Levanen wins thrilling opening final
Team Associated’s Juho Levanen has won a thrilling opening final at the fourth round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Legionowo, Poland. Starting from second on the grid, the Finnish ace followed Top Qualifier Ronald Volker around the track for four minutes before the race came alive culminating in a final lap that had the crowd in the Arena on their feet as he pulled off a great series of moves to beat the German.
Applying some pressure to Volker in the opening 2 laps Levanen dropped back and it looked like the Yokomo driver had checked out for the win while the focus of attention turned to the five car battle for third. Setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 9 it was from this point that Levanen began to make his comeback as he tidied up his lines. Commenting on the race the winner of the first ever ETS event said, ‘The first half of the race I made too many mistakes but I got it together and then when Ronald had his moment I knew the win was possible. My car was really good and I dont think I could have made it any better’.
Looking to maintain a 100% success rate in this season’s ETS having TQ’d & won the opening three events, Volker said afterwards that he got more congratulations following the race than he would normally get if he won, showing the level of appreciation fellow racers had for the battle that took place. The European Champion said new tyres for the race did not suit his BD5WX and he had no confidence with it as it suffered from huge understeer out of the corners. Asked about his moment on lap 19 that allowed Levanen to get on his back bumper, Volker knew even without it Levanen was going to catch him and challenge for the win. Eventually the race was decided when the pair touched in the last section of corners but Volker said it was just a racing incident. Lucky to recover to just get out in front of the battle for third and finish second, Volker said he had enjoyed the battle and was proud of his comeback pass on Levanen at the end of the straight.
Finishing third Elliot Harper described his race as difficult as he had to drive a very defensively due to a problem with the rear gear diff in his Tamiya TRF417. That driving frustrated Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who could not find a way passed as the pack bunched up behind the British teenager. Eventually Hagberg’s frustration got the better of him and he made a mistake which allowed Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper through to take fourth. Andy Moore completed the Top 6 with his Hot Bodies finishing just ahead of the Xray of Sweden’s Vassmar Magnus.
In Pro Stock Ivan Laptev began the next chapter in the success story in the making that is Awesomatix. Having claimed the first TQ honour for the Russian car yesterday he led the opening leg of the final from start to finish. The Moscow driver said afterwards the car was a little slow in the beginning of the race, most likely due to tyre additive on the tyres, but with each lap it got better and better allowing him to open up a comfortable lead to take a popular win.
Martin Hofer applied some pressure on Laptev in the opening laps but faded and then traction rolled his Schumacher. The German said his Mi4cx had too much grip on the fresh set of the Xenon control tyres but is confident things should be a lot better for Leg 2. Coming from fourth on the grid to take third, setting the fastest lap of the race on the way, Oliver Franke said new tyres transformed his Hot Bodies.
Xenon Modified A-Final – Leg 1
1.(2) Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated/Reedy – 24/5:13.174
2.(1) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 23/5:00.854
3.(3) Elliot Harper (GB) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 23/5:01.311
4.(5) Yannic Prumper (DE) – Yokomo/Speed Passion – 23/5:01.401
5.(4) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/LRP – 23/5:01.543
6.(6) Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/Moore Speed – 23/5:02.294
7.(7) Magnus Vassmar (SE) – Xray/Nosram – 23/5:02.557
8.(10)Thomas Mirke (DE) – Xray/LRP – 23/5:06.765
9.(8) Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Xray/LRP – 23/5:08.630
10.(9)Rene Klöckner (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 23/5:11.382
Xray Pro-Stock A-Final – Leg 1
1.(1) Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:04.355
2.(4) Oliver Franke – (DE) – Hot Bodies – 22/5:07.681
3.(2) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 22/5:08.081
4.(3) Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Xray – 22/5:09.610
5.(7) Sandro Kuriger (CH) – Tamiya – 22/5:13.686
6.(6) Vasco Christiaanse (NL) – Kyosho – 21/5:00.814
7.(8) John Bruins (NL) – Tamiya – 21/5:02.395
8.(9) Philip Tschupp (CH) – TOP – 21/5:02.711
9.(10)Beni Stutz (CH) – Tamiya – 21/5:05.331
10.(5)René Klöckner – (DE) – Tamiya – 21/5:05.448
View the complete results here.
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