Swiss Nitro On-Road Nationals Rd1 – Report

The first round of the Swiss Nitro On-Road Nationals was hosted by Mini Racing Ticino and Moesa at the iconic Lostallo track. The big news for the year was the introduction of the ENS points system for the qualifiers and in the 1/8th class the fight was on between the two World Championship finalists Simon Kurzbuch and Haechler Silvio and also Mattia Pesenti was really fast on his home track. Mattia took the TQ in the opening qualifier but Silvio Haechler came out fastest in the remaining three rounds to take the overall TQ but Mattia at least pulled the fastest lap in the qualifiers. Simon had a troubled qualifying and came in 3rd place.

1/8th scale qualifying top 4:
1. Silvio Haechler – Mugen/Novarossi/Matrix
2. Mattia Pesenti – Xray/Picco/UFRA
3. Simon Kurzbuch – Shepherd/Novarossi/Contact
4. Luca Martinelli – Mugen/O.S./UFRA

The 1/10th scale field greeted two new competitors in the form of Xray driver Raphael Wicki and Capricorn’s Florian Hauser, both racing in electric classes before. Florian Hauser was really fast right from the start and he took the TQ in three of the four rounds.

1/10th scale qualifying top 4:
1. Florian Hauser – Capricorn
2. Marco Reiser – Serpent
3. Severin Schlehan – Serpent
4. Maurice Lüscher – Xray

The main final of the 1/8th class was a nice one to watch. Mattia Pesenti had some trouble before the start and he had to call for a time out and started from the pits into the race. Up front Haechler was on a mission and only 10 minutes into the race he already had opened a gap of half a lap on Kurzbuch. Mattia Pesenti was able to recover and was only around 9 seconds behind Simon. Unfortunately Silvio Haechler ran into trouble and he lost two minutes in the pits. Now the fight for the lead was on between Kurzbuch and Pesenti, who was pushing hard to close the gap. Then Kurzbuch had a problem during refuelling and Pesenti had some issues too so the now 8 second gap would not change. Later, after a tyre change, Pesenti looked to be a bit faster than Kurzbuch and he was able to catch up. With both being on different fuel strategies the decision was still open until the very last minute and with Kurzbuch coming in for a splash and dash with two minutes to go Mattia Pesenti was able to take the win with a flawless drive.

1/8th scale top 4 result:
1. Mattia Pesenti – Xray/Picco/UFRA
2. Simon Kurzbuch – Shepherd/Novarossi/Contact
3. Silvio Haechler – Mugen/Novarossi/Matrix
4. Roland Stalder – Shepherd/Novarossi/Contact

The 1/10th scale final also was really nice to watch because of a very close fight for the top 4 positions. Michael Schäfer was in the lead and he tried to take the win but he broke the front belt in the last minutes so the fight was on between the two electric racers Wicki and Hauser. At the end Hauser took the win in front of Wicki. The podium was rounded out by another young Swiss talent, Severin Schlehan who passed Michael Schäfer in the closing stages.

1/10th scale top 4 result:
1. Florian Hauser – Capricorn
2. Rapahel Wicki – Xray
3. Severin Schlehan – Serpent
4. Michael Schäfer – Xray

Thanks to Mattia Pesenti for the report.