Rob Janssen / TM E4RS III finishes 2nd at last round of Netherlands Championship and get the National Title !!

Team Magic / HRC Factory Driver obtains a great 2nd place at last round of Netherlands national championship; and get his first title of Dutch National Champion in modified category.

Rob Janssen / TM E4RS III finishes 2nd at last round of Netherlands Championship and get the National Title !!

A very good result for a small structure like TM / HRC ! Very good job, well deserved by Rob, who worked all the year on the right way to find good setups for his TM E4RS III.

Congratulation Rob !! Thank you !!

Original report of Rob Janssen:

The nationals were held at the biggest/fastest track we have here in the Netherlands. Normally I prefer smaller / more difficult tracks. But it went very well, right from the practices on Saturday. Very soon I found out it would be very difficult to beat local hero Mitchell v. Es (who ended 2nd this year at the Nationals).

I kept trying to improve my driving and the car on Saturday and was able to really make the gap between Mitchell and me closer and closer. At the end of the day I came to 1 tenth in terms of fast lap times which made me happy ! On a 5 minute run I was slightly more behind due to his more constant fast lap times. The gap was around 4 seconds. The major thing I changed at the car to close the gap was running less toe-in (1.4°) at the rear for more corner-speed in the high speed corners (the rear of the car was stable enough to do this) and I changed to the new Team Magic prototype progressive range of springs. This gave the car slightly more bite and and more steering in the high speed corners (more pressure on the tires) but still stable enough in the few slow corners. For sure i’m gonna try these springs on my local track next Saturday ! First impression is really good.

On Sunday, qualification started on a dampy track and I decided to sit out Q1 as i felt the track would be faster in Q2. I thought this could help me to close the gap to Mitchell as he went out in Q1 on his new tires. Unfortunately in Q2 the timekeeping started the clock after we already did 3 laps which resulted of me running out of battery in the last lap which costed me a few tenths, exactly the tenths i needed to be on grid position 2 instead of 3 I ended up now.

In final 1 most drivers went out on their second set of tires, I went out on my qualification tires to try to make a move in final 2 and 3 with some little tire advantage. Unfortunately this final resulted in 2 times being hit from behind by a driver on new tires who was slighty surprised by my slower corner speed due to the older tires. Being hit twice resulted in a bend camber link and a broken rear axle so the final was over for me. 

For final 2, I went out on my new tires and thought to be able to get the 2nd position and try to make a move on Mitchell. Unfortunately the new tires were not very good right from the start and i lost my car in corner 3 and needed myself to fight back from Position 10. The new tires helped me to get back more in front. Some nice overtaking and some power (overtaking twice on the straight) made me come back to position 2. Mitchell was already to far gone.

In final 3 i made a really good start and was able to takeover second car in corner 2. The rest of the race i drove behind Mitchell on place 2 but was not able to come any closer to make a move. He was slightly faster than me. 

At the end I went to the podium happy with a second place, which was enough for me to take the overall title of National Champion 2015. I am really happy with this title, for sure because at race 2 I switched to the for me totally new and unknown TM car. It is always a challenge to start with a new car and to adjust it to your personal set-up etc. But it worked out very well and so far I’m really pleased and happy with the car and support so thank to Team Magic and HRC very much for that !!

Race Overall Ranking:
1. Mitchell van Es
2. Rob Janssen – TM E4RS III / Protoform / HRC Racing
3. Athan De Witte
4. Richard Arts
5. Govert Verbeke
6. Jetze Reitsma
7. Peter Meurs
8. Kevin van Leent
9. Bram Lagerwey
10. Ben Kruf

Rob Janssen / TM E4RS III finishes 2nd at last round of Netherlands Championship and get the National Title !!

Netherlands National Championship Top 3:
1. Rob Janssen – TM E4RS III / Protoform / HRC Racing
2. Mitchell van Es
3. Jetze Reitsma

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