Round 4 of the Dutch Championship was held on the weekend of July 26/27, being held for the second time at the Baanbrekers Rucpen circuit.
Qualification
Sunday morning it was really warm especially for a Dutch man. We start our qualification with 28°C temperatures and later in the day it was over the 34°C and for Holland that’s warm! There were three qualification runs, and it was Team XRAY who dominated the qualification not only in the National class but also in the Nomac class.
Nomac class:
In the Nomac class it was Ricardo Dam who claimed pole position on his home track. Home driver Ingeborg Gommers − the lady in this race − did a good job and set the second fastest time. Jurmin Etnel put himself into third spot.
Top 4: 1. Ricardo van Dam XRAY NT1
2. Ingeborg Gommers XRAY NT1
3. Jurmen Etnel XRAY NT1
4. Ricardo Hofmeijer
XRAY finalists from both classes (click to enlarge)
National class:
In all three rounds, Maarten and I were 2nd and 1st!
So after the qualification runs we (Team XRAY) were happy to see that the first spots were NT1 cars!
Top 4: 1. Daan Jacobs XRAY NT1
2. Maarten van Lierop XRAY NT1
3. Ruud Schuitmaker
4. Jurgen Geerligs
podium Nomac (click to enlarge)
Nomac Final:
In the Nomac Final it was Ricardo van Dam who set his TQ in a win. Ricardo van Dam drove a consistent final, without any mistakes. At the beginning of the final there was a battle between Ingeborg and Jurmen for the 2nd place, but after 4 minutes they crashed with each other and Jurmen’s exhaust was flattened. Finally Ingeborg finished 2nd and Ricardo Hofmeijer finished 3rd.
Results - Nomac: 1. Ricardo van Dam XRAY NT1
2. Ingeborg Gommers XRAY NT1
3. Ricardo Hofmeijer
4. Rik Meijeren
5. Dave de Ruiter 6. Bern Kleinsteuber XRAY NT1
7. Theun Zouthout 8. Jurmen Etnel XRAY NT1
9. Peter Verkerk
10. Remco Paap
podium National (click to enlarge)
National final:
After the start I drove away from the field and after 10 minutes I had a gap of more than 1 lap on the field. Maarten had an accident by the start, but he fought back to the front, and after 10 minutes he was back into 2nd place.
But then the race control stopped the race due to a computer failure. And the rules say you must drive the final over if you don’t have past 75% of the race. So we had to prepare our car again and make some new tires. It was a little disappointing, but what can you do?
We restarted the race again, and again it was a good start for me. Again I had more than a lap lead after 10 minutes. Pedro moved up to 2nd place and took his first podium finish in the National class. Niels Pourchez joined the podium in 3rd. There were three guys under the 20 on podium! Maarten had some radio problems, but he kept his head cool and drove to 4th place.
