as the temperature should be lower. The German ace said he will revert back to the longer gearing he ran during controlled practice.

Driving for KM Racing Dario Balestri was a lot happier with his car having changed to harder springs all around.  The Italian, who was champion in 2006 & 2007 when he drove for Team Magic, decribed the run as clean but thinks the times will tumble this evening and if the rain holds off feels tomorrow morning will be the ‘rocket’ round.  Setting the fastest time for the round he is not planning any major set-up adjustments for Q2 but will try a different shore of Contact tyres.

Setting the fourth fastest time despite one small mistake, Team Xray’s Eric Dankel said he was at 100% but the super hot conditions just don’t suit the NT1.  Having tried a number of set-up changes in free practice yesterday when it was also very hot he said what they are running now is the best set-up they have and he just hopes the weather will turn cooler.  Xray team-mate Dirk Wischnewski, who set the pace in practice, failed to finish his opening qualifier after he ran out of fuel.  The 2009 Champion said his Orcan engine wasn’t right and ran too rich causing his car to come to a halt with less than 10 seconds of the 7-minute heat remaining.

Local driver Simon Balk, who is competing in his first A Euros, said recording the fifth fastest time was fantastic but in terms of the car it was not so good.  The 20-year-old, who runs the same chassis/engine package as Wischnewski, said the hot temperatures made his car very difficult to drive.

Completing the Top 6 Adrian Berntsen was not happy with his driving feeling he could have been quicker.  The Xray driver said he couldn’t fault the car and he just need to tidy up his driving after making too many small mistakes over the run.  Just missing out on 31 laps, Giuseppe D’Angelo now driving for Xray set the seventh fastest time followed by Capricorn driver and fellow Italian Giorgio De Felici.

Elsewhere Biagio Spataro and Jilles Groskamp who both featured strongly in this morning’s controlled practice had a troubled first qualifier. Spataro rolled his Gi-Mar powered Xray when he had a back marker turn in on him while Groskamp had his Orion go off tune and pushing hard to make up for the lack of low end power also rolled his Shepherd.

Top 14 after Q1
1. Patrick Schäfer – Shepherd – 31/7:11.444
2. Robert Pietsch – Mugen – 31/7:11.455
3. Dario Balestri – KM Racing – 31/7:12.297
4. Eric Dankel – Xray – 31/7:12.643
5. Simon Balk – Xray – 31/7:13.003
6. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 31/7:13.429
7. Giuseppe D’Angelo – Xray – 30/7:00.411
8. Giorgio De Felici – Capricorn – 30/7:00.610
9. Rico Kröber – Xray – 30/7:01.504
10.Mark Green – Serpent – 30/7:02.086
11.Teemu Leino – Xray – 30/7:02.558
12.Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 30/7:02.830
13.Patrick Nähr – Shepherd – 30/7:02.981
14.Manuel Huber – Xray – 30/7:04.701

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CP2 Update

The second controlled practice, the final ahead of qualifying for the 200mm European Championship in Germany, was to prove slower than this morning’s session with Robert Pietsch topping the sheets from Xray pairing Eric Dankel and Adrian Bernsten.

Although Pietsch improved on his morning time he was unable to match Dirk Wischnewski’s fastest time.  Using CP2 to run ‘Final’ tyres Wischnewski also used the session to run in three new glow plugs and so the German didn’t post a representative time.  The 2009 Champion said they have been experiencing problems with new glow plugs blowing if run under race conditions from new and by running them for a short time in the car it eradicates the problem.  Running the larger diameter tyres he said the car felt pretty good on them.

Sixth in CP6 Dankel managed a 31-lap run this time out, the German saying his NT1’s steering was much improved after he lowered the rear roll centre. The German added that he also found a lot of time in cleaning up his driving.

The current Norwegian National Champion, Bernsten was very happy with his run after a change to heaver oil in the rear of his Capricorn powered NT1 gave him the steering he was lacking earlier.  The 17-year-old is confident he can carry his new pace into the opening round of qualifying.

2006 & 2007 Champion Dario Balestri enjoyed his best run taking his Novarossi powered KM Racing H-K1 to the fourth fastest time.  Behind the Italian local German driver Simon Balk put his extensive track knowledge to good use by setting the 5th fastest time outpacing back to back Vice-Champion and fellow Xray driver Alexander Hagberg by 1/1000th of a second.

Third fastest in the morning Biagio Spataro was unable to better his time going only seventh fastest but the Italian teenager did post the fastest lap time of CP2.

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Wischnewski tops first controlled practice

Continuing his free practice pace Dirk Wischnewski has topped the first round of controlled practice this morning at the 200mm European Championships in Ettlingen, Germany.  The Xray driver set the pace over 7-minutes from Mugen’s Robert Pietsch with Italian teenager Biagio Spataro 3rd.

Wischnewski, who also set the fastest lap with 13.380, said his Orcan powered NT1 felt better than yesterday’s final day of free practice due to this morning’s cooler track conditions.  Using the practice to try his spare engine he said it was slightly too rich but overall he is happy that he is well set-up for qualifying.  Declaring he doesn’t expect to be fastest in CP2, the final practice before this afternoon’s opening qualifier, the 2009 Champion will use the session to run a set of ‘Final’ tyres.

‘Quite Happy’ was how Robert Pietsch summed up his run.  Running close to Wischnewski on track the 1:8 Onroad World Champion said it was possible to see his new MTX-5 was quicker through the right section of the track but that the Xray had the advantage on the left side.  Happy with the feeling of his car he will just make some very fine tuning adjustments to try and make his car better through the section after the main straight.  Pietsch said his pit stops need to improve with Wischnewski gaining about .5 of a second in the pits.

16-year-old Spataro, who was one of the finds of the 2009 European Championships at Gubbio in Italy, used CP1 to run a second engine to ensure he has a good spare should he have any issues with his race engine. Not quite as good as his main engine he said he lost some time during his pitstop as his mechanic checked the engine temperature and adjusted the tuning but overall he is very happy with his pace.  Behind Spataro was another front runner from the Italian National Championship Giorgio De Felici who drives for current champion manufacturer Capricorn.

Fastest Team Shepherd driver with the fifth fastest time was Jilles Groskamp.  The Dutch ace said while his lap times were not ‘spectacular’ his Orion powered Velox V10 was very consistent.  Planning to run different springs in CP2 he said he and his mechanic were a little rusty on the pitstops and this was an area they need to work on.

Completing the Top 6 and just missing out on 31 laps was Xray’s Eric Dankel.  The German National Champion said his Novarossi powered NT1 was not as good as yesterday, the car having developed oversteer.  Making a few driver errors during his run, he said the oversteer resulted in very high tyre wear but he hopes by lowering the rear roll centre the steering should be better for CP2.

Setting the seventh fastest time with 30-laps in 7:02.785 was Team Serpent’s Mark Green followed very closely by top French driver Basile Concialdi at the controls of his Orion powered Capricorn LAB-C01.

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Volker angered by handling of additive accusations

EFRA testing for tyre additive got off to a controversial start last night in Ettlingen when tyres from two drivers failed the test.  Drivers competing in the first four groups of heats had to present their tyres to the impound last night due to their early start time and during testing two failures where detected.

On making the discovery Frank Noens called a meeting of all the Team Managers where he informed them that two unnamed drivers had presented tyres that failed the test.  Noens, who is determined to tackle the issue with a heavy hand, put the decision on the action to be taken to the team managers who unanimously voted to exclude the drivers from the event.  Following the vote the team managers for Germany and Russia were asked to remain.  While no names where given publicly rumours of the German driver spread rapidly through the pit area with world class touring car driver Ronald Volker only becoming aware of his exclusion from his pitman Daniele Ielasi who inturn only heard of the problem from another competitor.

On further inspection of the two suspected treated tyres it was discovered the Russian driver had used a marker pen to write the diameter on his tyres, the chemicals of which resulted in the detection of a banned substance.  In Volker’s case a second & third test resulted in the tyres getting the all clear with the initial failure blamed on a contaminated bag, each driver having been issued with the impound bags by the race organisers.  After the retests the pending exclusion of both drivers was dropped and they will continue to compete in the event.

One of the sport’s most genuine and fair drivers, Volker was shocked to hear his tyres had failed and extremely annoyed that he had received no official correspondence regarding the issue only learning of the matter from fellow racers. Last night the German made his anger very clear on Facebook when he was critical of EFRA.  The post sparked a raft of reactions with Vokler adding in a later post he wanted an apology from EFRA which on receiving he would delete the rapidly growing post.  On arrival at the track this morning Volker was asked by EFRA Secretary Willy Wuyts to remove the post, which he did, but the Team Shepherd driver said he is still waiting on an official apology.