August 17, 2017

Coelho & Kurzbuch ready to resume title battle on all new Aigen surface

The Euro Nitro Series enters into the second half of the season this weekend as Aigen in Austria hosts Round 3 of the championship with the main focus of the weekend set to be on the 1:8 title battle between reigning champion Simon Kurzbuch and a surprise 1:8 contender Bruno Coelho. Located high in the Austrian mountains near the German border, this is Aigen’s fourth year on the ENS calendar and since last year’s visit when a new pit area greeted competitors, MAV Aigen have not let up on their commitment to providing racers with a top class facility. This year’s improvement is set to have a far greater direct effect on the racing than previous work with the track having just recently been completely resurfaced with new asphalt. This should make for a more level playing field with the previous surface presenting drivers with the challenge of high tyre wear. For Kurzbuch the track has been a happy hunting ground with the Shepherd driver the winner on the last two visits and second on the inaugural visit behind John Ermen. For Coelho, this will be only his second outing at the track, the Xray driver’s previous 2015 visit netting him fourth in the 1:10 A-Main.

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July 10, 2017

Kurzbuch claims ENS win despite ‘far from perfect’ final

Simon Kurzbuch has claimed the first win of his Euro Nitro Series title defence with victory at Round 2 of the championship in Germany.  Running out of fuel at the season opener in France and finishing seventh, the Shepherd driver would register his 7th ENS career win with victory ahead of Round 1 winner Bruno Coelho with former champion Dario Balestri completing the podium.  While Kurzbuch would lead the majority of the 45-minute final, it was another rough race for the World Champion with a not so perfect tyre stop and contact with a backmarker leaving him with a damaged exhaust that left him down on power.  Coelho looked like he might once again beat the Swiss driver but bad communications between the Xray driver and his pit crew cost him the win as he ran out of fuel.  There was also drama for Balestri as he made a late fuel stop but hit another car in pitlane resulting in him losing steering, the Infinity driver somehow limping the car to the finish line with a lot of trips onto the grass.

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July 10, 2017

Dankel ends victory drought with ENS Germany win

Eric Dankel has finally ended a three year Euro Nitro Series victory drought by taking the win in an incident filled Round 2 in Germany.  Having qualified second behind Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho, the ENS’ inaugural champion would take his third career win ahead of first time podium finishers Eduardo Escandon and Marco Kaufmann.  Originally the results of the race would show reigning champion Teemu Leino as having claimed third but he had benefited from his car crossing the loop as it was returned to the pits after suffering a flame out.  Losing the lap, the Infinity driver would end up fourth.  For ENS France winner Coelho the race would ultimately end with a broken belt but while leading at the 10-minute mark he would have an off that would damage his rear wing with the repairs together with a tyre change costing him 4-laps.

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July 8, 2017

Coelho denies Dankel to take ENS Germany TQ

Bruno Coelho has denied Eric Dankel a home TQ at ENS Germany, the Xray driver putting in a dominant Day 2 qualifying performance at Minidrom Ettlingen. With Dankel in control of Q1 & 2 yesterday, championship leader Coelho found his form in Q3 and backing that up with TQ runs in the 4th & 5th rounds claimed his second consecutive Euro Nitro Series pole position.  Dankel would round out qualifying with a P2 and that is where the former champion will start tomorrow. Runner-up at the season opener having to come from the back of the grid, Alessio Mazzeo will line up third ahead of the previous two winners of the German round, Dirk Wischnewski and Teemu Leino.

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July 8, 2017

Coelho from Mazzeo in Q3

Bruno Coelho led an Xray 1-2 in the third round of qualifying at ENS Germany, the championship leader setting the pace from team-mate Alessio Mazzeo. With Erik Dankel having topped both of yesterday’s qualifiers, the first round of Day 2 was to prove a difficult one for Mugen with Dankel suffering a flameout after an off and Dirk Wischnewski hitting traffic leaving him with a P7. Completing the Top 3 with his best run so far would be reigning champion Teemu Leino with Thilo Tödtmann getting a fourth that locks him into the A-Main.

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July 8, 2017

Kurzbuch Top Qualifier at ENS Germany

Simon Kurzbuch is the Top Qualifier for the German round of the Euro Nitro Series, the Shepherd driver getting the job done early as he posted a third TQ run this morning at Minidrom Ettlingen. While Round 1 winner Bruno Coelho would top seeding from the Swiss driver, once qualifying got underway the reigning champion has taken control of proceedings to claim his second pole of the season and the all important bonus championship point that goes with it.  Like the previous two qualifiers, the top of the Q3 time sheets would read the same with Dario Balestri the closest to Kurzbuch followed by Robert Pietsch in third.  Having found his way in Q2, Oliver Mack would again set the fourth fastest time ahead of Infinity team-mates Naoto Matsukura, Takaaki Shimo, Lamberto Collari and Teemu Leino.

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July 8, 2017

Another TQ run from Kurzbuch

Having opened qualifying at Round 2 of the ENS in Germany with a TQ run last night, Simon Kurzbuch got Day 2 of the event off to the perfect start as he again set the pace in Q2.  The second of the five qualifiers in Ettlingen was a repeat of the Q1 result with Dario Balestri again Kurzbuch’s closest challenger and Robert Pietsch completing the Top 3.   The surprise of the qualifier would be Oliver Mack, who running in the fourth fastest heat, would set the 4th fastest time just 0.026 off Pietsch.  Francesco Tironi would improve on his opening run post his first Top 6 run with fifth ahead of the Belgian Steven Cuypers.

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July 7, 2017

Kurzbuch takes Q1 from Balestri

Simon Kurzbuch has TQ’d the opening round of 1:8 qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Germany.  With rain delaying the schedule, the reigning champion took what would turn out to be the day’s only qualifier from arch rival Dario Balestri, both drivers previous ENS race winner at the Minidrom Ettlingen track.  Behind them Robert Pietsch maintained the strong form he showed in the morning’s seeding practice as he set the 3rd fastest time to make it an all Champions affair Top 3.  Having topped seeding, Bruno Coelho would end up fourth with the ENS France winner taking the blame for less than perfect driving over the 4-minutes.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

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