April 26, 2019

Q1 goes to Leo Arnold

Continuing on where he left off in timed practice Leo Arnold took the opening qualifier in Bologna ahead of the closely matched Infinity pairing of Jilles Groskamp and Teemu Leino. Alessio Mazzeo was 4th, despite running out of fuel, with Thilo Todtmann putting in a clean 4-minutes to take 5th. Describing his run as ‘pretty clean’ Arnold said he had only one slide and continued to compliment his new Xray saying the ‘car was perfect’, Xray seeming to make a big leap in performance with their 2019 car. Commenting that he needs ‘just one or two more good runs’ the French man’s plan for tomorrow’s remaining 3 qualifiers is to ‘leave the car as is’.

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

April 26, 2019

Pietsch ends timed practice as top seed

Despite being one of only 3 drivers in the top 20 not to improve their time in the final timed practice session Robert Pietsch will go into qualifying as top seed. While the advantage he held after the opening practice was substantial, that gap was all but eroded away by the chasing pack with Dario Balestri putting in a much improved run to end up in 2nd just 1 tenth back. The World Champion despite being fast said his car was much too nervous and while it was not bad it was still not perfect. Dominic Greiner ended up in 3rd putting his improvement down to his driving and some tweaks to the OS engine in his Serpent and going into qualifying needs to make the car a bit more stable to have a good 4 minute pace. Despite also improving Simon Kurzbuch dropped 2 places to complete practice in 4th, just ahead of Lamberto Collari in 5th. In the 40+ class it was veteran Italian racer Stefano Solaroli who headed practice by a substantial 9 tenths over 3 laps followed by German Shepherd driver Andreas Giesa in 2nd with Austrian Rudi Scherer 3rd, while reigning champion Arie Manten and Alain Levy complete the top 5.

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

April 26, 2019

Leo Arnold tops 1/10th seeding at ENS season opener

Leo Arnold is top seed for the 1/10th scale class at the ENS season opener in Bologna, the Xray driver improving on his CP1 time to go over 2 tenths quicker in his 2nd timed run. The Frenchman put his improvement down to changing to a shorter first gear which improved the drivability of his NT1. His team mate Alessio Mazzeo also improved his time but will stay as 3rd seed, behind Teemu Leino who failed to improve in the 2nd session having tried a different body shell but finding it much slower. Jilles Groskamp who was continuing experimenting with setup took 3rd in CP2 but being slightly slower than his CP1 time he ended practice 4th and will now revert to his setup from the final free practice session. The Shepherd trio of Melvin Diekmann, Eduardo Escandon and Thilo Todtmann complete the top 7 after practice.

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

April 26, 2019

Robert Pietsch heads first timed practice by large margin

In the opening timed practice for the 1/8th scale class it was former world champion Robert Pietsch who was the clear leader, the Mugen driver some 5 tenths up on his nearest rival over 3 laps. Francesco Tironi was the best of the rest, the Italian driver heading another former World Champion Simon Kurzbuch in 3rd, with Andrea Pirani and current World Champion Dario Balestri completing the top 5. Asked about his rather large advantage on his rivals, the German put it down to a number of factors such as his good working relationship with his mechanic and new engines from sponsor OS which he says has more power which together makes for a better overall package. Looking ahead he doesn’t plan to make any changes to his Mugen, instead focusing on his driving saying ‘the track is easy, but it also very easy to push too much and go wide, losing a lot of time’, continuing ‘my main focus is stay calm and drive smoothly’.

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

April 26, 2019

Teemu Leino tops CP1 in Bologna

Teemu Leino has topped the first of two controlled practice sessions here in Bologna for the 1/10th class, the Infinity driver making up one of a very close trio that was competed by the Xray pairing of Alessio Mazzeo and Leo Arnold. Split by less than 7/100ths, behind the top 3 was reigning class champion Jilles Groskamp, followed by the Shepherd trio of Melvin Diekmann, Thilo Todtmann and Eduardo Escandon completing the top 7 with the difference between first to seventh less than a second over 3-consecutive laps. Asked about how his practice has been so far, Leino simply said ‘good’, before elaborating saying that they have changed the car every run, but now it is the best it has been. Feeling there is still a little bit still to come he said his IF15 is very easy to drive and the setup they have is perfect for the final.

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April 23, 2019

Ryan Lutz wins 2019 DXR Dirt Kings race

The 2019 DXR Dirt Kings race was held held at the Harper Adams University in Shropshire, UK over the weekend, attracting some of the world’s fastest 1/8th nitro off-road racers. Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro would sweep the Nitro Buggy qualifiers with a clean 800 points score, followed by Agama’s Ryan Lutz in 2nd, tie on points with Kyosho’s Joao Figueiredo. New SWorkz signing, Elliott Boots and teammate Juan Carlos Canas would follow in 4th and 5th, again tie on points. The 45-minute main final than would see a very close outcome with Ryan Lutz taking a slim 2.5 seconds win from Davide in 2nd while Juan Carlos came in 3rd, only ten seconds behind Davide. Agama’s Burak Kilic and SWorkz’s Elliott Boots came in 4th and 5th, already two laps down.

Source: Nemo Racing [nemoracing.com]

April 18, 2019

Shepherd sign Rico Kröber

Shepherd have announced the signing of German 1/10th on-road specialist, Rico Kröber to their team. The former WRC Racing pilot will campaign Shepherd’s Velox V10 Nineteen 1/10th 200mm nitro kit both at national and international events and he has the following to say about the move:

I am proud to be able to start this season for Team Shepherd with my Velox V10 nineteen at national and international races. Already over the winter I was super integrated into the team and already worked out ideas and exchanged experiences. I’m looking forward to intensive testing, successful races, and working together in this great team. I would like to thank Thilo Tödtmann for his effort and Patrick Schäfer for the opportunity.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

April 17, 2019

Jessica Palsson teams up with LRP

LRP have announced the addition of Swedish off-road talent, Jessica Palsson to their electric team. Considered to be one of the fastest girls in RC, Jessica will be using LRP’s full line of motors, speedos and batteries to power her Kyosho 1/10th scale rides and she has the following to say about the deal:

Thanks to LRP and Jürgen to give me opportunity to be in your team! I really looking forward to work with you and to drive many races with LRP fantastic electric power!

Source: LRP [lrp.cc]

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