|
(click to enlarge) |
|
| Race report by Adrian Berntsen |
|
Round 4 of the Norwegian Winterseries was held during the February 19-20 weekend at the big sportshall in the small village of Spydeberg, which is 50 km south-east of Oslo. We saw a 600m2 track with the same layout as was used at the Nordic Championship held earlier this season (November 2010). The only difference was that we now used white and red corner dots to mark the corners better. There were 43 drivers in three classes: 1/10 Touring Modified, 1/10 Pro Stock, and 1/12 scale. We drove three qualification rounds with the âśbest out of threeâť system.
As Q1 started, I had the fastest pace and made it 26 laps @ 5:01:187, ahead of the two XRAY drivers Tom Erik Haaversen (2nd) and Joakim Nicolaisen (3rd) who had 26 laps @ 5:20:783 (expected that he had finished) and 25 laps @ 5:00.092 respectively. Petter Berntsen, the one of the top 3 favorites before the race, had big problems with his differential which forced him to retire from the race after only 1 minute of racing.
For Q2, I felt early on that I had a good run going. I pushed maximum to try to get a 27 lap run. Except from one mistake, every lap was between 11.2â“11.6 sec. At the end I finished with 27 lap @ 5:10:192, which was going to be the TQ time. Young XRAY drivers Joakim Nicolaisen and Petter Berntsen had their fastest rounds, with Joakim in 2nd (26 laps @ 5:09:659) and Petter in 3rd (26 laps @ 5:09:735). This time Petter also had problems with his differential in the last 5 laps, which allowed Joakim to pass him. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
In the Q3 I started even better and drove every single lap under 11.5 sec. Unfortunately I crashed after 14 laps and had to retire. Petter Berntsen had problems with his differential and had to retire after 6 laps. Since both Petter and I had to retire, Tom Erik Haaversen took the win with 26 laps @ 5:09:588, which gave him 2nd starting spot for the final, only 0.01sec ahead of Joakim who would start in 3rd, and 0.02sec ahead of Petter who would start in 4th (due to his problems during qualifying).
Top 10 after qualifying:
1. Adrian Berntsen XRAY T3â™11
2. Tom Erik Haaversen XRAY T2â™008
3. Joakim Nicolaisen XRAY T3â™11
4. Petter Berntsen XRAY T3â™11
5. Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen
6. Oivind Stusdal XRAY T3
7. Mathias Rud XRAY T3
8. Georg Ellingsen XRAY T3â™11
9. Bjorn-Ivar Haug XRAY T3â™11
10. Oskar A. Fjeld XRAY T3
Since I was approx. one lap ahead of 2nd place after qualifying I was confident before the finals. My goal was not just to win, but to drive 5 minutes without any mistakes because this was my last event before the EC in Hrotovice.
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
As the first final started, I quickly made a big gap ahead of 2nd place which just got bigger and bigger every lap. Petter Berntsen, starting from 4th position, overtook Joakim Nicolaisen in 3rd pretty early to start putting pressure on Tom Erik in 2nd. When Petter easily came up behind Tom Erik in 2nd, Tom Erik went wide to allow Petter to pass him. Tom Erik now had to control his 3rd positon since Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen also was driving fast. In the end I cruised to victory in final leg 1 with a gap of 7 seconds ahead of Petter Berntsen in 2nd, Tom Erik finished in 3rd.
The second final was going to be a fun and interesting final. At the start of the final both Tom Erik and I both got a stop-and-go penalty which we were supposed to have. Because of this we both lost 5 seconds to Petter B who now had a big lead. I did my very best to try to catch up to Petter and when we had been driving 2-2.5 minutes I was right behind him trying my very best to put pressure on him. Petter stayed calm until the second last lap when he hit the corner dot a disappeared off the track. This gave me the victory in the second final and also take the overall win! Petter finished 2nd and had a strong chance to take 2nd place overall, while Joakim finished 3rd in this final.
Before the third and last final, Joakim, Petter, and Tom Erik all had a chance to take the overall 2nd place. Joakimâ™s and Tom Erikâ™s only chance to get 2nd place overall was to win this last final. Petter had already two 2nd place finishes so he only had to beat the two other guys to make sure he would finish 2nd overall. As the final started, I again pulled away. Tom Erik kept 2nd position for a while, but Joakim made an early mistake to let both Petter and Kjell Gunnar pass him. Petter again managed to come from 4th starting position up to 2nd place when the final ended. Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen took 3rd place, while Tom Erik dropped down to 4th.
This made following overall result: |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
1. Adrian Berntsen XRAY T3â™11
2. Petter Berntsen XRAY T3â™11
3. Tom Erik Haaversen XRAY T2â™008
4. Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen
5. Joakim Nicolaisen XRAY T3â™11
6. Oyvind Stusdal XRAY T3
7. Georg Ellingsen XRAY T3â™11
8. Mathias Rud XRAY T3
9. Bjorn Ivar Haug XRAY T3â™11
10. Oskar A. Fjeld XRAY T3 |
|
