Drivers settle-in in Budapest
It was an early start for drivers competing in the second of the Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series with the bus leaving the official event hotel at 06:55. Containing some of the best touring car drivers in the world it was a rather quiet trip in the 70-seater double deck coach especially within the Schumacher team who got only 3.5 hours sleep after their flight was delayed 2 hours resulting in them getting to the hotel at 02:30 this morning.
The only 2-day event on the 2009/10 calendar, today opened with three rounds of practice for the 160 competitors from 16 Nations which includes Japanese driver Yukijiro Umino. The former Japanese National Champion, who works in the R&D department of Yokomo, is here as part of the team supporting German ace Ronald Volker but is also competing in Pro Stock and he looked very fast in practice.
The winner of the opening race at Kastellaun, championship leader Viktor Wilck is having his first run with the latest Tamiya touring car offering the TRF416X. The Swede said the new car feels good on the high speed track but in the second practice christened the new chassis with its first big crash when he collected the stranded Hot Bodies of Andy Moore whose battery pack had fallen out. Moore missed the majority of the run and said he is yet to find out if he has solved the problem that saw him struggle in Germany.
Runner up at the first round Volker said he is feeling very confident ahead of qualifying and says he likes the fast flowing track that the host club have built. The German ran two cars in each of the practice runs as he back to back tested a new LiPo chassis for the BD5 that the engineers from Yokomo have brought over from Japan.
Juho Levanen is without Associated team-mate Christer Andersson who was a last minute withdrawal from the entry but the Finn is pleased with how his TC5R went this morning. The former European Champion likes the track layout a lot more than that of Kastellaun is hoping he can at least make the podium tomorrow evening.
One team that was on the podium here in Hungary last year was Xray and all three of their drivers are happy with how the T3 chassis went in practice. Martin Hudy, who finished 3rd here last time, said the track feels nice to drive and he is hopeful of running some good times in qualifying. Teemu Leino echoed his comments and welcomed the fast track design saying it added variety to the series. Elliot Harper who is competing in only his second ETS event described the track as ‘completely different’ but the Englishman is happy with his intial set-up.
Despite the lack of sleep last night the Schumacher team, who are making their ETS debut here, are happy with how the practice went. Team leader Chris Grainger, who has won an impressive 5 British National titles on tarmac, is not a big fan of carpet racing but was complimentary of the venue and track. Running the new Mi4LP he said it was working well but was a little worried about the grip levels coming up as the car already creates a lot of mechanic grip. Chris Ashton is carrying the British manufacturers hopes in the Pro Stock class.
So with practice complete it is now down to the serious business of qualifying with 3 of the four rounds, 2 of which count, making up the rest of today’s schedule.
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