|
(click to enlarge) |
|
| Report by Philipp Buhler |
|
| On Monday and Tuesday we were able to test several settings on the car under perfect weather conditions. The basic setup worked already well, as did the engines. The open discussions of ideas within the team helped us to constantly improve and become even faster. On Wednesday it was wet until about 3 p.m., so we were only able to test few laps, but even under the new conditions we were in the top positions with our practice times. |
|
|
| On Thursday afternoon the qualifying started, after the first two runs I was in third position. On Friday morning, the track was repeatedly wet, the race director decided to adjust the program in order to be able to run dry qualifying runs. I was able to win the third qualifying run, but unfortunately it was dropped from the classification because the conditions were not identical for everyone. In the fourth qualifying run, the rear drive belt broke and I was out. In the fifth and last qualifying run my speed was not enough competitive, so I finished the qualifying in fourth place. Traugi won the qualification with a strong run and qualified directly for the main final! |
|
|
I was qualified for the Superpole. Before the begin of them, I made a smal set-up update, they had the desired effect, I won Superpole with a narrow lead of only 0.08 second, so I was qualified for the main final too.
On the day of the finals, the weather conditions were repeatedly difficult with rain in the morning. Despite an adjustment of the schedule, the first finals had to be started under wet conditions. From the ½ finals on, the conditions were good and dry again. After the start of the main final, Traugi was able to pull away immediately, I was in second place, closely followed by Jean-Baptiste Geneau and Sammy Pajalin. It was an incredibly exciting and very fair battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. After the second refuelling stop, there was a gap to Sammy, then I was suddenly in first place, closely followed by Jean-Baptiste. After about 15 minutes Jean-Babtiste lightly touched me and I turned, but he didn't continue drive, waited for me and gave me back the lead. What a gesture at such an event, this shows the fair conduct of a true gentleman! I was able to defend the lead until the tyre change. My pit crew did a great job and changed the tyres in a record-breaking short time. After the tyres changes from Jean-Baptiste and Traugi, I was back at the head with a comfortable lead of more than a lap! So I could safely drive home the victory without any risk and I won the EC 40+.
|
|
|
Congratulations to Traugi for second and to Jean-Baptiste for third place, it was a great and very fair race. The good team result is rounded off with the good fourth place of Juraj and the eighth place of Patrick, congratulations to Juraj and Patrick.
My NT1 as well as the FX engine worked perfect and my pit crew did a great job. Many thanks to T+M Models and to my pit crew for the excellent support! The event was well organized, a big compliment to the MRTM and the EFRA. |
|
