Round 4 of the Dutch Nationals was held in northern Netherlands on a bumpy but nice track at Groningen. The weather was perfect the entire weekend so on Saturday we practiced and prepared our cars for the mains on Sunday.
After the first two qualification rounds we saw Team XRAY driver Maarten van Lierop getting the top spot by 3 seconds ahead of his teammate Daan Jacobs. Maarten decided to use the last qualification run to try different tyres for testing to see if they would work for the finals. However, in round three XRAY driver Pedro Rombouts had a very clean run and took the pole position from Maarten by less than a second.
(click to enlarge)
Qualification results:
1. Pedro Rombouts XRAY NT1
2. Maarten van Lierop XRAY NT1
3. Daan Jacobs XRAY NT1
4. Sander Borghoff
5. Jurgen Geerlings 6. Bas Geurds XRAY NT1
7. Arco de Jong XRAY NT1
8. Jurmin Etnal XRAY NT1
9. Daan Stuiver XRAY NT1
10. Fedor Eskes XRAY NT1
Semi-finals:
In the semi-finals we saw a few XRAY drivers bumping up into the main. In Semi A it was Arco de Jong with his NT1 who won by 6 seconds ahead of NT1 driver Daan Stuiver followed by Jurgen Geerlings. In the other semi it was Jurmin Etnal who took a clear win ahead of Ingeborg Gommers and both took their NT1's into the main final.
Main Final:
The main final was going to be a very thrilling one in many ways for the top three XRAY drivers because they were very close in their lap times the entire weekend.
(click to enlarge)
Right after the start it was already very close racing between Pedro (who was able to hold the lead) and Team XRAY drivers Maarten and Daan. With these three drivers battling for the lead they were able to get away slight from the rest of the field. But after the third lap it was getting a bit messy in the front because they where so close to each other. With a very small mistake from Pedro, Daan was able to pass Pedro on the right for the lead but at the same time Maarten was also passing on the LEFT side of Pedro. But with an upcoming corner to the right, Maarten was taking the inside and was able to get out first followed by teammate Daan. After 15 minutes of racing, Maarten had already built up a lead of more than a lap ahead of Daan and Pedro, who were now battling for 2nd place and getting into trouble with each other.
Unfortunately, Maarten was having radio problems because of a loose antenna tube. With two minutes of racing left it was getting more and more thrilling. Maarten was still leading with radio problems, Daan was still in 2nd with major tyre problems, and Pedro was creeping up more and more. By this time Daan couldn't control his car anymore (with no more rubber on his tyres) and also with a loose front shock he dropped back to 4th place. In the last two laps it was getting very unlucky for teammate Maarten who was leading and Daan how was struggling to keep his car on the track. With Pedro less than 6 seconds behind, Maarten was on the straight right behind Daan; however, the difference in speed of the two cars on the straight was so that Maarten bumped into the rear of Daanâ™s car and Maartenâ™s car ended up rolling and on the roof. This was Pedroâ™s lucky break, and he won the race followed by Maarten by less than a second. Jurgen Geerlings finished 3rd.
(click to enlarge)
Final Results:
1. Pedro Rombouts XRAY NT1
2. Maarten van Lierop XRAY NT1
3. Jurgen Geerlings 4. Daan Jacobs XRAY NT1
5. Daan Stuiver XRAY NT1
6. Ingeborg Gommers XRAY NT1
7. Sander Borghoff
8. Mario Gerssen 9. Jurmin Etnal XRAY NT1
10. Arco de Jong XRAY NT1
The fifth round of the Dutch Nationals is one week after this race at the famous track in Heemstede the MACH. Pedro is leading the championship with still one round to go. Maarten holds overall 2nd place followed by teammate Daan Jacobs
