What a great start for Rob Janssen, current national champion, for the new 2016 season ! Rob wins the first round of dutch national this week-end on the AMCA mythic track of Apeldoorn, in Netherlands.
Original report from Rob Janssen:
Last weekend we had our first round of outdoor Nationals here in the Netherlands. In contrast to our first clubrace two weeks ago now it was crazy cold all weekend !
Together with Richard I went to the track on Saturday and both had the change of doing many laps to find a good pace. Both ending in the top 3 when in practise times, so that was a good start of the weekend !
Sunday morning we found the track to be very wet in all qualifications. I prepared my old car to use in the rain (a lot of plastidip works great). In Q1 i was able to do a TQ run and i passed Q2 and Q3 as I was not scared of many people catching my time. Unfortunately Q3 was more wet as Q1 and therefore a little faster as well. I lost 1 spot so had to start the finals from 2nd position. Richard started from position 3.
In the finales Richard had some issues with his radio / binding etc. So he was not able to go for a podium finish.
For me the first final (all wet) started very well. After half a lap I was able to overtake nr1 and made it straight to the finish from here. The car worked very well in wet conditions.
Final 2 was the first dry run of the day we could make. But the grip was very low on the track which made it very hard to drive for everybody. I heard a lot of wheelspin from all cars when the start tone went on ! As the track was very unpredictable car nr. 1 overshooted corner 1 after the start which gave me the opportunity to overtake in corner 1 and again made it from here to the finish with making a bigger gap with nr. 2 each lap!
Same story for final 3. So i didn’t have to fight really hard to win this round of Nationals which gives me a good start of the season.
Really happy with that !!
Original report from Richard Arts:
Weekend started great with the practice on Saturday. Temperatures were a bit low for the time of the year, but the grip was decent. Running on Sorex tires in the Nationals races, setup felt okay to start with, but suffered a bit from mid corner understeer. I was able to improve front-end grip, and rear-end rotation. Tested also different bodies, and preferred the PF Dodge Dart. Feeling confident with the setup for the race on Sunday, only the weather forecast was a concern.
Sunday morning was an early start, and during the drive up to the track, there was still remainders of snow and hail at the side of the road. With the prediction of more rain, hail and snow, I did my final preparations to waterproof the electronics in the pits. Not getting my rain tires in time for the weekend, I chose to sit out Q1 and Q3. I did not want to ruin the 1 set of allowed Sorex tires, still hoping for dry finals. I managed to win Q2 on the rain tires I borrowed from Rob.
Finals started with a bad surprise… Issues with ESC and receiver, proved that my waterproofing skills could do with a huge improvement. Managing to get my car going with spare ESC, and borrowed receiver from Martijn, I could get a few laps in halfway the 2nd final. Not risking other people’s electronics, all I could do was prepare for a dry 3rd final.
With only a few drops of rain on a dry track, finally I could do a full 7 min run. Starting from 3rd spot and Rob from 2nd, we both could move up a position by the second corner. Rob managed to pull away half a track length, while I was defending my 2nd place to fast charging Sybrand. I did so successfully until the last minute, but could not defend any more in a sportman like manner, and he could pass when I went a bit sideways out of the corner.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about the weekend. Disappointed with all the electronics issue’s, but happy with the car and on track battle.
Overall Result:
1. Rob Janssen – Team Magic E4RS III Plus / HRC Racing
2. De Boer Sybrand
3. Tim Streefkerk
4. Rick van den Akker
5. Jeroen Streefkerk
6. Fokke Groen
7. Fons Stabel
8. Richard Arts – Team Magic E4RS III Plus / HRC Racing
9. Martijn Spaans
10. Tim Jansen
11. Andre Heskamp
