Sunday, February 13, 2011
Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 3 Categories - Racing, Report - comments closed
Ronald Volker leaves the first ever Austrian ETS encounter with his 100% winning record still firmly intact collecting yet another Yokomo Euro Touring Series winning trophy. The Yokomo lead driver wrapped up his third victory of the 2010/11 Series with wins from pole in the opening two legs of the A-Main in St.Polten and was on target for a clean sweep until his pinion came undone in the last minute of third final while holding a comfortable lead. This left Andy Moore to take the leg and with it his first international podium finish for some time. Having struggled in Leg 2, the former World Champion did a complete set-up change on his Moorespeed powered Hot Bodies which improved the car’s steering considerably allowing him to fend off intense pressure from Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard who completed the podium for the series’ first ever Indoor asphalt event.
Yannic Prumper’s chances of joining team-mate Volker on the podium disappeared when on lap 3 the reinvigorated teenager caught a dot coming onto the straight sending the Moorespeed powered BD5 rolling off the track. A previous ETS race winner, Prumper still leaves Austria with his best result of the season finishing fourth overall.
The big story of the event was the impressive performance by Ivan Laptev and the Russian designed Awesomatix chassis. Finishing third in the final race of the day, Laptev took a very impressive 5th overall in both the Xenon Modified and the Xray Pro Stock classes. The achievements of the car’s unique design received a round of applause from onlookers when Rheinard drove a few laps with the car directly after the third A-main.
Juho Levanen completed the Top 6 for Team Associated with team-mate Keven Hebert finishing ninth on his ETS debut. The Canadian said he really enjoyed the quality of racing and the atmosphere of the event but hopes next time he can challenge for at least a podium finish.
In Pro Stock Martin Hofer got his new Schumacher deal off to the best possible start by taking his and the British manufacturer’s first Euro Touring Series victory. Starting from pole, the German backed up his Leg 2 win with a hard fought victory in the third to claim the top step on the podium ahead of Oliver Franke and Tony Streit.
Xenon Modified Overall Result
1. Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 2
2. Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/Moorespeed – 4
3. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 4
4. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo/Speed Passion – 5
5. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix/Speed Passion – 7
6. Juho Levanen (FI)– Associated/Reedy – 8
7. Michal Bok (CZ) – Yokomo/Speed Passion – 13
8. Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray/LRP – 14
9. Keven Herbert (CA) – Associated/Reedy – 14
10.David Ehrbar (DE) – Xray/Speed Passion – 18
Xray Pro Stock Overall Result
1. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 2
2. Oliver Franke (DE) – Hot Bodies – 3
3. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 4
4. Radek Flek (CZ) – Yokomo – 6
5. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 7
6. Philip Tschupp (CH) – TOP – 11
7. Dai Sakaguchi – Tamiya – 11
8. Marco Kaufmann (DE) – Xray – 12
9. Sandro Kuriger (CH) – Tamiya – 18
10.Michael Koch (DE) – Hot Bodies – 18
Full results can be found here.
View our event image gallery here
Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 2 Categories - Racing, Report - comments closed
Ronald Volker has claimed a hat trick of Euro Touring Series victories by wrapping up the overall win for Round 3 of the series with another dominant performance in Leg 2 of the A-Mains here in St.Polten, Austria. The Team Yokomo driver took an even bigger winning margin than in Leg 1 to head home Marc Rheinard and Yannic Prumper. The European Champion said after his win in the Czech Republic he expected the switch from running on carpet to asphalt would take away Team Yokomo’s advantage but if anything they looked even stronger here in St.Polten with three cars making the A-Main. With the possibility of a Yokomo 1-2, Volker will run the third A-Main to try help his young team-mate Prumper to at least make the podium by denying rival teams taking the maximum points for the last race of the day.
Held up by an off the pace Andy Moore, who started ahead of him on the grid, Rheinard saw his ETS title defense all but disappear today. By the time the Tamiya driver got passed Moore’s Hot Bodies, Volker had already checked out. A frustrating weekend for the TRF squad, Rheinard has finished second overall to Volker in both Kastellaun and Hrotovice but even that position is under threat with his former junior team-mate Prumper back on the form that got the German talent noticed. Prumper has been quick to the acknowledge the support of Volker, the pair working really well together despite the absence of Yokomo set-up guru Umino.
Having saved his second set of tyres for the second A-main Team Associated’s Juho Levanen used the fresh rubber to claim fourth. The Finnish driver, who has been joined this weekend by Canadian team-mate Keven Hebert, said the TC6 feels good and that their lack of outright pace is down to additive, or lack of access to the right stuff.
Finishing fifth, just ahead of the people’s champion of this event Ivan Laptev, Moore said his car felt like it was broken but on inspection everything looks in order. Having looked so strong on day 1 of the event TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying the British driver is considering running his 1st set of tyres in the hope of curing the mysterious handling issues.
The second leg of the Pro Stock A-Main was a much better race than Leg 1. Getting his start right this time round Martin Hofer took his Schumacher to a comfortable 3-seconds winning margin over a great battle for second. While Hofer got the start right Ivan Laptev had what looked like an action replay of Leg 1. Finding himself once again at the tail of the field at the end of the first lap the Russian made a stunning recover getting his Awesomatix up on to the bumper of Franke’s Hot Bodies setting the fastest lap on the way. Trying everything he could to get passed the German, the Russian could not find a way past and had to sette for third putting him out of contention for the overall win today.
Xenon Modified A-main Leg 2 results
1. Ronald Völker – Yokomo BD5 – 20L 5:09.744
2. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya TRF417 – 20L 5:13.133
3. Yannic Prümper – Yokomo BD5 – 20L 5:14.354
4. Juho Levanen – Associated TC6 – 20L 5:15.710
5. Andy Moore – Hot Bodies TCX – 19L 5:02.253
6. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix A700 – 19L 5:02.468
7. Michal Bok – Yokomo BD5 – 19L 5:03.387
8. Martin Hudy – Xray T3′11 – 19L 5:05.340
9. Keven Herbert – Associated TC6 – 19L 5:07.612
10.David Ehrbar – Xray T3′11 – 19L 5:09.326
Xray Pro Stock A-main Leg 2 results
1. Martin Hofer – Schumacher Mi4cx – 19L 5:10.140
2. Oliver Franke – Hot Bodies TCX – 19L 5:13.387
3. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix A700 – 19L 5:13.627
4. Tony Streit – Xray T3′11 – 19L 5:14.007
5. Philip Tschupp – TOP Photon – 19L 5:14.687
6. Radek Flek – Yokomo DB5 – 19L 5:16.720
7. Marco Kaufmann – Xray T3′11 – 18L 5:07.370
8. Dai Sakaguchi – Tamiya TRF417 - 18L 5:09.519
9. Michael Koch – Hot Bodies TCX – 18L 5:11.989
10.Sandro Kuriger – Tamiya TRF417 – 5L 1:40.581
Full results can be found here.
View our event image gallery here
Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 Categories - Racing, Report - comments closed
Ronald Volker cruised to an easy victory in the opening leg of the A-Mains here in Austria heading home team-mate Yannic Prumper for a Yokomo 1-2. On target for a hat trick of Euro Touring Series wins, the German led from start to finish with Prumper being the only driver to provide him with any reason for concern. The opening lap saw the No.2 car of Andy Moore get out of shape which delayed Marc Rheinard allowing Prumper to move up to the second spot. Setting the fastest lap of the race, the 17-year-old looked as though he was going to challenge his team-mate for the lead as he closed the gap but a number of untidy laps in the second half of the race allowed Volker to extend his lead and take the win by over 2.5 seconds.
Third went to Andy Moore but only after the demise of Rheinard. The current World Champion got past the 2006 World Champion’s Hot Bodies early on but it was to be in vain as the gear diff in the rear of his Tamiya TRF417 broke on lap 8 forcing him to retire. Having expected his car work well on fresh rubber, Moore said it was horrible and he was lucky to get third from the race.
After a frustrating opening Pro-Stock A-Main, Ivan Laptev was very happy with his fourth place finish in Modified. The Awesomatix driver was expecting a tough race as he had already run his second set of tyres in qualifying but the A700 was not disadvantaged much by the lack of fresh rubber as he was able to hold off the TC6 of Associated team driver Juho Levanen. Martin Hudy was the best placed Xray coming home 6th followed by Canadian Keven Hebert.
In terms of entertainment the B Final was a great example of good close racing. With some big names on the grid it was TRF team driver Elliot Harper who took the win from factory Kyosho driver & Top Qualifier Christopher Krapp who was unable to fend off a great challenge from Viktor Wilck.
The Pro Stock A-Main was not a good example of top level racing with the race full of incident right from the start. Top Qualifier Martin Hofer ran wide at the first corner and was put on his roof by second place start Tony Streit with Laptev also getting caught up in the incident and beaching his Awesomatix on the track barrier. This left the pair at the tail of the field but as they battled their way back to the front they were hampered by more incidents including Hofer hitting Laptev on two occasions as he tried to make a pass on the main straight. In the end, fifth place starter Oliver Franke took the win with his Hot Bodies TCX from Streit’s Xray and the Yokomo of Radek Flek. Hofer’s battered looking Schumacher eventually finished fourth after a close battle with Dai Sakaguchi with Laptev ending up 7th despite setting the fastest lap of the race.
Xenon Modified A-main Leg 1 results
1. Ronald Völker – Yokomo BD5 – 20L 5:07.994
2. Yannic Prümper – Yokomo BD5 – 20L 5:10.595
3. Andy Moore – Hot Bodies TCX – 20L 5:15.406
4. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix A700 – 19L 5:00.891
5. Juho Levanen – Associated TC6 – 19L 5:01.471
6. Martin Hudy – Xray T3′11 – 19L 5:02.624
7. Keven Herbert – Associated TC6 – 19L 5:03.179
8. Michal Bok – Yokomo BD5 – 19L 5:04.976
9. David Ehrbar – Xray T3′11 – 19L 5:11.370
10.Marc Rheinard – Tamiya TRF417 – 8L 2:01.827
Xray Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 results
1. Oliver Franke – Hot Bodies TCX – 19L 5:12.852
2. Tony Streit – Xray T3′11 – 19L 5:13.994
3. Radek Flek – Yokomo DB5 – 18L 5:02.810
4. Martin Hofer – Schumacher Mi4cx – 18L 5:07.901
5. Dai Sakaguchi – Tamiya TRF417 - 18L 5:08.083
6. Philip Tschupp – TOP Photon – 18L 5:09.087
7. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix A700 – 18L 5:11.434
8. Marco Kaufmann – Xray T3′11 – 18L 5:11.641
9. Michael Koch – Hot Bodies TCX – 6L 1:39.519
10.Sandro Kuriger – Tamiya TRF417 – 2L 0:50.400
Full results can be found here.
View our event image gallery here
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Volker Top Qualifier in Austria Categories - Racing, Report - comments closed
Ronald Volker’s domination of the 2010/11 Yokomo Euro Touring Series doesn’t look under any serious threat after the German ace secured his third straight overall TQ honours in as many races. Having set the pace in Q2 & 3, the Team Yokomo lead driver secured pole for tomorrow’s triple A-Mains by topping the final qualifier from young team-mate Yannic Prumper who will start 4th on the grid. Volker ran a narrower suspension setting on the front of his LRP powered BD5 in the hope of getting more steering and although he ran his best five minute run of the weekend said the changes didn’t give the desired effect. Aiming for a hat trick of ETS wins tomorrow Volker thinks the first final could be interesting as drivers use their second set of allocated tyres in particular Andy Moore. In the opening round of qualifying when everyone had fresh rubber Moore’s Hot Bodies TCX TQ’d with a time that stood the rest of qualifying.
Moore, who didn’t make the cut in the Czech Republic, is himself confident about his chances for the opening leg of the A-Main. Not so happy with his driving in Q4 after making too many small mistakes, he was pleased with changes made to the front suspension which should be even more evident on new tyres.
For the first time in the four year history of the ETS there will only be one Tamiya in the final. The TRF squad have struggled from the off to get a set-up for the asphalt track here in St.Polten. Their star driver Marc Rheinard lines up third but needs to pull something really special off if he is to get that important win he needs to have any chance of retaining his ETS crown. So far the World Champion has been no match for Volker but as he has shown in the past he has the ability to dig deep and pull off something special when the pressure is on.
17-year-old Prumper was very upbeat about the finals after his impressive run in the last heat during which he set the fastest lap of the weekend. Help from Volker with doing his tyre prep transformed the previous ETS race winner’s Yokomo and he has his sights set on making the podium tomorrow.
Ivan Laptev’s pit table is probably the most visited one in the hall and justifiably so as the Russian has put the unique Awesomatix in to both the Modified and Pro-Stock finals. A regular finalist in Pro-Stock this is his first time to make an ETS Modified final, lining up an impressive 5th. Having used his second set of tyres in Q3 when he was third fastest, Laptev will be at a disadvantage in the first A-Main but said his aim is to just get a good start and go from there. In Pro Stock he starts third but is confident the advantage he gains over other cars when on new tyres should give him a chance to challenge for the win.
David Erhbar lines up sixth and best of the Xray drivers with Martin Hudy 9th. Hudy ran a safe last qualifier to ensure he made the A-Main but plans to try the same set-up Ehrbar is using on the T3′11. After a promising start to the event Team Associated factory drivers Juho Levanen and Keven Herbert will start 7th and 8th respectively leaving them a bit of work to do if they are to give the TC6 its first podium. Having put in some impressive lap times Czech driver Michal Bok is the 10th qualifier making Yokomo the best represented brand in the A-Main.
In Pro Stock Martin Hofer got his new Schumacher contract off to the perfect start by claiming the British manufacturer’s first TQ honours in the ETS. Trying a different set-up on the rear of his Mi4CX in the last qualifier the German set the second fastest time behind a very much improved Tony Streit. Hofer will revert to his Q3 set-up for the finals and is very confident about his chances tomorrow as he chases his first ever ETS victory and the lead in the standings. Streit put his new found pace down to Xray boss Juraj Hudy who spent time showing him the best way to ensure the accuracy of the set-up being put on the car. The 21-year-old German expects a very close final tomorrow between himself Hofer and Laptev who starts just behind him on the grid.
Xenon Modified A-Final Grid
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 310
2. Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/Moorespeed – 306
3. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 305
4. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo/Speed Passion – 304
5. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix/Speed Passion – 303
6. David Ehrbar (DE) – Xray/LRP – 302
7. Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated/Reedy – 299
8. Keven Herbert (CA) – Associated/Reedy – 298
9. Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray/LRP – 298
10.Michal Bok (CZ) – Yokomo/LRP – 295
Xray Pro-Stock A-Final Grid
1. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 310
2. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 308
3. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 308
4. Sandro Kuriger (CH) – Tamiya – 303
5. Oliver Franke (DE) – Hot Bodies – 301
6. Marco Kaufmann (DE) – Xray – 301
7. Radek Flek (CZ) – Yokomo – 300
8. Michael Koch (DE) – Hot Bodies – 299
9. Philip Tschupp (CH) – TOP Racing – 296
10.Dai Sakaguchi (DE) – Tamiya – 295
Full results can be found here.
View our event image gallery here
Video – Qualifying Heat 20 Rd3 Categories - Racing, Report - comments closed
