Volker ends practice on top
At the end of practice it is Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker who is top of the time sheets ahead of Hot Bodies’ Andy Moore. The German ran the fastest 3 laps of the day in the final practice along with recording the fastest five minute run seen so far but despite his pace plans to switch back to a ball diff for this evening opening qualifier. Volker said over three laps the gear diff is pretty good but for 5-minutes he is not 100% comfortable with the feeling of his LRP powered BD5 and so will revert to standard kit diff for Q1.
Having moved the rear shock positions on his TCX, Moore said it was now felt more stable. Loosing a little low speed steering following the changes, the former World Champion thinks new tyres for the opening qualifying round should dial that out.
Having been quite a bit off the pace earlier, Yokomo new boy Yannic Pruemper found a big improvement in Q4. Having reduced the oil in the rear gear diff to 2K along with giving his shocks a full rebuild, the teenager found is BD5 a lot better and the German thinks he now has a good set-up for qualifying.
Fastest after Q3 Viktor Wilck was unable to improve his time but the Swede said his Tamiya still feels OK and he plans to stick with the same set-up for Q1. Also failing to improve their times were Atsushi Hara and Simon Nicholson who end practice 5th and 6th fastest respectively. Running an earlier prototype version of the TCX to Moore, Hara went for a set-up he thought would give him more traction but it had the total opposite effect. Nicholas had to pull up after three laps as one of his self glued tyres parted company with the rim.
Having switched to a TRF416 fitted with a standard ball diff, World Champion Marc Rheinard found no difference between it and the gear diff he ran earlier. Unable to better his Q3 time, the German said he is struggling to get a set-up and is not sure what to change. Classified 7th, the Tamiya Racing Factory team leader is almost half a second off the pace of Volker.
Improving his pace by almost 2/10th of a second, factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp found his TF6 a little different to drive in Q4 after he ran the controlled tyre combo for the first time. Fitted with a different insert and slightly smaller Xenon wheel he said his car felt different to earlier in the day and he just needs to adjust his driving slightly. Running only very small changes to the set-up he used to take fourth at the Worlds, Krapp is confident he is in good shape for the opening round of heats.
In Pro Stock Dutch ace Rob Janssen driving his new Corally Phi prototype set the pace from the Xrays of Daniel Wohlgemuth and local Andernach driver Michael Kiesewetter. Champion elect Alexander Stocker ended the day 8th fastest. While the Pro Stock drivers are now finished for the day, the Modified and Hobby classes now have the first of their four qualifiers.
View the event image gallery here.
