The first round of the 1/10th scale 200mm Dutch Nationals got underway last weekend at the Bumpy Groningen track in the north of the country. The weather was great for the entire weekend so on Saturday everyone had the opportunity to get everything prepared for the race on Sunday.
In qualifying, a new system was used for the first time; drivers had 4 minutes to make their 3 best consecutive laps to determine their start positions, with the top 5 qualifying directly into the main final. After all three qualification rounds were finished it was XRAY driver Pedro Rombouts who took the pole position by 0.25sec ahead of Daan Jacobs.
Qualification: 1. Pedro Rombouts - XRAY NT1
2. Daan Jacobs
3. Jurgen Geerligs
4. Ricardo van Dam
5. Remy Möller
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In the 1/2 final it was Sander Borghoff who took the win, 3 seconds ahead of NT1 driver Arco de Jong. Ruud schuitmaker took 3rd place with NT1 drivers Jurmin Etnel and Bas Geurts, after winning the 1/2 final, taking 4th and 5th to secure the last two main final places.
In Nomac (2nd) class it was Anre Schober who took home the victory with his NT1, 5 laps clean of the whole field.
In the main final everyone had a clean start, but in the second lap it went wrong when Daan tried to pass Pedro for the lead. The two clashed and a few other drivers got involved. After this accident Daan had to retire from the race. This gave the lead to Jurgen Geerligs who had started in 3rd. After a few laps, Jurgen still holding 1st place with Pedro coming back into 2nd with a small gap to Jurgen. During the next minutes things got interesting with Jurgen and Pedro using a different pit strategies. But it was Jurgen who had mechanical problems near the end of the race; he dropped back and ended 4th . This gave 2nd place to Ricardo van Dam who came back from a bad start. In the last few minutes, Ruud Schuitmaker was coming up to 3rd place after he made a tire stop during the final. After 30 minutes Pedro took the win by 3 laps ahead of Ricardo with Ruud taking 3rd a further lap back.
(click to enlarge)
Final results:
1. Pedro Rombouts â“ XRAY NT1
2. Ricardo van Dam
3. Ruud Schuitmaker
4. Jurgen Geerligs 5. Arco de Jong â“ XRAY NT1
6. Sander Borghoff 7. Jurmin Etnel â“ XRAY NT1
8. Bas Geurts â“ XRAY NT1
9. Remy Möller
10. Daan Jacobs
