Robert Pietsch is European Champion

Driving the new Mugen MRX-5, a car he was responsible for designing, Robert Pietsch has finally claimed his first big title winning the EFRA 1:8 Onroad European Championship at Locorotondo in Italy today.
Starting from pole position the German led the 45-minute final from start to finish.
The only driver to follow him closely was Motonica’s Dario Balestri who finished half a lap behind the 2008 World Championship Top Qualifier.
The majority of the drivers were on a 3.5 minute fuel stop strategy with one tire change at the race’s mid point.
Only Alberto Picco was pitting longer running just over 4 minutes but his chances of victory ended when half way through a glowplug let go costing the Italian a lot of time.
Current World Champion Lamberto Collari had to settle for third on the podium after he was forced to do an extra pit stop due to a damaged tyre on his Kyosho.
Apart from Pietsch and Balestri, all the drivers were forced to make unscheduled pitstops as they hit problems.

final results:
Pos.	Driver	laps	time	car / engine
1.	Robert Pietsch (D)	167	45.14.746	Mugen/NR
2.	Dario Balestri (I)	166	45.09.394	Motonica/NR
3.	Lamberto Collari (I)	163	45.11.659	Kyosho/NR
4.	Oliver Mack (D)	161	45.05.579	Shepherd/NR
5.	Andrea Cristiani (I)	159	45.12.022	Serpent/Max
6.	Michael Salven (D)	154	45.00.435	Serpent/Mega
7.	Michele Romagnoli (I)	150	45.03.397	Mugen/NR
8.	Alberto Picco (I)	148	45.07.655	Mugen/Picco
9.	Andrea Pirani (I)	82	23.04.125	Mugen/NR
10.	Ilia van Gastel (B)	62	16.54.111	Serpent/Mega