| Race Report by Florian Joos |
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The fourth round of the Dutch nationals was held on the fast and flowing track of MAC De Baanbrekers in Rucphen.
Saturday was open for free practice, and it was clear that the race would be a battle between the current championship leader Sidney Blokker his teammates Thomas Buijze and Govert Verbeke and the Xray cars of Rick Van den Akker and Florian Joos.
Probably thanks to the IFMAR 2020 Worlds that will be held at MACH Heemstede, the modified class saw a healthy amount of cars entered. As I am not a regular Dutch nationals participant I had to start in the first of the groups while the title protagonists were seeded in the second and faster group.
In the Dutch nationals, the spec tire is the Rush 36 tire. This tire is a bit faster than the more common Volante 36 but wears much more, especially on the high grip track of MAC De Baanbrekers.
During the first round of qualifications, I managed to improve the track record, with a 13.950. I also managed to grab the first TQ, just a second faster than Sidney. Govert, Rick and Eddie Rombouts (Xray) completed the top 5.
My dad and I made an error before Q2. As Rucphen has many left hand corners, we switched the left tires to the right and vice versa. This proved to be a bad decision as I had a bad opening lap and lost 1.5 seconds in it. In the end I lost Q2 by .5 of a second to Sidney.
Q3 would decide the overall ranking. After a spring and bumpsteer adjustment and also a different tire preparation, my car was again on rails as I managed to TQ the last round by 2 seconds from Sidney. Sidney struggled a bit more on third run tires then me. Govert, Rick and Eddie Rombouts concluded the top 5.
The start order would be, Florian Joos, Sidney Blokker, Govert Verbeke, Rick Van den Akker, Eddie Rombouts.
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Perhaps the cleverest driver of the finals was Rick Van den Akker. He knew that on sheer pace, it would be difficult to beat the 3 cars in front of him. He checked his laptimes and the times of the drivers behind him and decided to take a huge gamble. Instead of bolting a new set of tires on his car, he decided to use his qualification tires for the first final.
My dad decided I could not do a warmup lap before the final in order to save the tires. My car was very tricky to drive during the first 3 laps. Sidney took full advantage and overtook me with a great maneuver, but I passed him again on the next corner. We fought hard and started to pull clear of the field. Rick was holding on to his P4 and made a bit of a queue behind him.
The race for the front raged on, while Govert fell victim of a lapped driver and had to withdraw his car. Unfortunately mayhem would strike again. I had lost the lead, but squeezed the nose of my car on the inside of Sidney on the full throttle start/finish straight. Sidney went for the ideal line and our cars crashed hard. The outcome of this spectacular final was Sidney in P1, followed by Florian, Rick, Robin Maas, who came from P7 and Eddie Rombouts.
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Final 2 proved to be as exciting. I took the holeshot while Sidney had a bad moment in the start. This allowed Govert to pass him and take P2. Unfortunately for Govert, his car was still a bit tweaked after the crash and his car ended up in the grass the lap afterwards. This promoted Rick to P3 and he started to fully exploit his new tires. Lapping some .2 per lap faster than the cars in front of him, he started to challenge Sidney for P2. This gave me some breathing room as I decided to take it a bit calmer in order to save my tires. Rick was however the man in form and he managed to pass Sidney. On the penultimate lap, Sidney made an error and fell back into Govertâ™s claws, but he managed to hold on to his p3 position. Rick and I were the only two drivers who made the extra lap.
One of the backmarkers thought the race was over and remained in the middle of the track while Rick and me were still going full throttle. The back marker collided with my car, but I only lost 1.5 seconds and didnâ™t have to be marshaled. Rick gave it all but he finished just .1 of a second behind me.
A3 would prove to be another spectacular race. Before the start, my father shorted my new Hobbywing speed controller. I could clearly smell the burnt electronics on the drivers podium while my dad tried to solve the problem. Fortunately the new Hobbywing ESC is protected against a short circuit and only the capacitor melted. My dad switched the battery around and I took my position on the grid.
At the start, Govert again had a small mishap and Rick benefited from his problem. Rick set off to challenge Sidney for P2. What ensued was a lap after lap battle for P2. Rick clearly exploited his new rubber to the maximum and he managed to squeeze the nose of his Xray in the tiniest of gaps that Sidney left. Sidney fought back hard and retook his position time after time again. On lap 17, both cars hit each other a bit too hard and Sidney had to be turn marshalled. Sidney was a bit gutted and he was passed as well by Govert. I took a popular victory and was extremely happy that my speedo still worked perfectly.
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| Modified Results |
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1. Florian Joos â“ XRAY T4
2. Sidney Blokker
3. Rick Van den Akker â“ XRAY T4
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| My next race is the TOS in Meckenheim on a small and technical track. I will race there in order to qualify for the German nationals in early August. |
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