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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