Volker ends practice top of the pile
Ronald Volker continues his domination of the Xenon Modified class in the Yokomo Euro Touring Series and once again topped the first order of business with the fastest three consecutive laps in free practice meaning he will start No.1 in the top group for qualifying. The Team Yokomo driver failed to improve on his FP3 time after a switch from Protoform’s Speed 6 shell to the P32 made the car fast but nervous resulting in him spinning out, two heavy impacts from pursuing cars causing the spur gear to strip.
Taking second in the ranking is ETS debutant Keven Hebert who set the fastest lap of the entire practice in the final run, taking his Reedy powered Associated TC6 around the track in 15.822 seconds. The Canadian set an identical average for three consecutive laps with former World Champion Andy Moore who is looking very competitive here on the asphalt track. Hebert said adding rear camber had improved his car but he would still like to still find a little more steering however he plans to play it safe for the opening qualifier and leave the car as it is.
Understeer is a common complaint from drivers today with some struggling more than others. Moore tried the Ride Legacy B4 body to give him more steering but said he wasn’t sure if it was the new tyres or the shell change that made his Hot Bodies TCX slightly better. The best we have seen the British perform so far this season he plans to stick with it for the opening qualifier which takes place later this evening.
Just 3/1000ths off Hebert & Moore in the final practice Juho Levanen ends up fourth fastest, the Associated driver pleased with how things have gone so far. Running a totally different shock set-up to team-mate Hebert the former multiple European Champion plans to improve his TC6 by running less rear toe.
Defending ETS Champion Marc Rheinard had his best run in the last practice but the Tamiya Racing Factory driver is really struggling with understeer. The German ace, who must beat Volker this weekend to keep his title defense hopes alive, said his TRF417 was marginally better in FP4 for cruising but once he tries to push for a time it suffers chronic understeer.
The big surprise in St.Polten has been Ivan Laptev driving the unique Awesomatix chassis. Sixth fastest in Modified and second fastest in the Xray Pro-Stock class the Russian said his plan is to just drive a clean opening round of qualifying and work from there but in terms of the car he is very happy with his set-up.
In the battle between 1:8 nitro onroad stars Robert Pietsch and Daniele Ielasi is too close to call with Pietsch having a 5/100th advantage with them claiming 19 & 20th respectively in the final practice ranking.
In Pro Stock Martin Hofer and Schumacher’s newly formed partnership has enjoyed a great start with the combination topping the practice ranking from Laptev and Oliver Franke.
Full results can be found here.
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