ETS Season 6 resumes at Apeldoorn
After an 11-week break, the Yokomo Euro Touring Series resumes this weekend (May 17-19) in the Netherlands with the beautiful Apeldoorn track getting the second half of the World famous electric touring car championship’s sixth season underway. A hugely popular track with competitors, the fourth round attracting 280 entries, defending champion Ronald Volker heads into the weekend at the top of the championship standings ahead of Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prumper and last year’s race winner Marc Rheinard. Volker, who has two wins and a third to his credit this season, will be hoping he has much better fortunes than he experienced 12-months ago in Apeldoorn when a difficult qualifying meant he would end up racing in the E-Final.
Having taken his first ETS win in 19-races when he won Round 3 of the championship in Gran Canaria at the beginning of March, Tamiya Racing Factory’s Viktor Wilck will be looking to build on that result and try & get his title chances on track after the Swede failed to make the A-Main at Rounds 1 & 2. Tamiya have won every ETS encounter at Apeldoorn, this being the championship’s fourth visit to the AMCA track, and the Japanese manufacturer will be keen to maintain that record. With the Apeldoorn win the only major success 3-time former World Champion Rheinard currently holds, the German will be determined not to give that up easily as he chases a hat trick of wins at the Dutch track.
Denied his first podium of the season in Gran Canaria where he finished 4th, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg will be hoping this race will be the turning point in a season which, after a great finish to last years championship, has not lived up to expectations. While the usual suspects of Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp, Serpent’s Marc Fisher, Hot Bodies’ Andy Moore, Team Associated’s Juho Levanen and Awesomatix’ Freddy Südhoff will be looking to bring success for their respective manufacturers in the premiere ‘Ride’ Modified class, this weekend sees the arrival of Team Durango to international touring car competition which is sure to generate plenty of interest.
Making a welcomed return to the series having missed Round 2 & 3 as he waited on the arrival of Durango’s first touring car, Elliot Harper has already shown the potential of the DETC410 taking it to victory two weeks ago at the opening round of the British National Championships ahead of former World Champion Andy Moore and the reigning champion Olly Jefferies.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, standings leader Marek Cerny heads to the Netherlands chasing his third consecutive win of the season. Based on that form, the Czech Xray team driver is favourite for the ETS’ largest class but defending champion Zdenko Kunák had his best result in Gran Canaria finishing second to Cerny as his confidence with his new Yokomo team grows. The only other race winner this season, winning Round 1, Oliver Franke will be in the hunt as will a host of Dutch drivers including last year’s winner Vasco Christiaanse.
Round 4 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series officially gets underway with controlled practice on Friday and culminates with triple mains for all drivers on Sunday, weather permitting. All the action from Apeldoorn can be followed on RedRC where regular updates and video action will be published throughout the weekend.
Thursday, May 16, 2013 - add a comment
Gran Canaria takes ETS season outdoors
This weekend (March 1-3) the Yokomo Euro Touring Series marks its 30th event traveling to the popular Spanish holiday island of Gran Canaria for the first outdoor race of the 2012/13 season. Making its debut on the ETS calendar 12-months ago, the race produced one of the most popular wins of the season when Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp notched up his first victory in the World famous electric touring car championship.
In contrast the 3rd round of the series would be an event to forget for champion Ronald Volker, the German forced to withdraw from the finals due to issues with his then prototype speed controllers. The winner of the opening two races of this season, Volker will be looking to make it three in a row & rectify last year’s drama while Krapp will be hoping the event will be the turning point in what has so far been a disappointing start to the 6th season of the Euro Touring Series for the German.
Team Yokomo will have an expanded team this weekend with Volker and 2011/12 season finale winner Yannic Prümper being joined by Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen Vejrak and fellow Thai talent Charlee Phutiyothin. A-Main Finalists at last weekend’s TITC race in Bangkok, of which half the grid have an elusive ETS win to their credit, the pair will be looking
to impress on their debut in the series.
Having secured his best ever ETS result at Round 2 in the Czech Republic where he finished 2nd, the battle for the win going to the third A-Main, factory Serpent driver Marc Fischer will be looking for a repeat performance on his first visit to the Island. Fischer won’t be the only driver looking to go one better in Gran Canaria. Awesomatix’s Viljami Kutvonen lost out on a podium finish at the second round after a tie break with team-mate Freddy Sudhoff. With Sudhoff unable to attend this weekend, Kutvonen will lead the Russian team’s challenge and the talented Finn is sure to be one to watch.
With the switch from carpet to asphalt a number of drivers will be hoping the surface change helps bring them more competitive foam. Runner-up to Krapp at the event last year, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg has had a tough beginning to his ETS campaign. A title contender last season, the Swede was only 10th at Round 2 and needs a good result this weekend. Team-mate Adrian Berntsen had terrible luck at Round 2 but there is no doubting the Norwegian’s talent and he should be a podium contender. Also hoping the move to outdoor racing brings improvement is HB’s Andy Moore. Yet to make the A-Main this season, the former World Champion enjoyed his best result of last season in Gran Canaria taking 5th.
Tamiya is enduring a long run of non-podium finishes but Marc Rheinard & Viktor Wilck are confident that on asphalt they have a car that is capable of winning. Former champion Rheinard has a best finish of 4th while Wilck has missed the cut on both occasions ending up in the B-Main. Elsewhere, having made the A-Main with Chris Grainger on the island last year, the factory Schumacher squad make a welcomed return to the premiere RIDE Modified class this weekend.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, Zdenko Kunák, who did not contest the event last year, will make his ETS debut for the race winners Yokomo. The Slovak driver has made a surprise switch to the Japanese manufacturer having started out the year with Xray, a team for whom he had raced for many years. Marek Cerny who took his & Yokomo’s first win in Gran Canaria has gone the opposite direction switching to Xray for the 2013 season already bagging a win with the Slovak manufacturer at his home round in the Czech Republic. In the Speed Passion Formula class Jan Amser will be chasing his third straight win but faces strong opposition in Marc Rheinard who made his class debut at Round 2 finishing 2nd.
Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series officially gets underway with practice on Friday and culminates with triple mains for all drivers on Sunday. All the action from Gran Canaria can be followed on RedRC where regular updates and video action will be published throughout the weekend.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Record entry for ETS season opener
This weekend (Oct 12-14) the Yokomo Euro Touring Series descends on Muelheim-Kaerlich in Germany for the opening round of the world famous electric touring car championship’s sixth season with a record 316 entries signed up for what will be the 28th running of an event in the series created by Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst. With Yokomo as title sponsor for a third consecutive season, it is the Japanese company’s star driver and reigning back to back champion Ronald Volker who heads the world class entry with all of last season’s five winners back to try lay claim to the prestigious title.
The winner of the season opener for the past two seasons, dominating the Muelheim-Kaerlich event 12-months ago from pole position when the venue made its first appearance on the ETS calendar, Volker this year not only faces strong competition from Tamiya, Kyosho and Xray but also from his own team-mate. Having went three years without a win in the series Yannic Prumper took victory at last year’s season finale giving the 18-year-old a major confidence boost which should see him a contender for the 2012/13 ETS title.
Runner-up for the past two seasons of the ETS and now no longer a reigning World Champion, Marc Rheinard should be more determined than ever to try win back the title he lost to Volker three season’s ago. Tamiya are still the most winning manufacturer in the ETS with 15 victories to their credit. Nine of those wins came from Rheinard but last year the German ace could only manage a single victory for the 3-time champions and he will be looking to set that record straight this year. Team-mates Viktor Wilck, who has one ETS win to his credit, and Elliot Harper had disappointing campaign’s last year and will also be hoping to up their game this season.
Having secured their first ETS title last season when Zdenko Kunák won the Pro Stock Championship, the biggest class in the series, Team Xray will be hoping they can claim the coveted Ride Tires Modified title this season building on the strong performance of Alexander Hagberg who took the company’s first win on his way to third overall in last year’s standings. In addition to Hagberg, the Slovak manufacturer who will attend the opening round armed with thieir all new T4 chassis, will have a second fast Swede in the form of Magnus Vässmar who on a number of occasions last season showed great speed.
Another team to enjoy their first taste of victory in the premiere class during 2012 was Kyosho. While the smallest of the big four factory teams in terms of driver line-up, they have a great talent in Christopher Krapp. The World Championship finalist and winner of the ETS’ first Gran Canaria encounter, Krapp enjoyed a podium at the season opener last year despite only qualifying sixth. With Kyosho having just signed ETS Pro Stock race winner John Bruins, this should benefit Krapp as they will be able to share set-up ideas and get the TF6 SP dialled in earlier in the event, something that hampered Krapp last season.
Also hoping to add to the mix this year will be previous race winning teams Associated and HB. Although the teams didn’t win during Season No.5 they have very capable drivers in former World Champion Andy Moore and multiple former European Champion Juho Levanen. Levanen who took a win in Season 4 had a trying 2011/12 season failing to make the A-Main and the Finn will be hoping he can return to his previous form. Elsewhere Serpent, who have become an Associated sponsor of the ETS, will be looking to build on some strong showings from Marc Fisher last season who will be joined in the team by David Ehrbar who is a multiple ETS A-Main finalist.
Attracting over 170 entries, the Xray Pro Stock class is set to once again be ultra competitive with a long list of capable drivers ready to battle Zdenko Kunák for his title. Running a controlled 13.5T Motor/Speedo combo from Speed Passon, Pro Stock produced five different winners last season and saw Kunák, Tony Streit and Oliver Franke end the series tied on points. Introduced to the ETS programme last year at the second round of the series, this will be the first visit for the Speed Passion Formula class to Muelheim-Kaerlich. Continuing to grow with every race defending champion Herbert Weber will face his biggest competition yet with over 30 cars set to take part this weekend. All three classes in the ETS will continue to run on a hand out tyre from Japanese company Ride.
The 2012/13 Yokomo Euro Touring Series will kick off with practice on Friday followed by four rounds of qualifying and triple mains for all competitors. As official media partners of the series, Red RC will be in attendance publishing regular updates throughout the three day event.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Hudy Racing Arena joins as host of season finale
The schedule for the sixth season of the Euro Touring Series has been finalised with the exciting news that the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia will open its doors to its first international race meeting by hosting the season finale of the world famous electric touring car championship next Summer. The official test track of reigning ETS Pro-Stock Champions Xray, Round 6 of the upcoming season is scheduled as an outdoor event but should the local weather give rain for the July 19-21st date the state of the art facility can quickly switch to an indoor event ensuring racers who make the trip to the historical city of Trenčín will still get to race no matter what the weather. The other big announcement for the new season is that Modified champions Yokomo will continue as title sponsor for a third consecutive season with the series to continue to be officially known as the Yokomo Euro Touring Series.
With a growing number of requests from new countries and cities looking to host a round of the ETS which last year saw 718 drivers register championship points, the planning of the calendar for Season No.6 was one of the greatest challenges faced by series organisers Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst since it creation back in 2007. New to the series last season, Muelheim-Kaerlich will once be the venue for Round 1 over the weekend of October 12-14th. The biggest race of 2011/12, the German event looks set to enjoy the same status this year with it attracting over 300 entries within 24-hours of the race registration opening.
Making a return to the ETS after a year out to host the opening round of the inaugural Euro Offroad Series, Hrotovice in the Czech Reublic makes a welcomed comeback as the venue for Round 2 on January 18-20th. Having hosted the second round last year but unable to secure a venue for this season, Italy will take a year out with a view to returning in the future with a new location. Poland will also take a year out from the ETS as the club take on the honour of hosting the opening round of Season No.2 of Euro Offroad Series as part of one of the country’s main Hobby Shows.
New to last year’s calendar and one of the most talked about events in terms of Christopher Krapp’s maiden victory and the pre & post race celebrations that took place, Gran Canaria will again be the third stop of the schedule with a much larger entry expected to descend on the Spanish holiday island this time round for the March 1-3 event.
Set to host its fifth ETS race making it the most used track in the series’ 7-year history, the beautiful outdoor Apeldoorn track in the Netherlands will kick start the second half of the season on May 17-19th. New to the ETS and venue for the finale of Season No.5, where four drivers went head to head for the overall modified title, Traiskirchen in Austria will again feature on the 2012/13 schedule. With its unique roof covered asphalt track it will hold the penultimate round on June 14-16th. The conclusion of the sixth season of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series will take place 5 weeks later at the Hudy Racing Arena.
The ETS will once again partner with Ride as the supplier of controlled tyres for all three championship classes while Speed Passion continue as the official speedo & motor provider for the Pro-Stock & the Formula classes.
2012/13 Yokomo Euro Touring Series Schedule
Round 1 – Muelheim-Kaerlich, Germany – 12–14 October 2012
Round 2 – Hrotovice, Czech Republic – 18–20 January 2013
Round 3 – Gran Canaria, Spain – 01–03 March 2013
Round 4 – Apeldoorn, Netherlands – 17–19 May 2013
Round 5 – Traiskirchen, Austria – 14–16 June 2013
Round 6 – Trencin, Slovakia – 19–21 July 2013
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Four manufacturers chase ETS title at season finale in Austria
The stage is set for the most exciting title battle in the history of the ETS with four drivers representing four different manufacturers in with a chance of becoming the 2011/12 Yokomo Euro Touring Series Champions at this weekend’s (6-8th July) season finale in Traiskirchen, Austria. Having enjoyed it’s most successful season to-date with close on 700 drivers set to register points in the World famous electric touring car series, the fifth running of the championship has also produced its most competitive year of racing with four different drivers taking to the top step of the podium in the premiere Ride Modified class. Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp and Xray’s Alexander Hagberg both claimed their first ever ETS wins putting them in the position of going head to head with Team Yokomo’s defending Champion Ronald Volker and Tamiya’s former Champion Marc Rheinard for the prestigious title at the sixth & final round.
A new addition to the ETS calendar, Traiskirchen is the perfect venue for such an exciting climax to the season with the roof covered asphalt track ensuring that the current unsettled European weather can play no part in deciding whether the elusive ETS Modified Champions roll of honour remains at just three names (Jilles Groskamp, Rheinard & Volker) or gets the addition of a fourth worthy Champion. The Top 4 in the standings are seperated by just 7-points with a maximum of 156 points up for grabs so its very much still all to play for and as was witnessed at the preceeding round in Apeldoorn, where Rheinard rescued his campaign by taking the TQ and win, anything can happen in racing with Volker and Hagberg both failing to make the A-Main at the Dutch event.
While the focus of the weekend will be on the title battle, there will be a number of drivers among the World Class entry of over 200 racers who with no championship to worry about will be looking to make their own mark, this being the last major international touring car race before the World Championships that take place in the Netherlands at the end of the month. Having finished sixth at Round 5, his first ETS outing this season, former World Champion & ETS race winner Atsushi Hara will be hoping for a more competitive outing in Austria as will Team HB team-mates Andy Moore and Shin Adachi.
Having topped a round of qualifying to line up third on the grid in Apeldoorn, Serpent’s Marc Fisher will be looking to build on that performance this weekend and bring home some silverware for his small team. Also looking to convert his unquestionable raw talent in to a victory will be Volker’s Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prumper. Prumper finished runner up to Rheinard at Traiskirchen last year when it hosted the European Championships and the young German must be close to ending his 3-year victory drought.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, which has also produced four different winners this season, the title will too be decided in Austria in a duel between Xray’s Zdenko Kunák and Team HB driver Oliver Franke. A new addition to the ETS this year the Formula class, for 1:10 2WD Formula 1 cars which like Pro Stock use a controlled Speed Passion speedo/motor combo, is wide open with no less than five drivers in with a chance of becoming the inaugural champion.
While those in contention for a title will be holding off on any celebrations until Sunday evening, for the rest of the competitors they will be able to celebrate the successful conclusion of Season No.5 of Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst’s Euro Touring Series with the now traditional end of season party planned for Saturday night at the track. With the organisation of the Traiskirchen ETS encounter being headed up by top Austrian touring car racer Thomas Pumpler with help from former European Electric Offroad Champion Peter Pinsch, the weekend is sure to be of a very high standard something that racers have now come to expect from ETS events.
Round 6 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series will be covered live throughout the weekend on Red RC where you can follow how the title battle unfolds over the three day event.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
