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Dominic Greiner report European Championship 1:8 in Montbonnet. (09/07/2019)

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Viper 988 1/8 GP


European Championship 1:8 in Montbonnet.

Back at home after one week of intense 1:8 racing in France, Montbonnet for the European championship.

After 2 great results in the first two rounds of the ens with a victory and second place I travelled high motivated to France. The weather forecast says brilliant weather for that week with temperatures over 30 degrees every day.

We had three days of free practise and we tested a lot with the 988 and my O.S Speed engines. From the first rollout on this track it seems to be that the chicane would be the challenging part of the track. It was far away and you couldnīt see the entry, the middle and the exit.


After free practise I found myself in 4th position with three consecutive laps, but also after 3 days of practise it sayed not really the ranking, because only how well you passed the chicane made a huge difference in lap times. I touched also a lot the curbs in that part so the focus was to drive more save through this. I was pretty happy with the car and with the engine, I missed only a little bit steering in the heat and also a bit engine power, but we know that we have a very good package for the final with fuel consumption. After 2 rounds of timed practise I was on the 11th place only 0,4 seconds slower as the fastest time in controlled practise. Competition was unbelievable high.

The first qualification I made a small mistake and lost around 2 seconds and finished 12 overall. Pretty okay for a mistake. In the next round I drove more safe and finished overall 6th in this round. For the third qualifier I risk a little bit more but this time I was in airplane mode after the chicane and lost more than 4 seconds. For the next round the focus was to stay safe in the semi final because it was so close racing there and after qualification I was 9th and 4 place on the starting grid in the semi A final.


I used my normal fuel in qualification and also my final setup to check every time the fuel consumption and the tire wear. We drove also every round a new set of tire, to have also already driven tires in my bag for the finals to have more options for the tire strategy.

The finals day started very well for me. I could win easy my semifinal but the whole final was a lot slower as the previous one because of higher temperatures so I started 7th on the grid for the main fail.


The finals day started very well for me. I could win easy my semifinal but the whole final was a lot slower as the previous one because of higher temperatures so I started 7th on the grid for the main fail.

The start went very well for me and after 5 minutes of racing Iīve found myself in 4th position only 3 seconds behind the leader. I closed the gap lap by lap to Alessio on 3rd place. But at the second fuel stop I had a flame out during refuelling because of very low idle. Back on the track I pushed a lot and closed again fast the gap to the cars in front of me. Sadly two cars crashed in front of me and I hit a car which was on the roof. After that contact Iīve lost a front bodie clip and the bodie was on the body post and I lost the car in the next corner and by this crash the engine flamed again. After that issues I had no chance to reach the podium but the speed was for sure there. And we were able to safe one or two fuel stops compared to the podium cars.

Very bad luck this time, but this is racing.


I want to thank all my sponsors which made all this possible. Next time we will come back even stronger.

See you at the next race in Aigen for the 3rd ENS and after the European championship 1:10 at my hometrack in Tuerkheim.

Dominic Greiner
Team Serpent