The last round of this yearâ™s 1/10th Dutch Nationals took place at the Raco2000 track in Utrecht. A track known for its ruff surface, where the car easily bumps off and gets out of control. Therefore, in practice its vital to find a comfortable setup and a decent rhythm. It was our 2nd visit of the year at this track, so people already had some information to contest the challenging surface.
On Sunday morning the already crowned Dutch National Champion Daan Jacobs ones again showed the great shape he is in this year by putting his 747 on pole for the final. A whole second clear from the rest of the field over the 3 best conservative laps. Behind Daan it were Sander Borghoff and Pedro Rombouts in 2nd and 3rd, within 0,1s from each other.
In the main final Pedro was very alert at the start and took the first place at the sprint for the first corner. Daan immediately countered back, but clipped a curb and found himself behind Pedro again. From there Pedro tried to stay in front until Daan had to do his first pit stop after 4 minutes, knowing he would be on a 5 minute strategy. This gave some great entertainment with both drivers driving heads to tail for a few minutes. Some 2 laps before the 4 minutes mark Daan managed to pass Pedro and take a few meters before he had to do his first pit stop.
(click to enlarge)
There he clipped a narrowing tire at the inside of the pit entry and broke his car, pulling him out of the race. From there Pedro already had a steady 1 lap lead over the rest of the field. Unchallenged in the rest of the race he took the win with a 3 laps lead over 2nd man Arco de Jong, who drove a decent final. In third it was Mitchell van Es who also did a fine job with his Xray NT1.
Final race results:
1. Pedro Rombouts â“ Xray NT1
2. Arco de Jong 3. Mitchell van Es â“ Xray NT1
4. Sander Borghoff 5. Jan Willem Gons â“ Xray NT1
6. Daan Stuiver
7. Daan Jacobs
In the total Nationals standings Pedro had to settle with the 2nd place, because Daan already secured the Title in round 4. Congratulations to Daan from my part.
Iâ™d like to thank Xray and RC Connect for their support this year.