The Nordic Championship took place in Gothenburg on June 3-6, and it was also a Euros warm-up race for the 1/10th scale class. The race was attended by 65 drivers: 45 drivers in the 1/10th nitro touring class, and 20 racers in the 1/8 on-road class. This Nordic Championship was attended by several big name XRAY driver, including current European Champion Dirk Wischnewski, Alex Hagberg, Manuel Huber, Martin Hudy and also current Junior Indoor European Champion in 1/10 TC Adrian Berntsen.
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The weather was perfect for the entire weekend, so a lot of testing was done during free practice on Thursday and Friday. The race began on Saturday morning and all XRAY cars were very fast. At the end it was Dirk that set the TQ pace from the first round; together with Hagberg they were the only drivers to complete 28 laps in the qualification. Manuel Huber set the fastest lap with a laptime of under 15 seconds.
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After four rounds of qualification:
1. Dirk Wischnewski (GER) XRAY NT1
2. Alexander Hagberg (SE) XRAY NT1
3. Manuel Huber (AT) XRAY NT1
4. Adrian Berntsen (NO) XRAY NT1
5. Tom Erik Haaversen (NO) XRAY NT1
6. Mikael Fransson (SE)
7. Martin Cristensen (DK)
8. Per-Ola Hard (SE)
9. Teemu Saarinen (FI)
10. Alexander Andersson (SE)
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The main final started on the Sunday afternoon and the weather and asphalt condition were again perfect. From the beginning, pole-sitter Dirk Wischnewski took the lead with Hagberg and Huber close behind. (All three XRAY drivers are also Euro 2009 podium finishers so we all expected a great battle and drama during the race.) Right from the beginning they were a lot faster and pulled away from the rest of the field. Fourth direct qualifier Adrien Berntsen had some problems with his car and was in the pit for long time, costing him the chance to battle for the podium. Manual Huber had problems before the first pitstop because his car ran out of fuel so he lost a lot of time.
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Dirk as still in the lead, closely followed by Alex. They gave a great show because they were driving very closely together and changing position several times. By the halfway mark they were leading by 3 laps over Christensen. But after 35 minutes, Alex and Dirk started to have problems as their tires began to wear out. A few minutes later both cars started to spin around and were almost impossible to drive. Alex, after some laps where he struggled on the track, decided to go into the pits for a tire change but Dirk stayed on the track to try to keep his position. This helped Martin Christensen who was now in the lead, followed by Helge Johannessen. Alex Hagberg returned to the race in 3rd position and the final ended in this order:
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1. Martin Christensen (DK)
2. Helge Johannessen (NO) 3. Alexander Hagberg (SE) XRAY NT1
4. Bengt Andersson (SE) 5. Frank Andersen (NO) XRAY NT1
6. Manuel Huber (AT) XRAY NT1
7. Tom Erik Haaversen (NO) XRAY NT1
8. Teemu Saarinen (FI) 9. Dirk Wischnewski (GER) XRAY NT1
10.Adrien Berntsen (NO) XRAY NT1
This race did not end very well for Team XRAY, however all drivers showed good performance and all are very well prepared for the upcoming Euro Championship. Good luck to everyone!
