Friday concludes at the ENS
After some rain shortened running on Thursday’s optional free practice day, Friday saw much better conditions which allowed the ENS team to run the full planned schedule of three further rounds of Free Practice ahead of the standard two rounds of Controlled Practice. As always, the results of the best three consecutive laps from either Controlled Practice round are used to set the Qualifying heats.
1/8 Scale
Greiner Beats Kurzbuch to be Top Seed
Shepherd’s Simon Kurzbuch set the best time in the first round of Controlled Practice, continuing the form he had shown in free practice, but it was Dominic Greiner who upped the pace in CP2 to secure the top seeding position. Kurzbuch was unable to better his CP1 time, but this was still enough for the Swiss driver to hold onto second in the rankings. Greiner, who was clearly improving his Capricorn each time he hit the track, was obviously pleased to secure the “number 1 sticker” for qualifying. We spoke to the German driver on Friday evening:
I’m very happy with the result. Simon has a lot of experience on this track with his car and this is my first time here with Capricorn. I’m not completely happy with the car still, but I will try some more things in tomorrow’s short practice round – but it’s great to be fastest at this point!
Dominic Greiner – Capricorn
Behind the top two, Infinity driver Rick Vrielijnck set the third best time, with Toni Gruber slotting into fourth and Shasa Lackner rounding out the top five.
The Top 5 after controlled practice (3 consecutive laps)
1 Dominic Greiner (DE) – 38.543 – Capricorn/ONE
2 Simon Kurzbuch (CH) – 38.646 – Shepherd/Hasi Tuned
3 Rick Vrielijnck (NL) – 38.888 – Infinity/Max Power
4 Toni Gruber (DE) – 38.952 – Shepherd/Ielasi Tuned
5 Shasa Lackner (CH) – 38.985 – Infinity/Hasi Tuned
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/63769/287267?key=201
1/10 Scale
Diekmann Leads Practice, Groskamp Heads Q1
Over in the 1/10 Scale class, it was Melvin Diekmann who set the quickest three-lap time in Controlled Practice. The German driver, who is clearly riding a wave of confidence after taking his first ENS win last time out in Fiorano, topped the times in both CP1 and CP2, as in fact the top five were in an identical order in both rounds. Teemu Leino led the Infinity charge, as the Asian brand locked out the next three spots – Jilles Groskamp in third and Milan Holthuis in fourth. Dirk Wischnewski made his return to the ENS and set the fifth best time with his Mugen.
The Top 5 after controlled practice (3 consecutive laps)
1 Melvin Diekmann (DE) – 43.246 – Capricorn/ONE
2 Teemu Leino (FI) – 43.545 – Infinity/OS Speed
3 Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 43.713 – Infinity/OS Speed
4 Milan Holthuis (NL) – 44.101 – Infinity/Ielasi Tuned
5 Dirk Wischnewski (DE) – 44.322 – Mugen/Orcan
With the track being located near to a residential area, the club is only allowed to run nitro engines until 6:30pm each day. Whilst the weather forecast continues to predict great weather for the remainder of the weekend, the ENS Organising team took the decision to stay on the front foot in case of any issues or delays in the next two days, and ran the 1/10 Scale class first qualifier this evening too.
In that round, it was Groskamp who took control, as he and Diekmann trading lap times for the first half of the four-minute run, before the Dutch driver opened a small gap in the second half. Drama then happened on the last lap, with Diekmann running out of fuel just a few metres from the finish line. Thankfully, he was able to coast his Capricorn over and still take second place, such was the gap from the first two drivers over the field. At a loss to explain the reason for running short on fuel, Diekmann’s pit man suggested they may have run an extra out-lap than planned. However, the class will continue to be interesting, as immediately following the run, Diekmann had to leave the track to return home, as he has to make his Bachelor’s degree presentation tomorrow – so he’ll miss the remaining qualifying rounds and likely start in the lowest final.
Nevertheless, Groskamp was pleased to take a TQ run, explaining to us:
I am happy but also surprised. It has seemed Melvin has had a small gap over us in practice so far. I made a small change on my car for qualifying and it was great in the cooler conditions this evening. Finally it seems I could match Melvin’s laptimes, but managed to also be consistent through the run which is important.
Jilles Groskamp – Infinity
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/63769/287265?key=201
1/8 +40 Masters
Haugen Fastest In Practice
After the two rounds of controlled practice, it is Lars Haugen with the best time in the Masters class. For the first time, the +40 division has the most entries of all the classes at the ENS, with the laptimes as close as ever too! Fiorano winner Jurg Nydegger took the second best time, after struggling until then and only sitting just inside the top ten after CP1. Torsten Muller had a nice run to third at the end of the day, with Daniel Toennessen taking fourth and previous ENS Masters race winner John Lenears sitting in fifth place.
Speaking with Haugen, he told us:
From the start of practice my car was good, and I just improved my confidence more than the car each run. It’s super close again in the +40 class, with lots of guys able to set fast times. So I hope for a nice day of Qualifying and we’ll see what we can do!
Lars Haugen – Mugen
The Top 5 after controlled practice (3 consecutive laps)
1 Lars Haugen (NO) – 39.446
2 Jurg Nydegger (CH) – 39.590
3 Torsten Muller (DE) – 39.712
4 Daniel Toennessen (DE) – 39.769
5 John Lenears (BE) – 39.984
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/63769/287266?key=201