Volker is Top Qualifier for ETS season opener
Ronald Volker is Top Qualifier for the opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series, the German putting the top spot on the grid beyond the reach of his rivals with another TQ run in the third of the four qualifiers. The perfect start to the defense of his 3rd consecutive ETS title, the Yokomo driver again had to work hard to put his BD7 top of the time sheets with both Alexander Hagberg and Freddy Sudhoff in the mix. Unfortunately for Hagberg a slower car ruined his chance of forcing the overall TQ to go down to the final round of qualifying in Hrotovice. Rolling his Xray Hagberg would end up sixth with a much improved Marc Rheinard completing the Top 3 for the round.
Changing his tyre prep for Q3, which made his car ‘slightly better’, Volker was ‘super happy’ to kick off his season by claiming the overall TQ and the all important bonus championship point that goes with it. Another very close qualifier with the Top 6 drivers covered by just 6/10ths of a second half way through the heat, he said this was one of the hardest TQ’s he has claimed. Set to be his twelveth time to start an ETS race from pole position, he said while they have achieved the first of their goals for the weekend they need to find something in the car for the final. With the pace of the ‘Top 4 drivers so similar’, he said he is ‘looking for just a small change’ that to make it more comfortable for him to lead from the front.
Having changed the set-up on his Awesomatix for Q3, Sudhoff said his A700L EVO was now very easy to drive. Able to push the car harder, he said he ended up pushing it too hard leading him to overshoot a few corners. Planning to better control his driving for the final qualifier, as he chases the second spot on the A-Main grid, he said the set-up he has now is perfect for the finals as he can focus more on racing rather than trying to keep the car on four wheels on the high bite track.
Despite the weekend having started off with him being less than competitive than he would have liked it, Rheinard’s distinctly different approach this weekend seems to be starting to net dividends. Normally very vocal due to frustration when he is struggling to be competitive, this weekend the 3-time World Champion has focused his energies on getting the best from what he has to work with. Running Tamiya’s new TRF418 chassis which for the high bite conditions here in Hrotovice has too stiff a chassis plate, the 11 time ETS race winner has been making small adjustments each run to try and compensate for the disadvantage they have. Having tried removing the bottom screw from the center mount of the top deck with this making little difference for Q3 he put back in the bottom screw and removed the top screw, which resulted in him being much happier with the car. Also adding weight to the front of the chassis and go up in the rear shock oil, he said the car is now pretty easy to drive. Starting his heat from 6th, he said he didn’t get to run with Volker & Sudhoff so its hard to gauge where he is at in relation to them but overall he is happy with the direction he is now headed highlighted by the fact he set the fastest lap of Q3.
Setting the fourth fastest time, Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper said after his retirement from Q2 he just went for a safe run. Describing his Muchmore powered BD7 as being ‘too safe to drive’ he said for the final round he will go for another safe round in the hope he can get closer to the front of the A-Main grid having only posted the 8th fastest time in Q1. Team-mate Naoto Matsukura was on for a Top 4 run but with a minute to go he rolled at the end of the straight knocking the battery out of his BD7.
A slightly frustrated Hagberg said ‘once again I had a pretty good car’ but ‘a slower driver decided to stop on the racing line right in front of me’. The incident resulted in the Swede rolling his Xray T4 ’14, losing him over 2-seconds and in frustration at the incident he suffered a second role losing a further 2+ seconds. Looking at the positives Hagberg said he knows he has a good car and the pace to run at the front.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, Serpent’s Jan Amser backed up his TQ run in Q2 to top the round from Schumacher’s Martin Hofer with HB driver Bernard Bopp third. Defending champion Marek Cerny didn’t have a good round. Confused by Amser starting the heat at the same time as he was called to start, the Xray driver still managed to get his Xray to the top of the timing screens but still frustrated by the start incident he made a ‘stupid mistake’ half way in to heat losing 5-seconds leading to a number of bad laps. After his tyre issue in Q2 of Formula, Amser bounced back to repeat his Q1 topping performance again taking it over VBC’s Olivier Bultynck.
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