Adrian Bernsten wins Norwegian nationals Rd2
The second round of the Norwegian national series was held at the beautiful facility of LMBK last Saturday and Adrien Bernsten. The track conditions was as always very good and with the high traction and pretty low temperatures (approx. 14-15 degrees), it was all set for some good racing and fast laptimes. After having done a bit of testing on the track before the race and putting in some fast laptimes and very consistent driving I was very confident going into this race.
As qualification started I quickly got into trouble with my engine stopping in both the first two qualification runs, forcing me to start from pit and therefore also lose plenty of time. Together with this, I also suddenly got problems with traction roll as the traction increased. As the final qualifying started, my engine again stopped on the starting line, and I had to start from the pit lane. But still I manage to take the TQ time finishing approx. 6-7 seconds ahead of the previous TQ time sat by Tom Erik Haaversen. But having not delivered the car into technical inspection after Q2, my TQ run would not count so I fell down from 1st to 11th.
For the semifinal I decided to run 42-45sh with small diameter (58mm-60mm) to avoid the traction rolling. Being a little bit difficult to drive in the start of the race I still managed to go from starting position 6 to overtake the lead during the first lap. Cruising from start to finish, I finished 1st with 90 laps in 20:07:665 in front of Bjorn Dahl, 5 laps back in 2nd and Oyvind Stusdal in 3rd. Trygve Bull Freng claimed the 4th position.
In the other semifinal, Helge Johannesen won easily driving 86 laps in 20:07:156, also finishing 5 laps ahead of current Nordic Champion Ole Bro in 2nd, Morten Johansen in 3rd and Frank Andersen in 4th. The last two drivers bumping up to the final was Tom Erik Haaversen that faced some problems during his semi, and Hans Nikolaisen claiming the last spot for the final.
In the final I decided to use the same tire strategy, but with a little bit bigger tires on the outside than I had in the semifinal. When the final started it was Helge and I that were the fastest guys increasing our lead every single lap. But after driving approx. 4-5minutes both Helge and I traction rolled in the same corner, but I was luckier landing on the wheels and from then I got a big lead that I never gave back. In fact the race was stopped after having some problems with the timing-system. So after the race was finished 23 minutes into the final, I won with 103 laps in front of Helge with 101 laps and Tom Erik in 3rd with 98 laps.
Top 10 results
1. Adrian Berntsen
2. Helge Johannesen
3. Tom Erik Haaversen
4. Ole Bro
5. Bjorn Dahl
6. Trygve Bull Freng
7. Oyvind Stusdal
8. Frank Andersen
9. Morten Johansen
10. Hans Nikolaisen
Thanks to Adrian Bernsten for the report.
