Having been delayed by bad weather for over a day & a half, the new Euro Nitro Series finally fired into life at the Hockenheimring in Germany this evening with the opening round of qualifying with Serpent’s Mark Green setting the pace in a very close 1:8 encounter ahead of Robert Pietsch and Michael Salven while in 1:10 Touring Xray’s Dirk Wischnewski was fastest from Freddy Sudhoff & Pedro Rombouts.
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Washed out by wet weather which caused the cancellation of controlled practice yesterday, competitors at the opening race of the new Euro Nitro Series again woke to rain this morning in Germany however at a drivers briefing held at 11:00 and lead by Race Director Uwe Rheinard it was agreed that racing will get underway later this evening. Forecasts for the area are showing that from 15:00 local time the weather is set to improve and based on this information it is hoped to be able to get racing underway on a dry track at 17:00 or earlier if conditions allow. Planning to run three rounds of qualifying today it was agreed to set a cut off time of 18:00 irrespective of the track conditions as to start any later would not leave enough time to fully complete three rounds of heats. Unlike the normal qualifying format used in onroad nitro which decides the grids on a drivers overall fastest time, the ENS will use the same round by round points system common to electric touring car racing which should, if the track is still drying, make for a fairer qualifying. With the weather for tomorrow, Sunday, giving a dry day it is planned to have a fourth round of qualifying with a driver counting their best two rounds from the four.
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Matrix Tyres in Italy have announced the signing of JJ Wang to their factory team. The young talented 15 year-old is the current reigning Chinese National Champion in both 1/10 and 1/8 GP and a member of the US National team competing in this year’s 1/8 Worlds Championship in Japan. After extensive testing at the Pre-Worlds, Matrix and JJ have formed this new partnership. JJ had this to say about the deal:
I want to thank Cristian at Matrix for his support during the Pre-Worlds and for giving me the opportunity to drive with Matrix. I enjoy working with Cristian on tyre testing in Japan and feel really good about using Matrix tyres for my 2013 race season as well as the upcoming Worlds.
Source: Matrix Tires [matrixtires.it]
Last weekend the Euros Warm-Up Race for EP touring cars took place at the Mini-Autodromo Track in Torres Novas, Portugal. Some of the best European drivers attended the race since the weather prediction for the weekend was really good and it was confirmed by some very high temperatures. Ronald Volker was the man to beat since he TQ’ed 4 out of 5 qualification heats and was just beaten in one round by the Awesomatix driver Viljami Kutvonen. In the finals the Ronald show continued and he won all 3 A-mains with Elliot Harper taking the runner up spot and Alexander Hagberg in 3rd.
The much anticipated new Euro Nitro Series will start a day later than originally planned as racers woke to a very wet morning in Hockenheim, Germany, leaving organisers no choice but to postpone Day 1 of the event which should have seen 5 rounds of controlled practice. With the weather down for the day and set to improve mid morning tomorrow, Saturday, it is hoped to be able to get the event officially underway at around lunchtime. Sunday’s weather is giving perfect conditions for racing. Despite this morning’s conditions one driver decided he could do with some wet practice, bravely taking to the track with his touring car but his first attempt on the soaked track lasted just two laps before the engine decided it had consumed enough water. Today’s weather is in total contrast to yesterday’s set-up day when the sun shown down on the home of Formula 1’s European Grand Prix with many drivers including most of the main contenders able to get in some track track time as the host club ran a day of open practice.
Team Awesomatix USA drivers dominated practice and qualifying in the 17.5T class of the 2013 Reedy Race of Champions by locking out the top 3 qualifying positions. The trio of Kyle Bergstrom, Austin Brumblay and Aaron Young where consistently faster than the competition running with speeds same speed as 13.5T. In A1, Kyle and Austin rocketed to a quick lead while Aaron ran into some trouble on the first lap. It was clear that Aaron had a dominant car as he drove back up through the field to eventually finish just behind Austin. The trio finish in qualifying order – Kyle, Austin and Aaron.
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The Reedy International Touring Car Race of Champions, shared the spotlight with NASCAR, IndyCar, and F1 over the Memorial Day weekend and while a field of international drivers which included World, European, U.S., and Canadian champions gathered to compete in the Invitational class there where also three Open TC classes and the debut of the F1 class. In the 13.5 Open class, AE/Reedy/LRP driver and TC6.1 WC designer Bob Stellflue set the pace throughout qualifying with fastest times in each of the four qualifying rounds. After winning A1, Bob unfortunately encountered some problems in A2 and A3, which dropped him to third overall in the final standings. Gonzalo Cortes, driving an identically prepared Reedy/LRP powered TC6.1 WC, was crowned as champion thanks to an impressive A3 win. A third Reedy/LRP-powered TC6.1 WC driven by Sean Maybell claimed the second step of the podium with a consistent run of second place finishes in all three legs.
Source: Team Associated [rc10.com]
Veteran onroad nitro racer and chassis designer Michael Salven has given the Euro Nitro Series a firm vote of confidence as final preparations are made for the opening race in the all new series for onroad nitro racing which takes place this weekend. A former World & multiple European Champion, the German said all the racers he has spoken to are very excited that the organisation behind the hugely successful Euro Touring Series are bringing their concept to nitro onroad and while they have high expectations he is confident the ENS will be a success and will put the ‘fun back into racing’ helping to revive the onroad nitro racing scene just like the ETS has done for electric touring cars.
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