Marc Fisher wins 1/12th Stock spec Euros

Last weekend, the MACH indoor track in Haarlem, The Netherlands, played host to the European 1/12th scale Stock Spec Championship, an event that had a last minute change of venue to Haarlem and something that the well organised club took in their stride. The 62 racers that attended the event where presented with a tight and technical track on new good quality carpet and which offered little rest throughout the lap, with the drivers having to contend with fast sweepers, tight hairpins and a tricky right left chicane in the centre of the track. Following a day of practice on the Friday, the first qualifying round of 6 was run and immediately it looked like German Corally racer Marc Fisher was the man to beat, setting a new lap record and ending up heading the time sheets from Xray driver Bart Wubben in 2nd and Serpent S120 developer Markus Mobers sitting in 3rd.

The qualifying was decided on the fastest individual run and so on Saturday it was all up for grabs but no one could touch Marc and it looked like the real competition was going to be who would start in the 2nd spot. Following 5 more rounds of qualifying it was to be Markus Mobers, who managed to close the gap on Fisher and would end up only over 1 second behind, with Bart starting 3rd, and V-Dezign main man Vesa Yli from Finland starting on the outside of the 2nd row.

Top 10 after final qualifying
1. Marc Fischer (DE) – 48 Laps in 08:03.114
2. Markus Mobers (DE) – 48 Laps in 08:04.288
3. Bart Wubben (NL) – 48 Laps in 08:09.535
4. Vesa Yli (FI) – 47 Laps in 08:05.698
5. Tim Altman (DE) – 47 Laps in 08:06.936
6. Keith Robertson (GB) – 47 Laps in 08:08.037
7. Olivier Bultynck (BE) – 47 Laps in 08:08.531
8. Hugo van den Berg (NL) – 47 Laps in 08:09.045
9. Erik Jonk (NL) – 46 Laps in 08:03.214
10. Simon Rubet (FR) – 46 Laps in 08:04.304

The finals got underway on Sunday with a practice final in the morning followed by the 3 legs for everyone. The first leg was a close race up front with Fisher going straight into the lead followed closely by Markus Mobers. These 2 drivers would be in a league of their own matching each others pace lap for lap, with the Corally driver just seeming to have a slight speed advantage that allowed him to stretch out a gap to win at the end of the 8 minute race by 5 seconds from Mobers in 2nd, while Bart Wubben claimed 3rd spot, just over a lap further back.

In Leg 2 it was a closer run thing with the top 2 qualifiers once again pulling out a gap but this time Mobers was able to put pressure on Fisher and closed the initial gap down to nothing and looked like he would make a pass, but Fisher clipped a corner and this in turn caused both drivers to touch, sending Mobers into the barriers, while Fisher could recover and open back up the gap. With momentum gone Mobers would end up in 2nd spot just over a second behind with Fisher claiming his second win and with it the overall title. Belgian racer Olivier Bultynck took 3rd in this leg. The 3rd and final leg was a repeat of the previous finals with Fisher clearing off out front with Mobers in pursuit, which was how it ended with Bart Wubben taking 3rd place and with it the final overall podium spot.

Final Standings
1. Marc Fischer (DE) – 1:1, 2:1 [3:1] – Corally/GM
2. Markus Mobers (DE) – 2:2, 1:2 [3:2] – Serpent/LRP
3. Bart Wubben (NL) – 3:3, 1:3 [2:6] – Xray/LRP
4. Vesa Yli (FI ) – 2:4, 3:4 [1:5] – V-Dezign/Nosram
5. Olivier Bultynck (BE) – 2:3, 3:6 [1:10] – Corally/GM
6. Keith Robertson (GB) – 3:5, 2:5 [1:6] – Associated/Novak
7. Hugo van den Berg (NL) – 1:4, 3:10 [2:10] – Xray/LRP
8. Tim Altman (DE) – 3:7, 1:7 [2:9] – Hot Bodies/GM
9. Simon Rubet (FR) – 2:7, 3:9 [1:9] – CRC/Speed Passion
10. Erik Jonk (NL) – 3:8, 1:8 [2:8] – Xray/LRP

Full results can be found here.