Last weekend the yearly BeNeLux EC10 Race was held for the 5th time by Mac de Baanbrekers in Rucphen, The Netherlands. The Formula 1 class was the largest one with 34 entries. Friday was a practice day and lot of drivers made use of it to train the whole day till 21.00 hr.
After the first laps I made some setup changes and tried again. The car felt better and better. Meanwhile Jitse Miedema also arrived and we helped each other with the setup of our cars. We tried a lot of things and at the end of the day we had a good setup to start with. My fastest laptime on Friday was 18.2 sec and Jitseâ™s laptime was 18.0 sec.
Saturday, qualifying time! Before qualifying there was a timed controlled practice. Jitse had some problems in the warming up laps, so he couldnâ™t start. After the controlled practice the top 5 was:
1. Olivier Bultynck
2. Steve Deblaere 3. Ron van Bergen - XRAY X1
4. Martijn van der Heijden - XRAY X1
5. Axel Kleingeld
On Saturday there were 4 rounds of qualifying and Sunday morning the last one. The system they used was points, round by round. Saturday the XRAY X1 worked very good using high downforce front wings. We helped each other and give many tips to other racers. Saturday night and Sunday morning the rain came down and the track was wet. The last qualifier was on a wet-ish track. Jitse showed everyone that the XRAY X1 is also good on a difficult track! He was the fastest on Saturday when we had a perfect dry track, but on a wet track with lots of dry spots he was unbeatable.
After all 5 rounds of qualifying the top 10 for the A-main was: 1. Jitse Miedema - XRAY X1
2. Olivier Bultynck
3. Steve Debleare 4. Ron van Bergen - XRAY X1
5. Martijn van der Heijden - XRAY X1
6. Danny Leewis
7. Marco Sakko
8. Marc Martens
9. Tony Vredenberg
10. Kevin van Leent
The First final was also on a very wet and slippery track with some standing water. Because of the track conditions most drivers didnâ™t start and some used their âśoldâť cars (converted to rain cars). Except, Jitse Miedema. He would win the final by nursing his X1 to the top spot.
The top 3 of this final was: 1. Jitse Miedema - XRAY X1
2. Marc Martens 3. Martijn van der Heijden - XRAY X1
After the first final round the track was drying fast and the sun was coming. Most drivers were preparing their cars for a dry race. The track conditions were good, some wet spots were still on the track but more rainy stories. In the end the dry-setups worked out the best. Ron van Bergen starting from 4th, was the one that took the right step with his car, and got very close to Jitse as the track was getting bone dry. But Ron didnâ™t had enough time left to attack Jitse for the top spot. After 5 minutes the order was:
1. Jitse Miedema - XRAY X1
2. Ron van Bergen - XRAY X1
3. Kevin van Leent
4. Marco Sakko 5. Martijn van der Heijden - XRAY X1
6. Marc Martens
7. Danny Leewis
8. Olivier Bultynck
9. Steve Deblaere
10. Tony Vredenberg
One final to go and it could be a full XRAY X1 podium. Jitse already secured himself the first place! So the 2 and third spot was to be decided in the last final.
We prepared the cars and the track was getting better and better. At the beginning of the third final Jitse had some problems with grip on his rear tires because he did not warm them enough. Martijn made a nice pass by Ron and start chasing Jitse. But by this time Jitseâ™s tires got warm and he could drive away to take the 3rd final. Martijn held the second spot. Ron had a nice battle with Danny Leewis. Danny passed Ron at the end of the race. After 5 minutes the finish order was:
1. Jitse Miedema - XRAY X1
2. Martijn van der Heijden - XRAY X1
3. Danny Leewis 4. Ron van Bergen - XRAY X1
5. Marc Martens
6. Kevin van Leent
7. Marco Sakko
8. Olivier Bultynck
9. Steve Deblaere
10. Tony Vredenberg
(click to enlarge)
After all 3 rounds of finals it was a full XRAY X1 podium! The overall results:
1. Jitse Miedema - XRAY X1
2. Martijn van der Heijden - XRAY X1
3. Ron van Bergen - XRAY X1
4. Marc Martens
5. Kevin van Leent
6. Danny Leewis
7. Marco Sakko
8. Olivier Bultynck
9. Steve Deblaere
10 Tony Vredenberg
