Another Podium for Stefan Rommens / Team Magic E4RS III+ at Roeselare / Belgium Nats

The third round of Belgian National Championship was held last week-end at the well known club of Roeselare. Some Team Magic drivers participated this event, with their E4RS III Plus.

Another Podium for Stefan Rommens / Team Magic E4RS III+ at Roeselare / Belgium Nats

Stefan Rommens finished third on the podium, after winning first finale, behind winner Vincent Van Gansen and Florian Joos. His teammate Pasquinel Neys finished 5th, while Aaron Vandepoele, Olivier Cornard and Christophe Libeer finished 14th, 15th and 16th.

Original Report from Stefan Rommens:

The first qualification didn’t go well so I ended at position eight.

For the second qualification, I gave more flex to my car, which was very good with the best round 18’2. So, 0.2 seconds faster than the best round of the others. After three minutes my car tumbled so I didn’t made the TQ.

I started the third qualification very well but the back of my car slipped a bit. So I lost the contact with Vincent. Qualification ranking was as follow: Vincent Vangansen 1st, Stefan Rommens 2nd, Florian Joos 3rd, and my teammate Pasquinel Neys 5th.

First finale, I started well, and take the lead after Vincent made a mistake, and I won the finale.

Second finale, I started well and stayed five minutes behind Vincent, looking for a way to pass I never found; So, I finished second.

Third finale, I didn’t start well because I went to wide in the first curve, so Florian took the second place and I drove five minutes behind him and didn’t find a gap.

Another Podium for Stefan Rommens / Team Magic E4RS III+ at Roeselare / Belgium Nats

Original Report from Pasquinel Neys:

On Sunday morning I just did one run to check if my car was still good after Saturdays practice sessions. My car felt good so I started to prepare for the first round of qualification. My car felt very balanced on the very bumpy track of Roeselare. During the first qualifier I managed to take fourth spot. After looking at the laptimes I thought there was something more to get out of the car. So I went to a harder rear diff and more droop in front to get some more steering into the car.

In Q2 my pace was faster as in Q1 but I did a small mistake and ended up 4th in Q2. In Q3 track conditions made the track a bit slower. So after the qualification heats I lined up 5th on the A final grid.

In Finale 1 I had a decent start, there was no contact between any of the drivers so we made a nice clean start. After a couple of laps I noticed that car number four was faster than me on the straight but I could catch up in the infield. After some intense battles I touched him while I prepared to overtake him. Our cars both where unsettled and I decided to wait. I managed the 5th place in the first finale.

After the first finale I decided I needed some more speed on the straight so after some discussion with my teammate Stefan Rommens I decided to decrease the rear toe of the car a lot. It was quite a gamble because it could also mean the car was to lose and hard to drive. The setup change paid off and I could gain a bit more top speed on the straight. Unfortunately after 4 minutes the rear drive shaft lost its pin meaning I did not finish the finale 2.

In the third and last finale everything went my way. After a clean start I managed to overtake the 4th car after a couple of laps. After this I could begin my race to numbers 2 and 3 who where fighting hard for overall victory. I closed the gap with cars 2 and 3 but I was not able to gain any more places. 4th place was mine in the last final.

After a long and hot day I finished fifth overall. I’m very pleased with this result. Now we have a long summer break in Belgium so I can enjoy a small holiday with my family. After that I will go all in on preparing my car for the next round of the Belgian nationals in Genk. I would like to thank all of my teammates for sharing tips, tricks and setup. My sponsors TM and HRC distribution and Lionel Troyon for their support.

Another Podium for Stefan Rommens / Team Magic E4RS III+ at Roeselare / Belgium Nats

Original report from Lorenzo Vandepoel, father of Aaron:

Round tree of belgium nationals started for us with a lot of practice, on Friday we whent to the track, since we did not have a lot of track time this year. It was very important for me to have some more information why we had so much loss of speed in the last race, so we tried a lot of stuff on Friday and Saturday, and it payed off. The previous race Aaron was 21th after qualify, and 21th after finals. This race I asked aaron to have a smooth start on Sunday, because I expected the track to be the fastest in the morning. so he did a good job, he had a solid B-main position instead of C-main, so that was a good start for him. In the second qualification Aaron wanted to push a lot, since he had not a lot to loose, but he made 1 small mistake when driving on to the straight, a bit to sharp on the curb, and a spin. That was enough to loose 5 positions… it was so close, 2 seconds means 4-5 positions.

For the third qualification, he tried to make it up, but again the months of not driving took there part, and he made one small mistake, but he was qualified 8th in the b-final, so we where happy.

When the first final started, the third car hit the curb after the very long turn, and many others hitted that car. Aaron trying to pass around that crash, and came out on fourth and mande an incredibble race, very close fight with Jonathan Provosq. He let him pass because of the stress, as Jonathan started 3th, but a few laps later Aaron passed him again, then aaron had a spin at the end of the straight. In the last half lap they where driving next to eachother, through the corners, on the small straight in the 180°, and Aaron finished third with a 5cm gap in front of Jonathan. An awesome battle to see, they both driving so good, and so fair against each other.

During the second final, the same turn made the difference, but the problems where not that bad as Aaron came out 4th. He had a very solid run, but he was touched on the rear at 4 minutes, so he finished in the gras and lost some seconds and positions.
He finished 6th instead of 4th, but it was great to move forward !

The last final was almost the same, and Aaron finished 5th.

Aaron finished overal 4th the b-final, and 3rd in the Junior Class. The car was great, the driving is coming back. Next round is Genk, in August. we will try have more track time on several tracks around, to keep the driving up again.

Great team spirit, had lots of fun in the pits with the teammates. A great weekend for us !

Another Podium for Stefan Rommens / Team Magic E4RS III+ at Roeselare / Belgium Nats

Overal Result – 13.5:
A – 1. Vincent Van Gansen
A – 2. Florian Joos
A – 3. Stefan Rommens – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
A – 4. Peter Degrande
A – 5. Pasquinel Neys – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
A – 6. Peter Roeygens
A – 7. Giovanni Moguez
A – 8. Christophe Charlier
A – 9. Xavier Debroye
A – 10. Niels Meurs
B – 11. Stuart Gates
B – 12. Jonathan Prouvosq
B – 13. Mathias Van Laere
B – 14. Aaron Vandepoele – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
B – 15. Olivier Cornard – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
B – 16. Christophe Libeer – Team Magic E4RS III Plus
B – 17. Roel Jongenelis
B – 18. Remco Mutsaerts
B – 19. Danny Vanbroekhoven
B – 20. Stef Verbist
C – 21. Joeri D’Eer
C – 22. Luc Wauters

Overal Result – Modified:
A – 1. Olivier Bultynck
A – 2. Mitchell Van Es
A – 3. Thomas Stockman
A – 4. Nicolas Delisé
A – 5. Rico Claeys
A – 6. Giovanni Verbrugghe
A – 7. Liam Van De Wouwer
A – 8. Steve Lambrechts
A – 9. Athan De Witte
A – 10. Kevin Van Merode
B – 11. Dimitri De Baeker
B – 12. Nicolas Denys
B – 13. Pascal Delferiere
B – 14. Eric Denolf
B – 15. Géry Ledocq
B – 16. Jos Sannen

Overal Result – Rookie:
1. Rony Claes
2. Marc Joosens
3. Alexander van Gansen
4. Herman van Gansen
5. Rebekka Masschelein

Overal Result – Formula 1:
A – 1. Olivier Bultynck
A – 2. Steve Deblaere
A – 3. Frans Engelen
A – 4. Florian Joos
A – 5. Patrick Jongenelis
A – 6. Bjorn Frederickx
A – 7. Kris Vanbleu
A – 8. Nicolas Delisé
A – 9. Jannick Rommens
A – 10. Nic Desmet

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