Leino takes latest qualifying thriller
Former European Champion Teemu Leino has become the latest driver to TQ a round of qualifying at round 3 of the ETS in Poland in what has been a thrilling day of action. The factory Xray driver became the fourth different driver to TQ in as many rounds as he pipped Tamiya Junior team driver Yannic Pruemper by just 9/100th of a second. The result means that anyone of five drivers can take overall TQ honours in tomorrow mornings fifth and final qualifier.
Leino said a new set of controlled Sweep tyres for the last qualifier of today transformed his car allowing him to set a new fastest lap for the event with a time of 10.92. The Finn, whose run was the second fastest time over 5 minutes behind that of Andy Moore, will leave his car the same for tomorrow morning’s TQ showdown.
Pruemper’s mentor Toni Rheinard was relieved to see his young star finally completed a solid run. The 15-year-old was holding the predicted TQ time but a roll on lap 22 cost him 2 seconds. Pruemper who is a member of the Speed Passion team line up quickly regained his composure however, posting his fastest lap of the run two laps later.
Steven Weiss repeated his third round qualifying performance with another great Top 3 run. Running an unchanged car, the German improved his time by almost 2 seconds and is confident of further improvements tomorrow after his day got off to a difficult start. Bart Wubben was next up also improving slightly on his previous time but the Dutch driver feels he may have been too cautious and plans to drive more agressively in the morning.
Austrian Hupo Honigl finally broke in to the 27 laps claiming fifth for the round while Michal Bok was fastest of those on 26 laps to complete the Top 6.
After a strong start to the round Marc Rheinard came undone in the exact same spot as he did a round earlier ending his chances of wrapping up overall TQ honours early. The other round winners Andy Moore and over night TQ holder Jilles Groskamp both came undone following incidents involving Czech driver Bok.
Modified overall after 4 of 5 rounds
1. Jilles Groskamp – 2pts [2 (7) 0 (9)]
2. Marc Rheinard – 2pts [0 2 (2) (12)]
3. Teemu Leino – 3pts [(3) 3 (6) 0]
4. Andy Moore – 4pts [4 0 (35) (33)]
5. Steven Weiss – 6pts [(32) (9) 3 3]
6. Yannic Pruemper – 7pts [(5) (34) 5 2]
7. Bart Wubben – 8pts [(12) (5) 4 4]
8. Paul Lemieux – 11pts [(11) 4 (11) 7]
9. Hubert Hönigl – 11pts [6 (15) (9) 5]
10. Michal Bok – 12pts [(7) 6 (7) 6]
In Pro Stock Meik Niemann took another round TQ from his main rival Daniel Wohlgemuth. This leaves the German pair with two rounds each but Niemann has the faster time putting the pressure on Wohlgemuth going in the last round. Hungarian ETS race winner Balint Rajki took his Hot Bodies to third for the round.
With the TQ in both categories up for grabs, five drivers going for that honour in Modified, Day 3 of the Euro Touring Series’ first vist to Poland is set to get off to a thrilling start. We’ll bring you the outcome followed by full coverage of the triple A-Mains here in Warsaw.
Pro Stock overall after 4 of 5 rounds
1. Meik Niemann – 0pts [(2) (6) 0 0]
2. Daniel Wohlgemuth – 0pts [0 0 (2) (2)]
3. Dominik Reschke – 6pts [(35) 2 (4) 4]
4. Balint Rajki – 7pts [(39) 4 (5) 3]
5. Zdenko Kunák – 7pts [4 3 (10) (18)]
6. Dai Sakaguchi – 8pts [(5) 5 3 (7)]
7. Jakub Plechac – 8pts [3 (9) (8) 5]
8. Oliver Näthe – 14pts [(8) (8) 6 8]
9. Jan Gehrig – 14pts [(14) 7 7 (9)]
10. Jerome Meile – 16pts [10 (13) (42) 6]
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