So now we have all had a week to reflect on the perfect season-opening event in Ettlingen, we are sure you have watched the videos from the four great A Finals. But if you’ve not, or you want to re-live the action, here’s our recap of the races!
Kurzbuch Back On Top in 1/8 Scale
Simon Kurzbuch led off the 1/8 Scale A Final from pole position. Right at the start, Teemu Leino could get past second-place starting Toni Gruber to move up to the number two spot. Kuzbuch had a lead of only a second or two over these two cars behind him, so although he was fast, he could not afford any mistakes. In fact, it was Gruber who first encountered problems. After getting his Capricorn back to second place during the pit stop cycles, he suffered an issue which then took him out of the race. This left Leino in second, but the Infinity driver was over a lap back on Kurzbuch by now.
Meanwhile, there were some great battles through the field, with Mirko Salemi now taking over third and fighting hard with Silvio Hachler and Lamberto Collari (who had bumped up all the way from the C Final!). Salemi suffered a flame out and then damaged the wing during a pit stop, which pushed him down the order. Hachler and Collari traded places as the pit stops and tyre strategies played out, and in the end it was Collari who made it two Infinity cars on the podium, with Hachler’s ARC just missing out. Behind, Lars Hoppe had a solid race to take fifth for Shepherd, with Salemi ending up sixth.
But out front, there was no touching Kurzbuch as he brought home his Energy Fuel-powered Mugen to a victory of nearly a lap and a half on the field.
Diekmann Has Perfect Run To Win 1/10 Scale
Melvin Diekmann made the most of his starting position at the front of the grid and quickly opened up a gap on the field in the opening laps of the 1/10 Scale A Final. Jilles Groskamp ran in second place, but had Leon Fuhrmann close behind keeping the pressure on. Third place starter Milan Holthuis had to start from the back of the grid after calling a time-out, but worked his way back up to fourth by the first round of pit stops.
Out front, Diekmann could control the pace, as he got to a point where he had Groskamp in his sights to put him a lap down. Quentin Leroux was the big mover, starting fifth with his Capricorn, inheriting fourth with Holthuis’ time out, then moving to third when Fuhrmann made a mistake – but all the time not too far back from Groskamp. Groskamp’s Infinity team-mate, Viktor Wilck, also stayed in the mix as well, but needed a mistake from Leroux to be able to have a chance at the podium.
Groskamp somehow managed to find some more speed in the second half of the race and, although he was just under a lap down, it meant Diekmann could not let up his speed or make any mistakes in the pitlane. But the Capricorn driver, now firmly recognised as one of Europe’s leading 1/10 Scale specialists, kept his head in the game and his pit crew did their job perfectly to allow Diekmann to take the victory. Groskamp finished in second place to make sure he was “best of the rest”, and Leroux made no mistakes to round out the podium. Wick finished up in fourth, with Jakub Rozycki (Xray) and Patrick Fankhauser (Infinity) making up the top six.
Toennessen Takes Narrow Masters Victory
Daniel Toennessen, the top qualifier in the Masters class, managed to take victory in Ettlingen, but the story was far from simple! Michael Salven ran in second, then took over the lead thanks to a good first fuel stop, but as the race progressed, Salven had issues with some lapped traffic which dropped him down.
Toennessen was back to the lead, now with the seventh qualifier Peter Thys up to second. But then Lars Haugen made his move up the field, moving into second place and closing on Toennessen. Thankfully for him, Toennessen had built a big enough lead and still had enough pace to hold on for the win, but with Haugen closing to just over one-second at the end of the 30 minutes race, had it been just a lap longer the result may have gone the Norwegian driver’s way instead!
Salven recovered to round out the podium in third, with Torsten Mueller having a roller coaster final, running as high as third and low as twelfth, but coming through strongly at the end to take fourth. Thys ended up fifth, and Bump Up driver Alain Levy took sixth.
Wenger Picks Up Where He Left Off In 2023 In Sport
Martin Wenger, the 2023 ENS Sport Class champion, got his 2024 campaign off to the right start by taking the win in the Sport Class A Final. Michaele Eisele had secured pole position and led the first half of the race, but then had issues and forced him to retire. Wenger then had a huge gap as Jo Grauer looked to take second, but small issues dropped him down, meaning Rens Aalders could take second at the flag, but a massive four laps behind Wenger! Grauer rounded out the podium, with Dave De Baar (bumping from the B Final) ending up fourth to big cheers from the Dutch fans, and Dennis Behr and Nick Zuend making the top six.
So that’s it for Round 1 of the 2024 Euro Nitro Series in Germany. With a massive 152 entries, the season is off to an amazing start. We hope you will all join us for Round 2 in Aigen, Austria, in mid-July – either at the track to join the fun of an ENS event, or on-line via our Live Stream!