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| Race report by Maxim Claes |
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| The European Championship "B" 1/10 began at the beautiful Lostallo track where last year the Worlds 1/8 was held. The race started with free practice on Monday, May 10 and continued until the first scheduled heats the following Friday. With 110 drivers from all over Europe, the competition level was set high early on. As track conditions improved, lap times kept getting lower and lower. However, bad weather prevented anyone from getting a lot of practice time. The weather was dry on Monday but on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning it was wet. Nearly everyone prepared a rain car and practiced in the rain to get some extra track time. |
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| The XRAY NT1 was the most frequently-used car. The XRAY Factory Team prepared special support (Bertram Kessler and Dirk Wischnewski), service, and of course gifts to all XRAY drivers. The Swiss distributor was at the event to provide help and support as well. The often-seen XRAY Service Van (arranged by well-known Gerhard Binder) was parked at the camping side for the entire event, giving exceptional service and support to all XRAY drivers from team drivers to private customers. |
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Qualifying started on Friday, and all drivers got one run on Friday and three runs on Saturday.
After the first qualification, the Top 10 went like this:
Top 10 after round 1 of 4:
1. Singer Manuel (AT) XRAY NT1
2. Claes Maxim (BE) XRAY NT1
3. Gassauer Patrick (DE)
4. Dulac Eduardo (PT) XRAY NT1
5. Wullyamoz Mathieu (FR)
6. Stammler Dirk (DE)
7. Leroux Quentin (FR)
8. Eytard Thomas (FR) XRAY NT1
9. Rombouts Pedro (NL) XRAY NT1
10.Born Daniel (CH) XRAY NT1
Six XRAY NT1 in the Top 10 ! |
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| The first qualification on Sunday was on a half-wet track, while the second and third runs were on a dry track. After the last qualification there were not many changes since the track was slower than on Friday. I made it and went directly into the main final. |
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Top 18 qualifiers now went like this:
1. Wullyamoz Mathieu (FR)
2. Barbera Guido (IT) XRAY NT1
3. Singer Manuel (AT) XRAY NT1
4. Claes Maxim (BE) XRAY NT1
5. Gassauer Patrick (DE)
6. Eytard Thomas (FR) XRAY NT1
7. Dulac Eduardo (PT)
8. Balk Simon (DE) XRAY NT1
9. Rausch Bernd (DE)
10. Zagni Marco (IT) XRAY NT1
11. Ossola Walter (IT) XRAY NT1
12. Stammler Dirk (DE)
13. Leroux Quentin (FR)
14. Born Daniel (CH) XRAY NT1
15. Baier Armin (DE)
16. Heim Marc (CH) XRAY NT1
17. Schär Traugott (CH) XRAY NT1
18. Kerry Joe (GB) |
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Then there were the lower finals. I began to prepare my car for the Top 4 practice on Sunday.
I tried a different set-up because my car on Friday was not so good. I tried different tires for the final (42° FR and 45 ° RR) but the car didnâ™t feel so good. My mechanic installed softer springs and then the car was perfect.
After the semi-finals the final grid went like this:
1. Wullyamoz Mathieu FR
2. Barbera Guido IT XRAY NT1
3. Singer Manuel AT XRAY NT1
4. Claes Maxim BE XRAY NT1
5. Stammler Dirk DE
6. Dulac Eduardo PT
7. Eytard Thomas FR XRAY NT1
8. Rausch Bernd DE
9. Balk Simon DE XRAY NT1
10. Schär Traugott jr. CH XRAY NT1 |
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The final race was expected to be thrilling with Team XRAY putting six cars on the starting grid, ready to battle for podium finishes.
For the first 6 minutes the final was dominated by the top racers from the B semi-final â“ Dirk Stammler and Thomas Eytard â“ with pre-qualified Guido Barbera and pole man Mathieu Wullyamoz battling for 3rd. But Eytard hit trouble as the clock hit the 10 minute mark, first stalling and then â“ clearly shaken â“ he crashed on the straight on his returning lap and fell to 5th place leaving fellow Frenchman Mathieu to hunt down Dirk Stammler for the lead.
Fortunately for Mathieu, at the 20 minute mark Dirk was forced to come in for a tyre change which took a minute and compromised his position. While Mathieu was nursing a half-lap lead on Thomas Eytard with Manuel Singer in 3rd, Dirk fell to 7th position. |
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| Approaching the halfway mark, the Brazilian representing Portugal - Eduardo Dulac â“ stalled and fell to last place with top 4 qualifiers Maxim Claes and Manuel Singer struggling to capitalize and fighting for 7th place. Half an hour in, Italian Guido Barbera stalled on his 74th lap and fell to 6th position. All the meanwhile, German Simon Balk had been quietly been working his way up from 9th on the grid to hold on to 3rd place whilst pole man Mathieu Wullyamoz and Thomas Eytard continue to battle hard for top position. Eytard took the lead briefly before slipping back to 2nd. |
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With 8 minutes remaining Mathieu lost his lead again to Eytard whilst refueling, but retook the lead quickly. However at around 98 laps the leader appeared to have a break in concentration⦠skidding out and flipping on his roof in quick succession.
In the closing minutes of the final, Guido Barbera made his break for a podium position after his earlier problems and chasing hard, and almost got into 3rd place but couldn't quite get past Dirk Stammler. Unfortunately, his race was over with a spin and a crash on lap 106.
As the race ended, the top three drivers were all on lap 116 with Mathieu taking 1st place ahead of Dirk Stammler by only 8 seconds! |
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| Final results: |
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1. Wullyamoz Mathieu (FR)
2. Stammler Dirk (DE)
3. Balk Simon (DE) XRAY NT1
4. Eytard Thomas (FR) XRAY NT1
5. Claes Maxim (BE) XRAY NT1
6. Singer Manuel (AT) XRAY NT1
7. Schär Traugott (CH) XRAY NT1
8. Rausch Bernd (DE)
9. Dulac Eduardo (PT)
10.Barbera Guido (IT) XRAY NT1 |
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My week was good with a directly placing into the main finale and a 5th place overall.
I was very happy with the performance of the car and my fast JP engine. Thanks go to my mechanics Alain Claes, Arco De Jong and Johnny De Smet and my sponsors: XRAY, RC connect, JP*GIMAR, Capricorn, Ghiant.com RC car colours. |
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