Perfect day for new Xray at ETS opener
Xray couldn’t really have asked for more today as their new T3 topped the practice time sheets for the opening round of the 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series in both Modified and Pro Stock. In the final session of the day Alexander Hagberg and Matthias Lang each posted the fastest runs of the day in their respective classes.
Swede Hagberg just missed out on a 26-lap run stopping the clock at 5:00.943 but declared himself very happy with his day. Having only made one change to his new Xray all day, adjusting the position of the shocks, he said the car is very easy to drive and he is looking forward to getting down to the serious business of qualifying in the morning. Knocked off the top of the time sheets despite improving his time by 6 seconds (25/5:02.897) Juho Levanen said his Associated was close to traction rolling during the round. The Finn feels he is closer to Hagberg’s pace but a couple of incidents meant this was not reflected in the overall time. Making it three different makes of cars at the top of the time sheets Viktor Wilck was best of the Tamiya drivers. The Swede said changes to his TRF416WE had made little difference to the car and his best run of the day was down to him driving with extreme care although he did still traction roll once.
Although not featuring strongly on the overall time sheets Marc Rheinard and Ronald Volker are both happy with their pace. Rheinard laid down a new fastest lap with an 11.547 in the final session and is not too worried ahead of tomorrow’s heats. Volker has not been showing strongly on the time sheets because he was running two cars in each session so as he can try back to back set-up changes. The factory Yokomo driver said he is happy with his pace but did say his car is very near the edge in terms of traction rolling.
In Pro Stock, Andernach ETS winner Matthias Lang ends practice as the pace setter having knocked Alexander Stocker off the top of the time sheets with a 24-lap run in 5:04.121. The SMI Motorsport driver has been given a new Xray’s T3 chassis for the event and is very happy with his new drive describing it is a ‘big step forward’. The German said he has found a good set-up and plans to leave the car unchanged for the opening qualifier tomorrow morning. Having suffered ‘intense traction roll’ in the fourth practice session, Martin Hofer found a better set-up for his Yokomo in the final run to be classified third fastest just 3/100th ahead of Daniel Wohlgemuth.
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