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Van Gastel vince nella Benelux Cup |
| Competizioni 1/8 |
| Van Gastel vince nella Benelux Cup |
John Ermen ci racconta (in inglese) la sfida fra olandesi, belgi e lussemburghesi.BENELUX CUP 2006
In the weekend of 1st and 2nd of July it was time for the 3rd BENELUX cup. This year this competitive and friendley race was held at the nice track of Kockelschreuer in Luxemburg. The weather this weekend was really sunny and hot. So it was really good weather to do some serious racing.Friday night we left from home to Luxembourg. because of my day job I could not take this day off so the first run for me was on saturday. It seemd that the practise time was limited because there were alot of participants. 10mins of free practise was givin by the race control. This was done because the sunday was needed to race all the finals. Jack arrived on friday so he was able to get a kind of setup. On Saturday I just copied the setup from Jack just to have the basics. In the first 3 heats I had to get used to the track, my car and my new transmitter This weekend I switched back to a pistol transmitter. The first 8 years I started driving with one but switched to a stick transmitter because I had alot of interference with my transmitter back then. The first Sanwa Exces transmitter was then a good alternative and a fine transmitter without interference. This weekend I have drivin with a Sanwa M11 transmitter wich I liked alot during this weekend. My laptimes were more consistent and my driving style was alot smoother (normally I'm a very agressive driver but this transmitter changed all that) However because I didnt have enough practise I didn't knew a thing. Could I make 5 mins? And what was the handling of my car? In the 4th heat my car was ok and the 3 heats before the 5 mins were no problem. So it was time to set a good qualification. In the last heat I made a mistake in de 19th lap wich made a qualification with 21 laps impossible. Even if I didn't made a mistake, I couldn't made 21 laps because my engine ran out of fuel in the out lap (21st lap) So it was 20 laps in 5:00.46 for me. This was the total standings after 4 series:
Jack and I were both in the semi finals. A place in the final was nothing else then just finish our semis in one piece. Jack's place for the final was almost history because he wrecked his car during the warm-up. He touche a curb wich caused his car to flip against the pit barrier. Because of this his rear lower wishbone broke. That was a problem as the final was going to start in a few minutes. Fortunateley we could ask race control for a 10 min delay. After a fast change of the wishbone Jack was back on track within 5 mins!!! So he could start his semi finale. Because he asked a delay he started from the 11th spot. After 10 minutes of racing Jack gained in on the leader. After that he did some steady driving and he finished the semi as first. I was in the other semi and had a clean start. Before the finale I had trued my tires on the right side 2mm bigger then on the left side for the tyre wear during this 30mins semi final. Because of this my car went really bad during the first 10 minutes and I just could't follow the leader pace. Just a few laps after the start i fell back from 2nd position to 6th position. after 10mins my car turned arround and the grip was alot better. Because there were some drivers having some problemens I could easely gain in on the leaders of the race. In the last 10 minutes of the finale the no. 1 and 2. had some glowplug problems this was my chance to take over the lead. In the last 5 mins my engine also stalled because of a broken glowplug. Because the weather was really hot the temperature of the engines raised very fast and sometimes it can cost you a glowplug. Fortunateley after changing the glowplug I could finish the race and place myself for the main final.
Race control decided a main finale of 45 mins. because of this I decided to change tyres during the final. Otherwise you have to start with very big tyres and you will end with very small ones. Jack took the gamble and decided not to change. A tyre change will cost you about 1 or 2 laps if nothing else will go wrong. And if you don't change you will have a 1 or 2 lap advantage. At the start of the final evrybody had a clean start and there were no "kamikaze" actions. My car felt really good during the finale and in the final I just drove my own laps without making mistakes. A struggle for a place was not an issue for me. Because some drivers had problems I could climb my way up the podium. Jordy had some engine problems, Gilles Urbing had to retire with a broken clutch, Jack had a rough time with the chicane and Robin d’Hond destroyed his car in the last 10 min. Because I kept my car on the track with a descent pace I was able to finish 3rd 3 laps before Jack and 6 laps down on Steven who was 1 lap behind Ilia who finish 1st. Conclusion. I'm very happy with the result, after all I had 10 minutes of practise for the whole weekend. And my last race on this track was a real nightmare. (EC 2004) Here are the final results:
Further more I would like to thank Jonathan and Vincent Dupont for the pitwork and the fast refueling. Also Hugo Keller and Peter van Koningveld for taking the pics and ofcourse my sponsors: Mugen Seiki, MID, Tornado and NOVAROSSI for the suport.
See ya next time!
John Ermen
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