|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
The 1/10 Nitro Touring Car 2010 European Championship took place at the VAST 8 track in Gothenburg, Sweden. The weather was less than ideal and the forecast was not good at all. Many top European racers attended, including three Worldâ™s finalist from this year: Marc Rheinard, reigning European Champion Dirk Wischnewski, and Robert Pietsch. Team XRAY was very well represented and the list of drivers would be too long to list, but here are a few:
⢠Martin Hudy, Team XRAY Slovakia
⢠Juraj Hudy, Team XRAY Slovakia
⢠Dirk Wischnewski, Team XRAY Germany
⢠Alex Hagberg, Team XRAY Sweden
⢠Teemu Leino, Team XRAY Finland
⢠Adrian Bernsten, Team XRAY Norway
⢠Anthony Bruyer, Team XRAY France
⢠Jerome Renaux, Team XRAY Belgium
⢠Manuel Huber, Team XRAY Austria
⢠Francesco Martini, Team XRAY Italy |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| The European Championship event is very long but has lots of practice so everyone gets enough track time to work not only on the car but also on the engine, clutch and everything else. From the first day the XRAY Support Team was at the track and arranged for spare parts availability, and as usual all XRAY drivers received a free support package loaded with basic suspension spare parts, new XRAY T-shirt and towel, as well as a set of stickers. Support and service was at the very highest level (as expected from XRAY) and thanks to ongoing product development and professional service & support the NT1 was the most popular car at the race. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| Practice ran from Mondayâ“Thursday and the drivers looked to find their ideal setup, however the weather was not good as from time-to-time because it rained. It was free practice, but on Friday morning they started two controlled practice sessions to begin the proper qualifying format, followed by the opening ceremony before qualifying. XRAY Belgian racer Jerome Renaux appeared to be the quickest of the drivers during the first practice runs. Many drivers used XRAY NT1 alu lightweight pulleys to reduce rotating mass which not only helps the overall weight of the car but helps with the responsiveness of the drivetrain. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
On Friday afternoon they started the qualifications and the weather was good, however racers in Group 5 had their run stopped because of rain but it was re-run again after Group 11. Most of the XRAY drivers had very good times and the best of all was German XRAY driver Dirk Wischnewski who TQâ™d the first round of qualification, Martin Hudy had bad luck as right from the start his engine was not working properly â”caused by broken fuel tube â” so he made only a few laps.
Top 10 after Round 1:
1. Dirk Wischnewski (DE) â“ XRAY NT1
2. Martin Christensen (DK)
3. Marc Rheinard (DE)
4. Robert Pietsch (DE)
5. Mark Green (GB)
6. Alexander Hagberg (SE) â“ XRAY NT1
7. Adrian Berntsen (NO) â“ XRAY NT1
8. Manuel Huber (AT) â“ XRAY NT1
9. Crister Andersson (FI)
10. Jilles Groskamp (NL) |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| The second round of qualification went without any improvements amongst the front runners as the rain arrived and made the track too slippery to set a fast time. However, some racers (including Daniele Ielasi, Martin Hudy, Jerome Renaux, and Patrick Schaefer) took this opportunity to go on track and test under wet conditions as the weather was not looking good for the rest of the weekend. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
On Saturday the schedule called for two more rounds of qualification, but the rain fell on-and-off so most drivers were unable to improve their times. As such, Dirkâ™s TQ run from round 1 gave him pole position and was one step closer to retaining his title that he won in Italy last year.
Top 18 Qualifiers:
1. Dirk Wischnewski (DE) â“ XRAY NT1
2. Martin Christensen (DK)
3. Marc Rheinard (DE)
4. Robert Pietsch (DE)
__________________________________
5. Mark Green (GB) â“
6. Alexander Hagberg (SE) â“ XRAY NT1
7. Adrian Berntsen (NO) â“ XRAY NT1
8. Manuel Huber (AT) â“ XRAY NT1
9. Crister Andersson (FI)
10. Jilles Groskamp (NL)
11. Kyle Branson (GB)
12. Michael Salven (DE)
13. Mikael Fransson (SE)
14. Francesco Martini (IT) â“ XRAY NT1
15. Teemu Leino (FI) â“ XRAY NT1
16. Daniele Ielasi (IT)
17. Frank Andersen (NO) â“ XRAY NT1
18. Adam Catchpole (GB) |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| After the qualification rounds, they started the lower finals. Unlucky Martin Hudy started from last position as he had made just one qualification run in which he had the broken fuel tubing. There were many good drivers in the lower finals â” although many had bad luck due to bad weather conditions â” so we all expected some good battles in the lower finals. Martin Hudy bumped up from the last 1/128 final to the semi-final. Martin should have had no problem bumping up into the final because he had already moved from 8th to 2nd place after the first pit stop. Unfortunately he ran out of the fuel only a few meters before the timekeeping line when he was on his way into the pits. The lap in which his engine stopped was 51 seconds which resulted in a loss of more than 2 laps. Martin pushed hard and moved to 4th place and missed the final by less than 4 seconds. (So in total, Martin drove 7 finals which was nearly 3 hours of racing in two days.) Juraj Hudy made an impressive run when he bumped up from 1/64 final to 1/8 final. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
Five other XRAY drivers bumped up into the main final, including Alexander Hagberg, Frank Andersen, Manuel Huber, Teemu Leino and Gerard Kandelhart. This made a total of six XRAY cards in the final.
The final started on Sunday afternoon and right from the start Dirk Wischnewski and Martin Christensen were battling for the lead. Dirk had a problem with his glowplug which caused him flame out and that put Martin Christensen into the lead. Dirk started to make the fastest lap times to minimize his disadvantage, however he was already 3 laps behind. Alex Hagberg was racing without any mistakes or flameouts so he was in 2nd position. From the start, Teemu Leino and Gerard Kandelhart had problems with their cars. As Martin Christensen did not make any mistakes and was racing consistently, he won this race followed by Alex Hagberg and Robert Pietch. Dirk Wischnewski ended up in 4th place followed by Frank Andersen, Manuel Huber and Teemu Leino (in 5th, 6th and 7th places, respectively) as all had their own problems that kept them from being higher up at the sharp end of the field. Austrian driver Gerhard Kandelhart was disqualified after the race for his rear wheel being too wide and so ended the race in 10th position. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
| Final results |
|
1. Martin Christensen
2. Alexander Hagberg â“ XRAY NT1
3. Robert Pietsch
4. Dirk Wischnewski â“ XRAY NT1
5. Frank Andersen â“ XRAY NT1
6. Manuel Huber â“ XRAY NT1
7. Teemu Leino â“ XRAY NT1
8. Daniele Ielasi
9. Marc Rheinard
10. Gerhard Kandelhart â“ XRAY NT1
XRAY would like to thank Alex Hagberg for bringing home the European Vice-Champion title and Dirk Wischnewski for TQ and all XRAY drivers for an excellent job! |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
