Volker takes Q4 after Hagberg shuts down
Having sat out Q2 & 3, Q1 top qualifier Ronald Volker took the fourth round of qualifying at the ETS in Gran Canaria but only after Alexander Hagberg suffered a speedo shut down three & a half minutes in to the run while on target for his first TQ run. Despite running his second set of new tyres Volkers run was over 8 seconds slower than his Q1 pace due to the hotter track conditions and a windy spell in the final minute of the top heat which made for tricky conditions. Marc Fischer took his Serpent to the second fastest time 1.4 seconds behind Volker with Dominic Fleischmann third in his Yokomo.
After the round Volker said ‘so far the gamble (not to run the previous two heats) was paying off’ but added with three from the 6 rounds to count the gamble was still on as he only has two finishes to his credit. Describing the conditions as ‘tricky’ the defending champion said he was a little lucky that Hagberg hit trouble as he wasn’t sure he would have had the pace over the closing minute of the qualifier to make back the early advantage the Xray had before retiring. Overall happy with how is LRP BD7 ran in the conditions the German said it was a good round for the team with 5 of the Top 6 running Yokomos.
Also gambling on running his second set of Ride tyres, Fischer said having driven ‘like shit’ in yesterday’s opening qualifier when on his new tyres he needed to get a good run. He said unfortunately Volker & Hagberg also opted to run new tyres in the round with Hagberg suffering ‘bad luck’ he was able to get a valuable second. Expecting Marc Rheinard, Viktor Wilck and Andy Moore to use their second set of tyres in the penultimate qualifier, Fischer said because of this he will use three run old tyres for his next run saving his Q4 tyres for the final round. Expecting cooler conditions for the evening run the German is confident this would give him the potential for another top run as the difference between the first & second run on new tyres is not that big with his S411.
Fleischmann was very happy to set the third fastest time, the German suspecting he had one bad tyre in his first set of tyres. Having a lot more overall traction he said the first four laps of the run his BD7 didn’t feel to good but ‘all of a sudden’ it started to work very well and based on this he will try a different tyre management for Q5. Fellow Yokomo/LRP driver Loic Jasmin set the fourth fastest time but could have claimed his second Top 3 result were it not for a mistake on the last lap which cost him over 1-second in time.
Making the trip all the way to the Spanish holiday island from Thailand, Charlee Phutiyotin enjoyed his best run taking 5th for the round ahead of Q3 pace setter Yannic Prumper. Running in the 2nd fastest heat and on new tyres, the A-finalist at last weekend’s TITC said the sun which never got to break through the clouds yesterday made conditions a little trickier but he was pleased with his points haul for the round. His first time to contest a round of the Euro Touring Series he said he was really enjoying competing in the World famous electric Touring Car Championship.
Former European Championship Top Qualifier Steven Weiss took his Top Racing Photon EX to the 7th fastest time. The German, who is running a number of new parts that will form part of a new upcoming car from the Hong Kong company, said he was very happy to end the run just 3 seconds behind Volker who is widely acknowledged as being currently the best touring car in the world. Having made few set-up changes to his car Weiss said most of his work as been on tyre management.
Debuting the all new Schumacher Mi5 here this weekend, which because it is not the final production version the British company has asked us not to photograph, multiple British National Champion Chris Grainger set the 8th fastest time. A finalist at this event last year, Grainger said while putting the new car in the A-Main would be a dream result they have to be realistic but overall they are really pleased with how the car is working. Feature a number of hand made parts as production parts didn’t arrive in time, he said Phil Boots, who is responsible for the design of the car, has been busy making lots of notes on things which they can improve for the first production run of the new chassis.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Marek Cerny bounced back from his electrical issue in Q3 to post his third TQ run of qualifying. Winner of the event last year, the Xray driver is looking very strong but defending champion Zdenko Kunak was just 2/10th off the Czech driver this time and could give him a good run in the final on this his first visit to the island. In the Speed Passion Formula class Jan Asmer wrapped up the overall TQ honours for Sunday’s triple mains when he posted his fourth TQ qualifier.
Ride Modified Q4 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:14.022
2. Marc Fischer – Serpent/Thunder Power – 16/5:15.433
3. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:15.682
4. Loic Jasmin – Yokmo/LRP – 16/5:16.253
5. Charlee Phutiyotin – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:16.549
6. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:16.899
7. Steven Weiss – TOP/LRP – 16/5:17.153
8. Chris Grainger – Schumacher/GM Racing – 16/5:17.209
9. Zdenko Kunak – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:17.383
10.Michael Bok – Yokomo/Speed Passion – 16/5:18.592
View complete event results here.
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Saturday, March 2, 2013
Q3 Update – Prumper fastest
Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper set the pace in the third round of qualifying which was to be the slowest 5-minute so far of the event. With all the top drivers running used tyres Prumper, the winner of the last ETS race to be held on asphalt, took advantage of his tyres being only one run old to top the time sheets by over 2 seconds from Team Xray’s Adrien Bernsten and Q2 top qualifier Viktor Wilck. Making his ETS debut Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen Vejrak enjoyed his best points haul setting the fourth fastest time ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Andy Moore. Once again Champion Ronald Volker pulled up immediately after the startline, the German sitting out the run as part of a tactical call to benefit Prumper.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Viljami Kutvonen TQ’d the third round after defending champion Zdenko Kunak’s motor overheated in the hottest conditions of the event so far while the Yokomo driver was on a TQ pace. Having set the pace in the opening two qualifiers championship leader Marek Cerny also suffered an electrical trouble, his Xray coming to a halt in the final minute & a half of the run. In the Speed Passion Formula class Jan Asmer made it 3 from 3 with yet another 13 lap in 5mins 12secs.
Ride Modified Q3 times
1. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:11.673
2. Adrien Berntsen – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:13.757
3. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 16/5:15.584
4. Meen Vejrak – Yokomo/DualSky – 16/5:16.085
5. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:16.847
6. Andy Moore – HB/Hobbywing – 16/5:19.992
7. Juho Levanen – Associated/Reedy – 15/5:00.375
8. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho/Orion – 15/5:00.544
9. Fabian Bucher – Xray/Thunder Power – 15/5:00.726
10.Marc Rheinard – Tamiya/Muchmore – 15/5:00.903
View complete event results here.
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Saturday, March 2, 2013
Wilck TQs 2nd qualifier at ETS Round 3
Having pulled up right after the start of opening round of qualifying in Gran Canaria yesterday Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck was able to capitalize on fresh tyres this morning taking Q2 at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series ahead of the Yokomo’s of Yannic Prumper and Loic Jasmin who both also had the advantage of fresh tyres. Best of those on used tyres was Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who posted the fourth fastest time. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier Ronald Volker became the latest driver to play the tyre strategy games pulling up immediately after crossing the start line in Q2. Originally scheduled to be the best 2 rounds counting from five, a change to the timetable has added a sixth round of qualifying with three rounds now to count meaning every driver will need to run at least once on used tyres.
Running a time that was 1.1-seconds off Volker’s Q1 pace, Wilck said he was happy to TQ the round but despite having new tyres his Speed Passion powered TRF417 felt a little loose. Not willing to disclose when he planned to use his second new set of allocated Ride controlled tyres, the Swede who was the only driver to run an 18-second lap time said rather than change his chassis set-up he would focus on the preparation of his new & used tyres.
Having run three laps on his tyres in Q1 before pulling up after a mistake, Prumper said even with this small amount of running the tyres had lost the potential for a TQ Finishing over 2-seconds off Wilck, he also described his Muchmore equipped BD7 as a ‘little loose’ adding that he too would focus on getting more from the tyre rather than go after a better chassis set-up.
French National Champion Jasmin was pleased with his run to the third fastest time but said his LRP powered BD7 which was really good in the beginning of the run lacked consistency and was difficult to drive at the end. Running tyres that only did 2-laps in the opening qualifier and setting the TQ pace for the first half off the run, he said he will make a change to his shocks for his next run in addition to adjusting his tyre management.
Hagberg was pleased with the performance of his ORCA powered Xray T4 on used tyres. Suffering slight damage to one of his tyres in Q1 on his way to posting the second fastest time, the Swede said for the first few laps his car felt a little tweaked but once the tyres came in it ‘felt pretty good’. Planning to leave everything as is last year’s event runner-up said the rest of qualifying was going to be about when to run new or used tyres and he hoped he would be able to make the right call on the strategy to choose.
Last year’s winner Christopher Krapp, who was 3rd fastest in Q1, could only manage 16th in Q2. Switching body for the round, the Kyosho driver said he had a problem with the side catching a front tyre and tucking but overall he just had a lack of traction. Changing to the same tyre additive he used on his new tyres he said it didn’t work with the car just sliding around. For his next run on used tyres the German will switch back to the previous additive he used in practice which gave much better traction.
Fifth in Q1, Marc Rheinard was again fifth in the second qualifier the 3-time World Champion saying that he had little choice but to run a ‘slow steady round’ due to the lack of traction. Setting the 7th fastest time behind Dominik Fleischmann, Andy Moore took a similar approach but the 2006 World Champion had two moments, the second of which saw him roll his Hobby Wing powered HB TCXX costing him 2 positions. The Top 10 was completed by Serpent’s Marc Fischer, TOP Racing’s Steven Weiss and Awesomatix’s Viljami Kutvonen.
In the Xray Pro Stock and Speed Passion Formula classes Marek Cerny and Jan Asmer picked up where the left off yesterday to produce their second TQ runs of the event.
Ride Modified Q2 times
1. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 16/5:06.670
2. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:08.964
3. Loic Jasmin – Yokmo/LRP – 16/5:09.704
4. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:11.369
5. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya/Muchmore – 16/5:13.914
6. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:14.263
7. Andy Moore – HB/Hobbywing – 16/5:14.518
8. Marc Fischer – Serpent/Thunder Power – 16/5:14.543
9. Steven Weiss – TOP/LRP – 16/5:16.254
10.Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix/LRP – 16/5:16.644
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Saturday, March 2, 2013
Volker takes Q1 at ETS Gran Canaria
Ronald Volker has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria, the defending champion setting the fastest time ahead of last year’s top 2 finishers on the holiday island with Alexander Hagberg just 2/10th off the German’s pace with last year’s winner Christopher Krapp completing the Top 3. Having set the pace in practice Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper pulled up after three laps to save tyres after he lost time when got out of shape through the sweeper leading on to the main straight.
Enduring a tough event on the Gran Canaria’s debut in the series 12-months ago ultimately having to withdraw from the event before the finals, Volker said it was great to start off qualifying with a TQ run especially when everyone was running on fresh tyres. Chasing his third consecutive win of this the 6th season of the ETS, the factory Yokomo driver said in the beginning of the 5-minute run his LRP powered BD7 was not the fastest car on track but knowing it was very consistent he just stayed patient and that was to pay off by the end of the run. With only 2 of the 5 scheduled qualifiers to count and just two sets of tyres available Volker said with a big difference between new & used tyres tomorrow was going to be all about strategy as seen in Q1 when Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck & Team Associated’s Juho Levanen pulled up immediately after they crossed the start line to save tyres for tomorrow.
Having set the early pace only eventually losing the chance of a TQ run when he got his Xray T4 up on two wheels on lap 11 of 16, Hagberg was happy with what he called an ‘almost TQ’ run. Leaving his car the same as he ran it in the final practice, the Swede said it felt really good this time round allowing him to post the fastest lap of the opening qualifier with a time of 18.726. Looking to tomorrow Hagberg said it was going to be an interesting day due to the impending tyre tactics which he added was not good for the atmosphere of the series. Xray team-mate Adrien Berntsen briefly set the pace but having not properly tightened the screw on the servo mounting it came loose half way through the run making the car very difficult to drive. Despite this the Norwegian was able to set the 6th fastest time.
Happy to be back on asphalt and back in the Top 5 was how Krapp summed up his run to the third fastest time. The Kyosho driver said his Orion powered TF6 was good enough for a TQ run at the start of the run, the German running a number of laps at the top of the timing screens, but as the run went on it started to develop understeer. Running a Protoform Speed 6 body he plans to switch to an LTC-R body for Q2 leaving the set-up as is in the hope that his will give him the extra 5% of steering he needs in the second half of the run.
Setting the fourth fastest time, Andy Moore described his opening qualifier as a ‘solid, clean run’. Still lacking overall traction and steering even on new tyres, the former World Champion said he believes tyre preparation is the key to success at this track and with open practice available to all drivers this evening he is going to test some additive options with team-mate Stefan Chodzynski.
Fellow former World Champion Marc Rheinard had a similar complaint. Setting the 6th fastest time, the Tamiya driver said his car is just sliding around on the track too much no matter what changes he makes to his set-up so he will also try a different tyre management for tomorrow.
Elsewhere Thailand’s Meen Vejrak and Charlee Phutiyotin put in a solid first qualifier on their ETS debut the Yokomo drivers setting the 7th and 9th fastest times respectively separated by French driver Lucas Urbain. The Top 10 was completed by Schumacher’s Chris Grainger who is debuting the all new Mi5 from the British manufacturer this weekend. Runner up at the preceding round of the series in the Czech Republic Serpent’s Marc Fischer could only manage the 11th fastest time.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Marek Cerny was the class of the field, the Xray driver almost 3 seconds faster than defending champion Zdenko Kunak who is making his ETS debut with Yokomo this weekend. A good run from Belgium’s Olivier Bultynck saw him complete the Top 3. In the Speed Passion Formula class championship leader Jan Asmer TQ’d the opening round from fellow German Thomas Oehler.
Ride Modified Q1 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:05.526
2. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:05.776
3. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho/Orion – 16/5:06.737
4. Andy Moore – HB/Hobbywing – 16/5:07.138
5. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya/Muchmore – 16/5:07.288
6. Adrien Berntsen – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:09.695
7. Meen Vejrak – Yokomo/DualSky – 16/5:10.264
8. Lucas Urbain – Yokomo/Speed Passion - 16/5:12.437
9. Charlee Phutiyotin – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:12.645
10.Chris Grainger – Schumacher/GM Racing – 16/5:12.774
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Friday, March 1, 2013
Prumper fastest in final practice
Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper is the top seed for qualifying at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series 3rd round taking place in Gran Canaria, the German driver setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the final round of practice which saw the top 25 drivers improve their times. With clouds covering the sun and the wind that effected the first practice gone, Prumper improved on Alexander Hagberg’s earlier lead pace by over 1-second to top the the final timing sheet by 6/100th from the Kyosho of last year’s winner Christopher Krapp and his Yokomo team-mate Ronald Volker with Hagberg posting the 4th fastest time.
The winner the last ETS race to be held on asphalt when he won the season finale in Austria, Prumper said conditions for the second practice were better but changing from double jointed rear drive shafts to the single joint version his BD7 had better forward traction. Happy with the overall feeling of his car, the 19-year-old said he will leave everything as is for the opening qualifier which will take place this evening and bring the first official day of the event to a close.
Krapp was happy with his pace saying that like last year when conditions are cooler his car works better. Running a new set of tyres and trying a different additive and management of how it was applied, he said in combination with the track conditions it helped improve how the car felt. Topping the opening qualifier last year, the German said with the cloud cover set to stay around for Q1 he will run everything as is for Q1.
‘Pretty good’ was how defending champion Volker summed up his final practice. Satisfied with his average pace over the run, the German said he will copy Prumper in changing his rear drive shafts which he said should give him the little extra he is looking for from his BD7.
Hagberg said his Xray T4 developed understeer as the cooler conditions caused the traction to come up. Still able to improve his time from the previous practice by 7/10, the Swede said he will decide on whether to change his set-up depending on what the cloud cover is like near the time of his first qualifier. Team-mate Adrien Bernsten improved his time by 1.5 seconds to go 7th fastest putting him in the top heat.
Marc Rheinard said while the track was faster he also felt small changes to his Tamiya had helped improve the car. Setting the fifth fastest time, the 3-time World Champion said the biggest thing is now the preparation of the tyres and having them right for the conditions at the time of each run. Second fastest in the opening timed practice, team-mate Viktor Wilck could only manage the 11th fastest time after he made a shock change on his TRF417. Set to run in the B-qualifying group, the Swede said he will go back to the same shocks he ran at the start of the day for Q1.
Completing the Top 6 was Andy Moore. Running a thinner shock oil on his Hobby Wing powered HB TCXX, the British driver said it felt better overall and very consistent over the duration of the run so he plans to leave it as is and see how he fairs in the first qualifier.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Team Xray driver Marek Cerny was again the pace setter this time from the Awesomatix of Finnish talent Viljami Kutvonen. Unable to improve his opening time Bart Wubben completed the Top 3 while Martin Hofer, who also could not improve on his pace, dropped to fifth behind Dominic Vogl.
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Friday, March 1, 2013
Hagberg tops first timed practice in Gran Canaria
Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg set the pace in the first timed practice for the 3rd Round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria where it was a Swedish 1-2 with Viktor Wilck taking his Tamiya to the second fastest time over 3-consecutive laps just 15/1000th ahead of Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper. Last year’s winner Christopher Krapp posted the 7th fastest time while defending champion Ronald Volker was 5th.
Runner-up on the Spanish holiday island last year, Hagberg said his ORCA powered T4 feels pretty good and once the wind died down he was able to run some good consistent laps. A rise in wind as the first round of timed practice reached the top heats, caused problems for a number of drivers with Hagberg having difficulty early in his run at the end of the back straight where the tail wind was pushing his car on into the corner. Overall happy with how his car is working on new tyres, the Snowbirds Champion said he needs to make some very small adjustments for when he is running on used tyres when he starts to suffer from a little understeer.
Echoing the sentiments of many of the top drivers that the track has a lower level of grip than yesterday’s open practice, Wilck said that while his 3-laps may look good he is not confident that over a full 5-minute run he is not yet competitive. Looking to make the A-Main for the first time this season after two difficult opening ETS races, he will run a different shock set-up for the final practice. Team-mate Marc Rheinard, who is having one of his longest runs without any wins, set the 6th fastest time with the German saying he needs to find a better set-up for his Much More powered TRF417 for the low grip conditions.
Prumper was content with his pace in the first timed practice as was team-mate Volker, for whom this event was nothing less than a disaster 12 months ago. 3/10ths off Hagberg over 3-laps, the winner of the opening two races of the season ran a different additive for his first timed run which he said was not as good as the one he used in the morning but overall he added his LRP powered BD7 feels good and is allowing him to run very consistent laps.
Setting the 4th fastest time, HB’s Andy Moore described the feeling of his TCXX as ‘not too bad but nothing special’. Suffering the effects of jetlag today, the former world Champion one of a number of top drivers here this weekend who raced at the TITC in Thailand last weekend, he said the balance of the car which features a new shocks and shock towers is pretty good but due to the lower traction he ran too hard a shock set-up. Also running a new motor from Hobby Wing, Moore will run a softer shock oil for the 2nd timed practice.
Doing his run on used tyres, Krapp said his time was actually OK considering how the conditions have changed, the Kyosho driver having particular issues with the wind. Happy with how his Orion powered TF6 is working on new tyres he said he needs to find a small set-up improvement for when he is running used tyres. With only two sets of controlled Ride tyres available for the five scheduled rounds of qualifying it is important to have a good set-up also for used tyres.
Behind Krapp, Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen Vejrak set the 8th fastest time. Making his ETS debut this weekend, the Yokomo team driver who in nitro races for KM Racing said he did the run without using tyre warmers but it left his BD7 suffering with understeer. Happy with his pace in the two untimed morning practice runs the Thai driver will go back to heating his tyres for the last round of practice. Behind Vejrak, Serpent’s Marc Fischer posted the 9th fastest time with French Yokomo driver Loic Jasmin completing the Top 10.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, last year’s Gran Canaria winner Marek Cerny set the pace with his Xray ahead of series returnee & fellow T4 driver Bart Wubben. The venue of his first ETS win, Cerny was 9/10ths faster than his rivals despite suffering a problem with his speedo which ended his run early. The Czech driver, who claimed his second ETS win at Round 2 in Januray, said his chassis set-up was perfect with the car really easy to drive. Debuting Schumacher’s all new Mi-5, which as it is still in prototype phase we have been asked not to photograph, former Champion Martin Hofer set the 3rd fastest time followed closely by Toni Mateo, who is one of the people responsible for bringing the ETS to Gran Canaria.
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Friday, March 1, 2013
