Volker wins ETS season opener
Ronald Volker has taken the overall victory at the 2010/11 ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’ season opener in Kastellaun with another dominant performance in the second A-Main. Starting from pole, the Team Yokomo driver once again lead from start to finish to secure his first ever ETS success. Helped by a great battle for second, the German said it was an easier race than the earlier final as he was more confident with his BD5 this time round. Praising the support from his Yokomo team, in particular his mechanic Yukijiro Umino, the European Indoor and Outdoor Champion said he is already looking forward to next month’s Czech ETS encounter which is taking place in the same venue as he will defend his Indoor title early next year. With the battle for the other two podium places wide open Volker has opted to sit out the third leg of the final.
While Volker pulled clear into the distance the big battle was between Freddy Sudhoff, Marc Rheinard & Viktor Wilck, the TRF pairing chasing down Sudhoff’s green Hot Bodies. Unfortunately on lap 25 Wilck tagged the back of the TCX causing the body to tuck and his TRF416 to spin allowing Rheinard through to take second. Although Sudhoff fared out worst from the clash rejoining to finish fourth behind Wilck the ultra professional racer was quick to point out afterwards that it was not Viktor’s fault and that it had been a really enjoyable battle.
Rheinard said his Tamiya was not good in the early part of the race and he had to let his team-mate, who started just behind on the grid, through. As the race progressed the car started to work well allowing him to put in the fastest lap as he caught back up to the battle but he was unable to find a way passed until the pair made contact. Despite his best effort over the last seven laps there was nothing he could do to dent Volker’s lead.
Also wrapping up his first ever ETS victory early was Pro-Stock Top Qualifier Eric Dankel. The Xray driver said his T3 11 was not as good as in the opening leg and but he controlled the race despite a strong challenge in the dying moments of the race from the Hot Bodies of Oliver Franke. Delighted to set a new fastest lap for the track, Franke said afterwards that catching was one thing but getting passed on this layout was another but he thinks a new set of tyres for the third and final leg should give him the edge he needs to bag a win. Once again Martin Hofer failed to mount the expected challenge but on this occasion it was not his own doing. With all the cars on the grid throughout the driver introductions he believes his speedo went into a sleep mode and at the start it just creeped off the line getting tagged by most of the cars starting behind him. Champion Alexander Stocker had a good run from 8th on the grid to complete the Top 3.
Xenon Modified Result – Leg 2
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 32/5:06.741
2. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 32/5:07.754
3. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 32/5:08.901
4. Frederik Südhoff (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 31/5:01.459
5. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo/Speedpassion – 31/5:03.449
6. Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated/LRP – 31/5:03.991
7. Dominik Fleischmann (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 31/5:05.153
8. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/LRP – 31/5:05.489
9. Elliott Harper (GB) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 31/5:08.061
10.Lucas Urbain (FR) – Losi/Speedpassion – 31/5:08.269
Xray Pro-Stock Result – Leg 2
1. Eric Dankel (DE) – Xray – 30/5:05.776
2. Oliver Franke (DE) – Hot Bodies – 30/5:06.017
3. Alexander Stocker (DE) – Yokomo – 30/5:09.652
4. Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 30/5:11.316
5. Martin Hofer (DE) – Yokomo – 29/5:03.266
6. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 29/5:10.302
7. René Klöckner (DE) – Tamiya – 29/5:11.261
8. Carsten Madsen (DK) – Tamiya – 29/5:11.498
9. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Tamiya – 29/5:14.183
10.Daniel Wohlgemuth (DE) – xray – 28/5:02.267
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