Milan Holthuis wins at Dutch IC Track Nationals Rd1

Round 1 of the Dutch IC Track Nationals was held at the Baanbrekers track in Rucphen this past weekend. This year both the 1/8th and 1/10th classes will be run on the same weekend which makes for a busy Sunday for many. Also the Rucphen track will host the May round of the ENS, so many drivers used the event to get some laps under their belt. Saturday’s practice already showed that Milan Holthuis would be the guy to beat. Consistently fast he had quickly adapted to the switch of handout tyre supplier this year. Sunday qualifying would see Milan take the TQ but the gap to Julius Kolff in 2nd was under two seconds so there was room for interesting fights in the final. 3rd on the grid was for Jurmin Etnel. The gap from 4th to 8th position in qualifying was also less than a second so close racing was guaranteed. Noteworthy were the two new drivers this year. Both only 11 years old, they made the step up from the GT class and did very well. Merijn Schipper showed promise, but was held back by some engine tuning issues. Boris Kolff qualified for the A-main on his first 1/10th race and showed smooth lines all day.

The A-main started and immediately Milan and Julius separated themselves from the field. Although Julius tried, he missed a tenth a lap to keep pace with Milan and needed an extra fuel stop. When Julius also hit problems with the transmission, it would turn out to be an easy tone to tone win for Milan. Jurmin drove a steady race to take the runner-up spot with Thomas van Duin taking 3rd.

The next round of the nationals will be at the RACO track in Utrecht.

Thanks to Julius Kolff for the report.