Volker ups the pace in Q2
Ronald Volker continued his reign at the top of the times sheets here in the Czech Republic getting Day 2 underway with another TQ run. The Yokomo lead driver set a new fastest heat of 25 laps in 5:07.984 knocking 3.5 seconds off yesterday’s Q1 topping run. The European Champion, who will defend his Indoor title here next February, said his BD5 felt the the same on the last lap as it did on the first. Volker said his mechanic Yukijiro Umino changed the timing of the tyre additive based on the feedback he gave him from Q1 and this made the car super consistent.
Defending Champion Marc Rheinard once again had to settle for the second spot with a time that was 2 seconds off his big rival. The Tamiya Racing Factory team leader said the new TRF417 was ok but he did not drive very well catching the corner dots a number of times. Despite the front of his bodyshell rubbing, the German, who is busy testing a range of additives in preparation for the launch of his own indoor additive, was able to post the fastest lap of the weekend so far with a 12.143. His team-mate Viktor Wilck, who struggled badly in the opening qualifier, looked more competitive in Q2 managing fifth. The Swede went back to the basic set-up for the new car this morning which helped a little but says he needs to find something big as the car is still too slow.
Hot Bodies driver Freddy Sudhoff was third for the round after swapping times with Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg. Happier with his driving today, the German changed the timing of the additive on the controlled Xenon tyres which improved the overall feel of his TCX but at the cost of creating a litte understeer. He plans to make a slight adjustment to his set-up for Q3 to give himself a little steering back.
Making it four different manufacturers at the top of the time sheets Hagberg was again happy with his LRP powered T3’11. The newly crowned Nordic Champion described his car as very easy to drive but a small mistake on lap 15 cost him a place. The Swede plans to make a few small changes for his next outing to see if they can get a little more corner speed. Team-mate Teem Leino matched his opening run with another sixth fastest run.
Former European Championship Top Qualifier Steven Weiss had another strong showing at the controls of his TOP Racing Photon setting the eight fastest time behind the Yokomo of team driver Yannic Prumper. Making his first ETS appearance of the new season Kyosho factory driver Christopher Krapp completed the Top 10.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class Team Yokomo’s Martin Hofer posted a TQ run ahead of Martin Lissau while Q1 pace setter Eric Dankel put his Xray on its roof. Hofer said a change from CS to LRP additive made his BD5 much better and it was now down to him to make the most of the package by driving it. Lissau was also happier with his car saying he was ‘starting to get there now’. Switching back to a ball diff in the rear of his Tamiya and swapping the spool for a gear diff, the Danish racer found it much more consistent and says the one second margin between him and Hofer was simply down to less than perfect driving.
The winner here in Hrotovice last season Daniel Wohlgemuth, like Hofer, switched additive along with running harder shock oil which gave him a ‘very good’ car. After a poor opening qualifier the German’s start order for the heat meant he had to pass a number of cars which he feels cost him time but he was still able for the third fastest time which will help him in Q3. 11th fastest for the Round Eric Dankel said his roll was a silly mistake, the Xray driver running too hard over a corner and launching his T3’11 on to its roof. Once on four wheels the championship leader posted a new fastest lap for the track of 12.977.
Full results can be found here.
View our event image gallery here
Saturday, November 27, 2010
No surprises in Czech Republic as Volker takes Q1
The first qualifier for the second round of the 2010/11 ETS has been run and to no ones great surprise it is Ronald Volker who remains the man to beat. The Yokomo driver was the only person to break 25 laps with a time of 5:11.417 with Marc Rheinard second fastest on 24 laps in 5:00.231.
Describing his LRP powered BD5 Worlds Spec as easy to drive and well balanced, Volker said as he had expected Rheinard was able to match his pace, a roll by the World Champion on lap 6 hampering his chances of knocking his fellow German off the top of the time sheets. Rheinard said his new TRF417 felt strange on fresh rubber but after a few laps he was able to run same pace as Volker and that the key to taking the challenge to his arch rival is getting his car to work as well as Volker’s from lap 1.
This morning he said testing at Xray’s private indoor track in Slovakia had been very productive and Alexander Hagberg backed that statement up by setting the third fastest time. Having to drive from a different position on the rostrum following the reseed for qualifying the Swedish ace said it took a few laps to adjust to this but his T3’11 was really good and he has no plans to change anything for the morning. Overall it was a much better start to the event for Xray than at Round 1 with Teemu Leino, Adrian Bernsten and Zdenko Kunak all making the Top 10 in Q1 setting the 6th, 8th and 9th fastest times respectively.
Freddy Sudhoff was fourth fastest but the Hot Bodies driver was not so happy with his driving at the beginning of the run. The German also found his TCX to be a little loose at the rear, something he hopes to cure for the morning by changing additive and the timing of its application. Right behind Sudhoff was his team-mate Dominik Fleischmann but the Kastellaun finalist was also not entirely pleased with his driving either.
Sandwiched in between the Tamiya and Hot Bodies of factory drivers Viktor Wilck and Andy Moore, former team driver Steven Weiss put in a strong showing with his privately entered Top Racing Photon setting the 11th fastest time.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class Eric Dankel took the opening qualifier with ease, his pace being a massive 5 seconds clear of the second fastest driver Martin Lissau. Dankel flipped his Xray at the end of the run but luckily his time had already expired. With a new set of Xenon controlled tyres on his T3’11 the German suffered understeer for the opening part of the 5-minute run but once the tyres came in the car was back to how it was in practice. Fellow Xray driver Tony Streit, who finished 7th overall in Kastellaun, reported the same issue but the 21-year-old was pleased with his run to the third fastest time.
Making his ETS debut former 1:5 World Champion Martin Lissau said his run to second was a little lucky as a number of the championship regulars made mistakes. The Danish driver, who is running a Tamiya TRF416WE fitted with a rear gear diff, found his car very inconsistent and for Q2 tomorrow morning plans to change the spool for a front gear diff.
Former ETS Pro-Stock Champion Balint Raijki said his Hot Bodies TCX was good and stable allowing him to easily ride the dots but felt like it lacked punch out of the corners. The Hungarian driver thinks he may need to adjust his driving style for the next qualifier rather than go changing the set-up. The Top 6 was completed by current Champion Alexander Stocker and Round 1 podium finisher Martin Hofer.
Xenon Modified Qualifying – Round 1 Top 10
1. Völker Ronald (DE) – 25 5:11.417 [Yokomo/LRP]
2. Rheinard Marc (DE) – 24 5:00.231 [Tamiya/Speedpassion]
3. Hagberg Alexander (SE) – 24 5:01.859 [Xray/LRP]
4. Südhoff Frederik (DE) – 24 5:02.823 [Hot Bodies/LRP]
5. Fleischmann Dominik (DE) – 24 5:04.707 [Hot Bodies/LRP]
6. Leino Teemu (FI) – 24 5:04.806 [Xray/Orion]
7. Levanen Juho (FI) – 24 5:05.083 [Associated/LRP]
8. Berntsen Adrian (NO) – 24 5:05.090 [Xray/LRP]
9. Kunak Zdenko (SK) – 24 5:05.526 [Xray/LRP]
10.Wilck Viktor (SE) – 24 5:06.353 [Tamiya/Speedpassion]
Xray Pro Stock Qualifying – Round 1 Top 10
1. Dankel Eric (DE) – 23 5:02.742 [Xray]
2. Lissau Martin (DK) – 23 5:07.878 [Tamiya]
3. Streit Tony (DE) – 23 5:08.775 [Xray]
4. Rajki Balint (HU) – 23 5:09.943 [Hot Bodies]
5. Stocker Alexander (DE) – 23 5:10.041 [Hot Bodies]
6. Hofer Martin (DE) – 23 5:11.429 [Yokomo]
7. Tschupp Philip (CH) – 23 5:13.764 [TOP]
8. Klöckner René (DE) – 23 5:13.872 [Tamiya]
9. Kuriger Sandro (CH) – 22 5:00.080 [Tamiya]
10.Wohlgemuth Daniel (DE) – 22 5:00.333 [Xray]
Full results can be found here.
View our event image gallery here
Friday, November 26, 2010
Kastellaun winners top practice in Czech Republic
At the end of practice for the second round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series Ronald Volker doesn’t look like letting up on his Round 1 domination, the German putting his Yokomo BD5 at the top of the time sheets here in Hrotovice. Over three consecutive laps the European Champion was the fastest of the Xenon Modified class competitors and just like in Kastellaun, where he went on to take his first win, he outpaced his arch rival and defending ETS champion Marc Rheinard.
Armed with Tamiya’s new TRF417 Rheinard said he was still playing around with small set-up changes and additive but hopes like with the TRF416 when traction comes up he will be in a position to get the better of the on-form Volker.
Following on from his strong performance at the season opener ‘Fast Freddy’ Sudhoff was very happy with his morning describing his LRP powered Hot Bodies TCX as perfect having just focused on his driving rather than chassis set-up which is the same he used to finish a very competitive fifth overall in Round 1.
Having struggled in Germany former ETS race winner Yannic Prumper is a lot more upbeat here this weekend taking his Yokomo to the fourth fastest time. Having ran gear diffs front and rear he was much happier with his BD5 in the final practice after switching back to the more conventional ball diff and spool set-up and the German teenager is quite confident ahead of this evening’s first qualifier.
Teemu Leino was best of the Xray drivers setting the fifth quickest time just ahead of junior team-mate Adrian Berntsen. Team Associated’s Juho Levanen was next up declaring himself to be ‘happy enough’ for qualifying. The Finn ran a new set of tyres in the fourth & final practice run which did suit his new TC6, the car working better on used controlled Xenon tyres.
In the Xray Pro-stock class it was also the Round 1 winner that topped the practice times with Eric Dankel setting the pace over Daniel Wohlgemuth who was the winner here last time. Dankel says practice went pretty much to plan and feels with a fresh set of rubber his Xray T3’11 is good for a TQ run in the first qualifier. Wohlgemuth said Dankel has an edge over the rest of the field but he expects things will be closer in Q1 with his plan being to push a liitle harder now that the times start to really count. Martin Hofer tried a gear diff in the final practice and said it gave his Yokomo a ‘horrible’ feeling but is confident with a ball diff back in the car all should be good for the first qualifier. Defending Champion Alexander Stocker was fourth fastest the German back at the controls of a Hot Bodies having run a Yokomo borrowed from Hofer at Round 1.
View our event image gallery here
Friday, November 26, 2010
Teams ready for battle in Hrotovice
The opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series was all about one driver and one team with Ronald Volker dominating proceedings to give Team Yokomo their first ever win in the series. In the weeks since Kastellaun the opposition have been busy trying to ensure this is not repeated with Volker admitting himself he expects a much tougher challenge from Tamiya and Xray here. Having enjoyed his first nitro race after traveling to Hong Kong recently where he raced 200mm, the German said the wide open track here this year in the Czech Reublic is also going to make it a very close affair with no challenging corners in which to give any particular driver or car a distinct advantage over the opposition. Last year the track here in Hrotovice was one of the most technical with lap times in the region of 18 second compared with the 12 seconds being run in early practice today.
The big news for Round 2 is the arrival of Tamiya’s all new TRF417. The car replaces the 416 which brought Tamiya two consecutive World titles and three Euro Touring Series titles with just three cars present here for their Tamiya Racing Factory squad. Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck had their first taste of the new chassis at the Tamiya Fair event in Shizuoka, Japan, last week where they did some demo races before traveling to the Yatabe Arena for a full day of proper testing. In addition to picking up their new hardware the pair also agreed new contracts that will see them each continue to race for Tamiya for a further two years. The youngest and newest member of the team, Elliot Harper didn’t travel to Japan, his car been shipped to the UK where he spent the week building it. Having his first run with the 417 in this morning’s practice the teenager said the car already feels really good.
Xray launched their new T3 ’11 at the opening round last month and while they finished 1-2 in Pro Stock they were less than happy with their performance in the premiere class with only Alexander Hagberg making the A-Main. Not ones to sit around, the Slovak company gathered its team at its factory in Slovakia where Hagberg, Teemu Leino, Martin Hudy and Francesco Martini spent the last few days testing on their indoor carpet test track. Hagberg who last week won the Nordic Championships said the test was very productive and the entire team are confident they have found the reason for their lack of pace and he is hopeful of a much better showing here in Hrotovice.
Although they enjoyed 2 cars in the final at Kastellaun Hot Bodies factory driver Andy Moore was not one of them and the former World Champion has used the time between races to try and get the TCX chassis better suited to carpet. Focusing on different shock set-up he said it transformed the car back home where he enjoyed a win in the second round of the competitive Ardent Raceway Winter series. Much happier with the car he hopes the set-up will transfer to the different blue carpet that is being used here this weekend. Freddy Sudhoff was the top Hot Bodies driver in Germany and he is hoping for a similar performance this weekend targeting a podium finish, having just missed out last time at Round 1.
Another who just missed out on a podium having ended up on the same points as Sudhoff and Wilck, who claimed the third spot, Juho Levanen is making his debut with the full production version of Team Associated’s new TC6. The Finn, who spent Wednesday snowboarding before departing for Czech yesterday, said the car has a number of slightly different parts to the pre-production one he raced at Round 1 with the shocks being totally new. Although there was no racing for him to try out the car he did conduct some testing which he said proved very productive.
Making a welcome return to the series here is factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp. Unable to attended Kastellaun due to work commitments the young German, who was one of the stars at the World Championships earlier this year, gets his campaign underway this weekend. Having been busy racing electric off road for the last four weekends Krapp said he has had to use the morning to readjust his driving style but his TF-6 feels good thanks to some carpet testing he did last month back in Germany.
Elsewhere there are two interesting changes in terms of cars being used by Steven Wiess and Michal Bok. Having struggled to get to terms with the BD5 Wiess has left the team and is running a privateer this weekend running a TOP Racing Photon. The German said he will race a number of makes of cars and hopes after a difficult season he can get back on track for 2011. Michal Bok who has run Tamiya in recent times moves to Yokomo after his company MIBO Sport became the distributor for the Japanese company here in the Czech Republic.
One entry that is very worthy of a mention is that of father and son pairing of How-Jiang and Dominic Quek who have traveled all the way from Singapore to race in the ETS. How-Jiang said they have been following the ETS on Red RC and thought it looked like a really nice series to race in, so as a present to his son Dominic who only turned 8 on Wednesday they decided to take in the race here in Hrotovice as part of a European holiday. How-Jiang is in for a busy weekend as he will race himself in Pro-Stock while Dominic races in both the Xray Pro-Stock and the Speed Passion Hobby classes.
Today’s schedule is made up of four rounds of controlled practice followed by the first of five round of qualifying for all classes.
View our event image gallery here
Friday, November 26, 2010
Rheinard takes runner-up spot in Kastellaun
With Ronald Volker having already secured the overall victory with wins in the opening two legs, and opting to sit out the third final, it was Marc Rheinard who became the only other driver to appear at the top of the Xenon Modified time sheets here this weekend in Kastellaun. The defending ETS Champion took a rather easy win but only after he made contact the rear of early leader Freddy Sudhoff on lap 4, the body once again tucking under on the green Hot Bodies TCX. Rheinard said afterwards that the incident was unfortunate and ‘shit for Freddy’ but reflecting on Volker’s domination of the event said his Tamiya team needs to find something before the next round in Czech Republic next month. The 3-time World Champion believes the level of support provided by Yokomo here in Germany was key to Volker’s performance.
With Rheinard winning by over 2.5 seconds, the interest in the race was the battle for second which at one point was between four cars. In the end Hot Bodies driver Dominik Fleischmann resisted pressure from Team Associated’s Juho Levanen who in turn had to deal with challenges from Yannic Pruemper and Viktor Wilck. A much improved Pruemper, the German teenager finally showed the kind of speed we expect from the former race winner, but a mistake in the chicane while trying a move on Levanen dropped him back and he eventually finished 6th. Having traction rolled off the track on the opening lap Wilck worked his way back up the order but also failed to find a way passed the Finnish ace who crossed the line in third 15/100th ahead of the Swede. The result of the third leg would see Levanen, Wilck and Sudhoff all tie for the final podium place on 7 points but Wilck’s Leg 3 race time would see him take the 3rd overall.
In Pro-Stock Eric Dankel, having already secured the overall win, completed a perfect day with a clean sweep of victories from pole. A rather chaotic race, the Xray driver managed to lap everyone up to second place which went to Martin Hofer which was good enough to secure the Yokomo driver the final step on the podium. Finishing third, backing up his second place finish in Leg 2, 16-year-old Tim Wahl made it a successful 1-2 result for Xray’s new T3 ’11 as he finished runner-up overall.
A superb start to the 2010/11 ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’, with a record 262 entries registering championship points, the teams and drivers have six weeks to prepare for the next stage of the World’s biggest touring car championship. Making a very successful debut on the ETS calendar last season, the series returns to the Czech Republic on November 26-28 when we will see if anyone can respond to the pace laid down by the on-form Volker.
‘Xenon Modified’ Overall Result
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 2 points
2. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 3
3. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 7
4. Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated/LRP – 7
5. Frederik Südhoff (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 7
6. Dominik Fleischmann (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 8
7. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo/Speedpassion – 10
8. Elliott Harper (GB) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 14
9. Lucas Urbain (FR) – Losi/Speedpassion – 15
10.Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/LRP – 16
‘Xray Pro-Stock’ Overall Result
1. Eric Dankel (DE) – Xray – 2
2. Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 5
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – Yokomo – 5
4. Oliver Franke (DE) – Hot Bodies – 9
5. Alexander Stocker (DE) – Yokomo – 9
6. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Tamiya – 9
7. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 10
8. René Klöckner (DE) – Tamiya – 12
9. Daniel Wohlgemuth (DE) – Xray – 17
10.Carsten Madsen (DK) – Tamiya – 18
View our event image gallery here. Videos to follow soon.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
