Action Packed Finals Round Out ENS Apeldoorn
Sunday saw the conclusion of the ENS event in Apeldoorn, with exciting finals for both the drivers and the many spectators to watch!
1/8 Scale
Gruber Dominates On Route To First ENS Victory
Toni Gruber continued his dominating form from qualifying to take a commanding victory, his first ever in the Euro Nitro Series. The pole sitter leapt out to a lead from the start, and was never really challenged on his way to the win. Continuously setting lap times up to half a second faster than anyone else, he opened up a lap advantage over the whole field by the 10-minute mark. Admitting afterwards he was pleased to see Jilles Groskamp and Dominic Greiner battle over second position in the early runnings, this slowed down his expected closest competitors.
Clearly very happy with the victory, which stretched to an impressive three-lap advantage in the closing stages, the popular German driver thanked his team of his father and Simon Schutte for their work in the pit stops, meaning he could just focus on driving. With the large entry number at the Dutch event meaning practice time was somewhat restricted, the Capricorn pilot said once they realised this would be the case, they made sure to be properly prepared before the event – which clearly paid off.
Behind, Groskamp remained ahead of Greiner through the early exchanges before the German driver got in front through a pit stop cycle. However, Greiner would later encounter issues, running short of fuel one time and then breaking a front shock tower, which ultimately ended his race.
This promoted Steven Cuypers up to third, the Belgian driver keeping Groskamp and his Infinity very honest in the fight for the ‘best of the rest’ position. Jeff Hamon had made the long trip over from Australia to compete against Europe’s best, and looked like he would be taking a fourth place back him with him, but some issues in the final third relegated him down the order. This then allowed Rick Vrielijnck, who has bumped his way up from the B Final, to take fourth at the finish.
1/8 Scale A Final Result
1 Toni Gruber (DE) – Capricorn/Ielasi Tuned
2 Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Infinity/SMJ
3 Steven Cuypers (BE) – Mugen/Picco
4 Rick Vrielijnck (NL) – IF18-Rick V Special/Max Power
5 Lars Hoppe (DE) – Shepherd/Reds
6 Timo Schroeder (DE) – Shepherd/Hasi Tuned
7 Jeff Hamon (AU) – Serpent/Max Power
8 Alex Thurston (GB) – Capricorn/Ielasi Tuned
9 Dominic Greiner (DE) – Capricorn/Max Power
10 Thilo Diekmann (DE – Capricorn/Max Power
11 Oliver Kraehemann (CH) – ARC/Hasi Tuned
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/70179/308683
1/10 Scale
Diekmann Wins To Take ENS Championship
Melvin Diekmann took the win in the 1/10 Scale Class A Final which, when combined with his win last time out in Ettlingen, means he clinched the overall championship title with a race still to go.
Pole Sitter Milan Holthuis led the field away, and very quickly the race became a three-way battle between Holthuis, Diekmann and third placed starter Tim Benson. The order changed around a little during the pit stops, but the defining moment came in the tyre change. Opting to make a change one stop earlier than his rivals, Diekmann dropped a lap to Holthuis, but was able to then set quicker times and complete a successful F1-style ‘undercut’ when the Dutch driver came in to fit fresh Matrix foam four-minutes later.
The crowd were thrilled to see the two fight nose-to-tail on the track, with the excitement only added to as Benson’s alternative fuel strategy kept him regularly in touch with the two leaders.
However, the fight couldn’t last the whole race, as Holthuis hit trouble and ran out of fuel at one point, having to get his car recovered back to the pit. With Benson now firmly promoted into second, and still on the lead lap, Diekmann could not let up, but had the speed in the car to remain out in front. Benson took home a well deserved second place finish, with Holthuis disappointed not to be able to at least force the championship battle to go to the series finale in Leno in six-weeks time.
1/10 Scale A Final Result
1 Melvin Diekmann (DE) – Capricorn/OS Speed
2 Tim Benson (DE) – Infinity/Orcan
3 Milan Holthuis (NL) – Infinity/Ielasi Tuned
4 Jakub Rozycki (DE) – ?/?
5 Basile Concialdi (FR) – Infinity/OS Speed
6 Quentin Leroux (FR) – Capricorn/ONE
7 Bernd Rausch (DE) – Shepherd/OS Speed
8 Gerhard Kandehart (AT) – Infinity/?
9 Patrick Fankhauser (CH) – Infinity/OS Speed
10 Tim Bosmann (NL) – ?/?
11 Vasileios Lykaris (GR) – Infinity/Gimar
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/70179/308681
1/8 +40 Masters
Salven Win Keeps Masters Championship Wide Open
Michael Salven took victory in Apeldoorn in the +40 Masters class. As we see so regularly, close racing in the class led to a nail-biting finish, with the Dutch driver leading home Daniel Toennessen and Julius Kolff.
The first third of the thirty-minute final saw Kolff moving past his Serpent team-mate to take the lead, as Toennessen gradually worked his way up the field from seventh on the grid. Difficulties with traffic affected all the leaders, but it was Salven, aided by some quick fuel stops and a stellar tyre change from his wife Jill and Australian racer Jeff Hamon, which got him to the front when it mattered.
Toennessen came through to take second place, backing up his runner-up finish in Ettlingen, whilst Kolff would take third at the flag for his first ENS podium. Ettlingen winner Torsten Mueller had issues early on, which left him with a ninth place finish, whilst John Lenears, third in Ettlingen, also had a final to forget to end up seventh. This means the championship can go one of five ways, depending on the result in Leno.
Masters A Final Result
1 Michael Salven (NL) – Serpent
2 Daniel Toennessen (DE) – Mugen
3 Julius Kolff (NL) – Serpent
4 Peter Thys (BE) – Mugen
5 Danny Leewis (NL) – Infinity
6 Martin Zevenhoven (NL) – Serpent
7 John Lenears (BE) – Mugen
8 Olaf Engelmann (DE) – Infinity
9 Torsten Mueller (DE) – Capricorn
10 Remy Hasler (CH) – Mugen
11 Lars Haugen (NO) – Mugen
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/70179/308682
1/8 Sport
Hordijk Takes Popular Home Victory
Max Hordijk took the win in the Sport Class A Final – the Dutch driver’s win proving very popular amongst the teams and spectators.
Hordijk fought for the win against Jan-Simon Knispel, Martin Wenger, and Luigi Pili, with each driver taking turns to lead, but all also encountering small issues along the way. But it was Max who was out in front when it matters, making the definitive pass with just a few minutes left of the thirty minute long encounter. Thrilled with the win, Hordijk said it was only his second race in the 1/8 Scale class – normally his role at the ENS events is that of pit man to John Ermen. However, he admitted he knew the Apeldoorn track very well from a lot of running in electric classes he has done here – most importantly, he “knew where I could make the pass to win”!
Sport Class A Final Result
1 Max Hordijk (NL)
2 Jan-Simon Knispel (DE)
3 Martin Wenger (CH)
4 Luigi Pili (NL)
5 Gert-Jan Van Schaik (NL)
6 Lars Schaefer (CH)
7 Chef Rijcks (NL)
8 Alex Esser (US)
9 Markus Friedrich (DE)
10 Dave De Baar (NL)
11 Joachim Grauer (DE)
Link to the results on MyRCM: https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/en/70179/308680
Another successful event at Apeldoorn is in the books, with yet another fantastic entry. The Euro Nitro Series now looks to conclude the 2023 championship at the famous Leno track in Italy, which takes place at the end of September. See you there!