Last weekend was the first round of the Nitro Swiss Championship for 1/10 200mm. All were excited to see how our NT1 cars would run here in Switzerland. The race was held on fast and difficult track in Zurich (Wallisellen).
On Saturday I arrived at the track at around 12 oâ™clock so I could test the NT1 during some rounds. In the afternoon was the track open for practice. Together with Traugott Schär we were looking for a more balanced car to make it run better. A tricky thing in Wallisellen is one S-curve that is run at full throttle in 2nd gear. Also we were aware of the tire wear problem so we tested harder tires on Saturday. At the end of day I was happy with my car, and could consistently run 15.5sec lap times.
pits (click to enlarge)
Qualification started on Sunday, but everybody was waiting to see what the weather would be like during the day (as the sky was cloudy), but luckily the weather was nice and warm with only a few raindrops.
After the first qaulification round was it clear that the NT1 would have a chance at being TQ. Beat Wälti was on pole and Traugott Schär was in 3rd place. In the second qualification round I tried a different setting but this was not good. In the third and last qualification round, Traugott had a super run and moved into 3rd place. After all qualification rounds there were six XRAY NT1 cars in the top 10.
The final started with pressure from Pesenti on the leader, but he made a little mistake and lost some time. During that time Traugott made the fastest laps, but he was turned on the roof by mistake when he was passing a slower car; he lost more than one lap. In the middle of the final, Dirk Stammer moved into 2nd place.
Final results: 1. Wälti Beat XRAY NT1
2. Stammler Dirk 3. Schär Traugott XRAY NT1
4. Felix Reto XRAY NT1
5. Moretti Giacomo XRAY NT1
6. Pesenti Mattia 7. Krebs Charly XRAY NT1
8. Wenger Martin XRAY NT1
9. Rieser Marco XRAY NT1
10. Amort Alexander
7 XRAY NT1 cars in top 10 (click to enlarge)
I want to thank my mechanic Tom for excellent service during the final, and Andy and Maurizio for the help on Saturday. T&M Models, HUDY and XRAY company for the support.
Next race round 2 will be held in Langentahl (Bern) on June 16/17, 2007.
