This week-end was the first round of Nomac Dutch National Championship, on the HFCC Racing Club track, at Den Haag.
Team Magic driver, Rob Janssen, wins this first round with his Team Magic E4RS III Plus, in front of Robert Krens and Sybrand de Boer, while his teammates Richard Arts, Ronald Arts and Stefan Rommens finished 5th, 6th and 7th !
Nice job again, guys !
Original Report from Rob Janssen:
Last weekend we had our first round of Nationals, also for me the first weekend of outdoor racing this year. It was held at the HFCC track in Den Haag, a tight low traction track. They improved the circuit recently with a new top layer on the straight and outer oval which was a very good improvement. Ofcourse this didn’t help with the overall grip which was, especially Saturday morning, not very well.
The first practice runs were very difficult. I know the track a little so that was not the problem. But the low traction and first time on Volante tires on that circuit was a bit of a challenge. Also some glitching on my radio/receiver system made that I made several hard crashes with as result: broken left front arm, broken right front arm, damaged FF suspension block, damage on my front shock tower.
With a spare receiver from Richard the glitches were gone. I took some time to fix the car again and to make sure to go back on track with a good car. This resulted at the end of Saturday with a very good car. Fast and easy. A little to ‘brave’ maybe but I thought that was good to start with to make good 7 minute runs. For sure Sunday would be difficult as some good local drivers attended the race.
Sunday morning was a bit of surprise as in the controlled practice run I found out in one tight right corner the car was doing 360 donuts no matter how I approached the corner.
Lucky enough I saw everybody had that issue in that corner, so it was not me or not my car haha 😉 !
New this year is the round by round system in qualifying with 2 out of 3 to count for the finals positions.
In Q1 the start was a little crazy as I started first but when going into lap 2 the 9 and 10 car were not started yet which resulted in a crazy second lap which costed me a little time. The rest of the run was ok and I was able to make a 2nd position. When taking off the time which costed me the crazy start in lap 2 I would have win that round. But for sure there always is a ‘what if…’ 😉 !
Q2 started not well for me as I rolled over in corner 3. After that I was a little stuck behind Bart Wubben. Eventually it didn’t matter because after 2 minutes I lost power. When checking the car I saw the rear belt came off. Not broken, it just came off.
For Q3 I did tighten the rear belt a little and wend out again. With Robert Krens allready securing TQ and not starting in Q3 I made a 1st spot in round 3. So, with a 1st and a 2nd place, I was going into the finals from grid position 2. My Q3 round was the fastest overall time of the day. But in a round by round that doesn’t matter of course. But always nice to go into the finals with the confidence having the fastest car / overall time.
In final 1, the first corner was a bit scary start as I did get a little hit from behind from Bart Wubben. Lucky enough I could continue straight away keeping second spot. But Robert allready had a bit of a gap to me so I had to fight back. Lap by lap I was getting closer and I found out further in the run my power was more stable and Robert had more drop.
I was using the new EZ6600 HV batteries, Robert was running ‘regular’ 7.4v Lipo batteries which I think made the difference further in the run. I for sure had more power from half till end of the run. I was getting close enough to make a move but as Robert was doing good Lines I was not able to pass. I noticed the power difference on the straight so I focused on making a good last corner before hitting the straight. After some laps Robert made a little mistake going onto the straight, I think he did hit the grass a little or something which slowed him down a little. This made it possible for me to put my car next to him on the straight and make a pass. After that I was not able to drive away but held it together till the end and finished 1st.
Final 2 was more difficult as Bart (the third car) had a good start and forced me to drive a defending line. He passed me in lap 3 and drove away a little. Again more in the run I had advantage of my batteries and came back and could pass him. I also came back to Robert but it was to late to make a move. At the last corner before the line I tried to make a final pass but it resulted in a unlucky hit to Robert. I waited for him and let hem pass the line first. So now we both had a 1st and 2nd place finish. It was down to final 3 for the decision.
In final 3 the start again was good and top 3 drove away from the rest of the field. Bart was staying close and it was switching positions between us 3 for the first 2 minutes. Eventually Robert and I drove away from Bart. For some laps Robert and I were driving close, sometimes he drove away a little, the lap after I came close again, etc. As 7 minutes is long I did not tried to make an aggressive move, I was patiently waiting for an opportunity. After like 5 minutes Robert made a small mistake in the same corner as in final 1 so he did not make a good entry to the straight. This combined with more topspeed of my car due to the EZ batteries I was able to again put my car next to him on the straight and outpower him. Also this time I kept it together and finished in front of Robert.
The club did a good job in promoting and hosting the event. It was a good weekend !
Overall Result:
A – 1. Rob Janssen – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
A – 2. Robert Krens
A – 3. Sybrand De Boer
A – 4. Bart Wubben
A – 5. Richard Arts – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
A – 6. Ronald Arts – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
A – 7. Stefan Rommens – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
A – 8. Fokke Groen
A – 9. Xavier Debroye
A – 10. Jari Van De Wal
B – 11. Fons Stabel
B – 12. Michel Van Der Velden
B – 13. Ernst Haaksman
B – 14. Tim Van Zelm
B – 15. Nick Nerrings
B – 16. Stéphane Delisé
B – 17. Marco Messer
B – 18. Luc Wauters