Volker heads Yokomo 1-2 in opening final
Ronald Volker cruised to an easy victory in the opening leg of the A-Mains here in Austria heading home team-mate Yannic Prumper for a Yokomo 1-2. On target for a hat trick of Euro Touring Series wins, the German led from start to finish with Prumper being the only driver to provide him with any reason for concern. The opening lap saw the No.2 car of Andy Moore get out of shape which delayed Marc Rheinard allowing Prumper to move up to the second spot. Setting the fastest lap of the race, the 17-year-old looked as though he was going to challenge his team-mate for the lead as he closed the gap but a number of untidy laps in the second half of the race allowed Volker to extend his lead and take the win by over 2.5 seconds.
Third went to Andy Moore but only after the demise of Rheinard. The current World Champion got past the 2006 World Champion’s Hot Bodies early on but it was to be in vain as the gear diff in the rear of his Tamiya TRF417 broke on lap 8 forcing him to retire. Having expected his car work well on fresh rubber, Moore said it was horrible and he was lucky to get third from the race.
After a frustrating opening Pro-Stock A-Main, Ivan Laptev was very happy with his fourth place finish in Modified. The Awesomatix driver was expecting a tough race as he had already run his second set of tyres in qualifying but the A700 was not disadvantaged much by the lack of fresh rubber as he was able to hold off the TC6 of Associated team driver Juho Levanen. Martin Hudy was the best placed Xray coming home 6th followed by Canadian Keven Hebert.
In terms of entertainment the B Final was a great example of good close racing. With some big names on the grid it was TRF team driver Elliot Harper who took the win from factory Kyosho driver & Top Qualifier Christopher Krapp who was unable to fend off a great challenge from Viktor Wilck.
The Pro Stock A-Main was not a good example of top level racing with the race full of incident right from the start. Top Qualifier Martin Hofer ran wide at the first corner and was put on his roof by second place start Tony Streit with Laptev also getting caught up in the incident and beaching his Awesomatix on the track barrier. This left the pair at the tail of the field but as they battled their way back to the front they were hampered by more incidents including Hofer hitting Laptev on two occasions as he tried to make a pass on the main straight. In the end, fifth place starter Oliver Franke took the win with his Hot Bodies TCX from Streit’s Xray and the Yokomo of Radek Flek. Hofer’s battered looking Schumacher eventually finished fourth after a close battle with Dai Sakaguchi with Laptev ending up 7th despite setting the fastest lap of the race.
Xenon Modified A-main Leg 1 results
1. Ronald Völker – Yokomo BD5 – 20L 5:07.994
2. Yannic Prümper – Yokomo BD5 – 20L 5:10.595
3. Andy Moore – Hot Bodies TCX – 20L 5:15.406
4. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix A700 – 19L 5:00.891
5. Juho Levanen – Associated TC6 – 19L 5:01.471
6. Martin Hudy – Xray T3’11 – 19L 5:02.624
7. Keven Herbert – Associated TC6 – 19L 5:03.179
8. Michal Bok – Yokomo BD5 – 19L 5:04.976
9. David Ehrbar – Xray T3’11 – 19L 5:11.370
10.Marc Rheinard – Tamiya TRF417 – 8L 2:01.827
Xray Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 results
1. Oliver Franke – Hot Bodies TCX – 19L 5:12.852
2. Tony Streit – Xray T3’11 – 19L 5:13.994
3. Radek Flek – Yokomo DB5 – 18L 5:02.810
4. Martin Hofer – Schumacher Mi4cx – 18L 5:07.901
5. Dai Sakaguchi – Tamiya TRF417 – 18L 5:08.083
6. Philip Tschupp – TOP Photon – 18L 5:09.087
7. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix A700 – 18L 5:11.434
8. Marco Kaufmann – Xray T3’11 – 18L 5:11.641
9. Michael Koch – Hot Bodies TCX – 6L 1:39.519
10.Sandro Kuriger – Tamiya TRF417 – 2L 0:50.400
Full results can be found here.
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