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The 2010 Norwegian Championship was held at Hverven Bukta Raceway in Oslo (August 7-8) on their newly-paved racetrack, which was the venue for the 1/8th scale IC Euros back in 2003. The new ashpalt gave us a faster track than ever before with very good grip, but also a lot of tire wear. So, the big question was what we were gonna do in the finals.
After the first qualifying round I claimed the TQ with a 30 lap run @ 7:07:149 ahead of Helge Johannesen (2nd), XRAY driver Tom Erik Haaversen (3rd) and XRAY driver Werner Ersland (4th).
The track was faster for the second run, and both Helge and I were both having a faster run than I had in the first run. However, a mistake by me made me lose 7 seconds so Helge claimed the fastest run so far in the event with a 30 lap run @ 7:05:104. Georg Ellingsen also improved his first run by putting the 4th fastest overall run after 2 of 5 rounds of qualifying. |
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For the third round nobody improved their best time due to the higher weather conditions and lower track grip, so there were no changes in the top 4 spots overall.
The 4th and last runs on Saturday were going to be the fastest, so I changed my set-up by putting softer springs in the front. This gave me more steering and I managed to get both the fastest lap time of the whole event as well as getting the TQ run. I drove 30 laps @ 7:01:222, which was 3 seconds faster than Helge J in 2nd. XRAY driver Tom Erik Haaversen took 3rd (3 seconds behind Helge), and XRAY driver Georg Ellingsen claimed the 4th and last spot to go directly into the main final.
No one drove faster in the 5th and last qualifying round on Sunday, so there where no changes in the results.
The Top 10 after qualifying were:
1. Adrian Berntsen XRAY NT1
2. Helge Johannesen
3. Tom Erik Haaversen XRAY NT1
4. Georg Ellingsen XRAY NT1
5. Frank Andersen XRAY NT1
6. Werner Ersland XRAY NT1
7. Morten Thorkildsen XRAY NT1
8. Petter Solvberg
9. Joakim Nicolaisen XRAY NT1
10. Bjorn Dahl XRAY NT1
After the semi-finals were done, here was the starting lineup for the final:
1. Adrian Berntsen XRAY NT1
2. Helge Johannesen
3. Tom Erik Haaversen XRAY NT1
4. Georg Ellingsen XRAY NT1
5. Werner Ersland XRAY NT1
6. Bjorn Dahl XRAY NT1
7. Petter Solvberg
8. Frank Andersen XRAY NT1
9. Oyvind Andersen
10. Joakim Nicolaisen XRAY NT1
Before the final, nobody was sure what shore tires to use, what size, and so on. Tire wear for the qualifiers was quite high. I had been testing 42â“45SH tires during practice earlier this week and I knew that this gave nearly the same pace (only 0.1sec slower than 37-40SH) but I still didn't knew if it was possible to drive the finals on 1 set. Anyway, I decided to run the 42-45SH tires, Helge J ran 40-45SH, while Tom Erik and Georg decided to run 37-40SH and go for tire change.
At the start of the final my car almost spun out off the track, but I managed to keep it on the track and block Helge going into the first corner. It was me, Helge and Tom Erik in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd that pulled away from the rest of the pack, and we quickly got a big lead. Tom Erik ran on 37-40SH and had a much higher pace than us, so when he first could pass Helge on the inside, he quickly got up close behind me and started trying to put pressure on me. I managed to keep calm, but Tom Erik made a perfect pass on me in the corner after the end of the straightaway. Since I knew I couldn't drive the same pace as him, he got a big lead and kept this up until his rear belt fell off. Now I had a big lead because Helge had gone off the track. Unfortunately for him, his motor also stopped. XRAY driver Georg Ellingsen, even though he had been in for tire change, manage to pass Helge and take over 2nd place after Helges had numerous motor stoppages
I just ran smoothly to the finish and my car just kept feeling better and better, so my fastest laptime came after approximately 30-35 minutes.
After 45 minutes I could easily cruise to victory, 5 laps ahead of XRAY driver Georg Ellingsen in 2nd. Helge and Joakim was battling for 3rd place until the end, but it was Helge that took Joakim by only 0.6 seconds. Young, talented XRAY driver Joakim Nicolaisen made his best performance this year; we will definitely see more from this guy later! |
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| Final standing: |
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1. Adrian Berntsen XRAY NT1
2. Georg Ellingsen XRAY NT1
3. Helge Johannesen
4. Joakim Nicolaisen XRAY NT1
5. Oyvind Andersen
6. Frank Andersen XRAY NT1
7. Bjorn Dahl XRAY NT1
8. Petter Solvberg
9. Werner Ersland XRAY NT1
10. Tom Erik Haaversen XRAY NT1
I would like to thank my sponsor XRAY. My car worked perfectly throughout the entire event and it was fast and easy to drive. |
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