The 2024 Euro Nitro Series kicks off shortly with the first of the four-event series taking place over the weekend of 23-26 May.
The Ettlingen track in Germany is the host of the season opener – and will host its eighth ENS event. With the rules and format for 2024 staying the same, you might think there isn’t much to write about before the start of the championship – but you’d be wrong, so let’s take a look at our four classes!
1:8 Scale
The class with the highest entry count for Ettlingen will certainly prove very interesting. Toni Gruber won the 2023 championship for Capricorn, after being pushed very hard by then-teammate Dominic Greiner. However, Greiner has now stepped away from Nitro racing, and moved over to lead Serpent’s electric touring car programme. Greiner will certainly be missed from the ENS, as one of the drivers who has been with us from the early days and we have all watched develop.
You might think that gives Gruber an “easy” title chance then… but there’s drivers to watch out for! Simon Kurzbuch had a difficult 2023 as he got up to speed with his new Mugen Seiki car, but he has now firmly got to grips with the Japanese platform, and the former World Champion is expected to be very much in the mix this season. There’s some more names it is great to see returning to the season, with Mirko Salemi (winner at the 2023 season finale in Leno) heading to Germany, also joined by fellow Italian and well-known legend of RC, Lamberto Collari. Silvio Hachler also makes his return to the ENS and we can expect to see him at the sharp end too. Looking at the entry list, there’s also so many more who you’d place as “A Main drivers”, so it will be fascinating to see how things stack up at Round 1!
1:10 Scale
Melvin Diekmann took the 2023 title for Capricorn, and so starts off this season as the favourite to repeat. But the headline news is former 1/10 Scale Jilles Groskamp making his entry for the class, moving back over after contesting in 1/8 Scale last year. Groskamp is also joined by his Infinity teammate Viktor Wilck, who had a great run at the 2022 World Championships which was his first proper 1/10 Nitro event! Making Infinity a triple-threat will be Milan Holthuis, the multiple podium still hunting for his first ENS win but certain to feature in the title conversation. Meanwhile, Capricorn will also be looking at Quentin Leroux as a further weapon in their arsenal and title challenge, the French driver coming off the back of his 2023 Championship runner-up position.
1:8 Masters
Regularly featuring the closest battles, the Masters category is set to be hotly contended again. Torsten Mueller took a popular championship victory in 2023, but his challengers are certainly looking forward to the new season. The most obvious names to watch from the Ettlingen entry list currently are former champion Michael Salven, the original “Master’s Master” Arie Manten, Belgian star Peter Thys, and regular championship contender Daniel Toennessen. As with 2023, we expect every race will produce close action and varied results, so we’ll have to wait until the very end to see who comes out on top in the Masters class!
1:8 Sport
The newest championship sees Martin Wenger trying to repeat his overall victory last year. There’s no entry yet from his closest challenger, Max Hordijk, so we’ll see if Max does come back to aim for the top step this year, or if Martin is maybe challenged by Joachim Grauer (winner in Ettlingen last year), or perhaps the young American, Alex Esser, who has been scoring great results back in the USA. The Sport class has provided a great point for more racers to be involved in the ENS – which is always great news and we hope we see some more joining the fun throughout the year!
You can follow all the action from Ettlingen thanks to our NEW ENS LIVE STREAM, from Hanno of RC Race Video here:
We’ll see you in Ettlingen or online…
Uwe, Olli, and the whole ENS crew!