Last weekend the 2nd round of Swiss nationals was held on the technical track at Herblingen. Its always difficult to find a good setup on this rough tarmac. But our basic setup worked very well and I was fastest during the free practice rounds. After a few small setup changes I was able to drive consistent lap times. So my car was ready for the qualifications.
I could manage to win all four rounds of qualifications and secure the TQ ahead of my teammate Traugott Schar. Martin Wenger and Stefan Wuthrich were the fastest two drivers during the Super Pole.
For the 45 minute long A-main we had totally 5 NT1 in the starting grid. The final went perfect for us. I was able to make a gap of 4 laps to second place. With Traugott sitting in second, my dad Roland on P3 and Stefan Wuthrich in 4th position we had an Xray 1 to 4 lead. After 37 minutes the time keeping had a power cut. It was strange, when the power came back, there were no lap times on the screen. Not a single lap of the final was counted. The race director decided to race the final one more time, but only for 30 minutes. Because we lose so much time on the time schedule with this issue. We had 45 minutes to prepare our car for the second final and everything was settled back to zero.
My car and engine were still on point in this final. So I could pull away from the rest of the field after a few laps and I was able to control the race. At the end I won the race with two lap's advantage - TQ, fastest lap and win!
My teammates Traugott Schar and Stefan Wuthrich finished the race on P2 and P3, so we had a full Xray podium! Congratulations to both of you!
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I'm very sorry for my dad. He was 3rd in the A main final. After the timing problems he was again on P4. But his race was finished after a technical issue after 23 minutes.
My FX T300 engine was just perfect! The engine ran faultless the whole weekend with the maximum of performance!
A big thank you goes to my wife Sue. You did, like always, a perfect job in the pits. Due to the new rules, that allows only one mechanic per driver, it's even more important to have a good mechanic in the pit lane. You did one more time the fastest tyre change in the final - just perfect!
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1/10 nitro results:
1. Patrick Fankhauser - XRAY NT1
2. Traugott Schar - XRAY NT1
3. Stefan Wuthrich - XRAY NT1
Now it's time to prepare everything for the next round in 3 weeks at Langenthal.
At least I would say thank you to Traugott Schar and Monika Ackermann from T+M Models for the fantastic support. With your experience you made my package better and faster from race to race!
