Der erste Lauf zur belgischen Meisterschaft des Jahres 2019 fand am vergangenen Wochenende auf der Lovan-Indoor-Strecke in Alveringem statt. Der Club bot eine anspruchsvolle Strecke, welche genügend Griff bot.
Die Klassen blieben soweit unverändert wie F1 mit dem Scorpion-Reglers und Motor, Stock 13,5 der Muchmore-Combo und der neuen Fun 17,5-Klasse mit einem von T2M bereitgestellten Motor unverändert. In allen Klassen wurden die Volante-Reifen gefahren.
Forian Joos, der schon öfters auch in Deutschland bei Rennen gestartet ist, hatte ein gutes Rennen abgeliefert. Olivier Bultynck, der ETS-Spitzenreiter, gewann die Meisterschaft die letzten 10 Jahre. In den letzten 5 Jahren hat noch niemand ein Rennen in den belgischen Nats gewonnen, wenn Ollie teilgenommen hat. Mitchell Van belegte in den letzten 3 Jahren den zweiten Platz. Deswegen erstaunlich, dass Florian vor Oliver den Auftakt gewann.
Ergebnis Modified:
- Florian Joos – Xray T4
- Oliver Bultynck
- Mitchell Van Es
Stock Results
- Vincent Van Gansen – XRAY T4
- Giovanni Moguez – XRAY T4
- Stefan Rommens
Den ausführlichen Bericht findet ihr hier in der englische Version:
Race Report by Florian Joos
The first Belgian nationals of 2019 were held past weekend at the Lovan indoor track in Alveringem. The club provided the racers with a challenging track providing enough grip and a large pit area for a weekend of fun on and off the track.
The classes remained the same for 2019 with F1 using the Scorpion ESC and motor combination, Stock 13,5 the Muchmore combo and the new Fun 17.5 class with a spec motor provided by T2M. The modified class remained unchanged and all classes used the Volante tires.
I participated in the modified class. The competition was quite strong. Olivier Bultynck, the ETS front runner won the championship for the last 10 years. The last 5 years, no one has ever won a race in the Belgian nats if Ollie participated. Mitchell Van Es has been the runner up in the Belgian nats for the last 3 years and Steve Lambrechts and Rico Claeys, fellow Xray drivers are both previous champions.
I did however race on this track 3 weeks ago and my car was really awesome. Back then, I set the laprecord with a normal 7,4V stick battery. For the Belgian nats, we would keep the same setup, but installed the LCG battery holders for shorty batteries (X306195).
There was free practice on the Saturday evening, and the car was even better than last race. It was easier to drive and had much more corner speed. I improved the track record from 14.181 to 14.069. In the meantime, Oliver Bultynck found some more speed as well and smashed my lap record and brought it down to 13.989. My dad told me that we had a good car, and should not focus on single lap times anymore. We tested some tire sets and decided which tires to use for race day.
On the Sunday morning, we tested some more with additive and a different tire set, with which we lowered our lap time to 14.030. At that moment I really felt confident and was looking forward to the first qualifier.
Before the first qualifier, my dad rebuilt the shocks but noticed that there was still some air in the shocks. He said he will have to replace the bladder for next qualifier and that the car might feel a bit strange. In my warmup lap the car was very good and I knew I would set a fast time. I only had to start from P5 because I didn’t compete in all the rounds of the Belgian nats last year. Despite that, I quickly took the lead. After Ollie made a mistake I had a straightforward victory.
In Q2 Ollie was really fast and took the qualifier by 0.8 seconds. My dad replaced the 5000 diff with a 7000 diff (He checked it before on the Diff Checker from Monaco RC, which really is a handy tool) and the car was really perfect for Q3. I also won that round and took the overall TQ. This was the first time a TQ’d a modified round of the Belgian nats, so I was quite pleased with that J
The finals also went perfectly. In A1 I was a bit cautious and Ollie challenged me for the lead during the early laps. He hit me, but waited. I then refound some more speed and won A1. During A2 my car was also superb and I managed to win my first Belgian nationals.
Modified Results
- Florian Joos – Xray T4
- Oliver Bultynck
- Mitchell Van Es
To make my victory even sweeter, my fellow Xray teammates also did a great job as you can read here.
Although there weren’t that many entries in Stock 13,5T, the competition would still be strong as there were no less than 3 Belgian champions lining up on the grid.
Q1 went 2018 Belgian champ Giovanni Moguez’s way as he beat 2017 Belgian champ Vincent Van Gansen by a whisker. Former champ Stefan Rommens put his car in third, but he was 4 seconds adrift.
For Q2 and Q3 Vincent really upped his pace and took the overall TQ from Giovanni (both running Xray cars). P3 went to Stefan Rommens, but the star of qualifying was without any doubt young driver Alexander Van Gansen. Although Alexander was about 4 seconds off Stefan’s pace, his inspiring drive impressed many spectators. Xray driver Jeremy Deram rounded off the top 5.
Vincent and Giovanni were eager to fight for the first victory. When A1 started, it was clear that the battle was going to be fierce. Vincent strategy was based upon defending rather than attacking and this proved an error as Giovanni touched him coming onto the main straight. Giovanni sportingly waited, but Stefan Rommens already took the lead with Alexander in tow. Vincent and Gio were down the order and carving their way through the traffic when disaster struck again for Vincent. A back marker traction rolled onto the main straight and 3rd placed driver Xavier Debroye hit him hard while Vincent had to drive around the carnage, Gio retook P3. In the meantime, Stefan was consolidating his lead with Alexander Van Gansen following some 3 seconds further back. Then disaster struck for Stefan as a backmarker hit him and made his body collapse. Without any downforce, Alexander overtook him and was leading his first race for the Belgian nats. Giovanni was however not going to be sentimental about this and overtook Alex when he ran a bit wide over a kerb. Vincent in the meantime fought his way back to P3 and was waved through by his younger brother! Gio took A1 in front of Vincent, Alexander, a much gutted Stefan Rommens and Peter Degrande.
In A2, Gio again made a daring move and touched Vincents door. As Vincents was unsettled, he again waited while Stefan Rommens was accelerating like mad to grap P2. Vincent just held on to his lead while Gio was now in P3 behind Stefan. Gio clearly had the faster car, but Stefan kept his cool to claim P2 in front of Gio. Alexander and Xavier Debroye (Xray) rounded off the top 5.
For A3, Vincent changed his strategy and decided to attack instead of defend. This paid dividends as he was able to carry more corner speed and start to build a gap. For Gio, it was all or nothing and he tried to follow Vincents pace. Carrrying a bit too much speed through a corner, he traction rolled a gave Vincent the much needed break to claim A3 and the overall victory.
Stock Results
- Vincent Van Gansen – XRAY T4
- Giovanni Moguez – XRAY T4
- Stefan Rommens
The Fun class was won by the XRAY T4 of Rony Claeys and young Liam Van de Wouwer scored a great P2 in the F1 class, in front of the sister XRAY of Kris Vanbleu.
Quelle: teamxray
Weitere Links
Florian Joos siegt beim MRCZ Open International Race in Belgium
#mikanews