Volker is Top Qualifier in Poland
Ronald Volker has maintained his 100% perfect qualifying record in this season’s Euro Touring Series by wrapping up overall TQ honours in Poland with another time sheet topping run in Q3. The Yokomo driver set a new fastest five minute time of 23 laps in 5:04.275 followed by Juho Levanen and Andy Moore who enjoyed their best runs of the day so far.
Volker said a change of tyre additive along with a few small set-up adjustments improved his Yokomo and he was a lot more confidence with the car. The German said it was a close run thing with Hagberg, until his mistake, and he expects the Swede to provide a strong challenge in tomorrow’s finals. With pole position secure, Volker plans to used the final qualifying to test a few things on his BD5WX including a stiffer front anti-roll bar.
Once again Hagberg was on a TQ pace but the 21-year-old admitted himself he was trying too hard and that was the reason for his mistake near the end of the run which cost him 2 seconds. The Xray driver, who secured his first ETS podium at Round 2 in the Czech Republic said his mistake may have proved even more costly than a shot at TQ honours with five drivers now in with a chance of the number 2 spot on the grid.
Levanen put his strong performance down to finding the right balance between understeer and traction roll. The winner of the first ever ETS race, he said heavier oil in the rear diff of his TC6 and saucing the tyres differently had made the car a lot easier to drive.
Moore said his time was down mainly to putting in a clean run. The former World Champion managed to improve slightly his Hot Bodies TCX but is still finding it difficult to drive with chassis roll being the main problem. For the final qualifier he is undecided as to whether to use the run to scrub in his second set of race tyres for tomorrow or risk trying a completely different set-up.
Setting the fourth fastest time Elliot Harper said a change to heavier oil in the rear shocks of his Tamiya TRF417 did not work with the car losing corner speed. Instead of going back to a lighter oil he will increase the front shock oil weight along with making small chassis adjustments which he thinks should give him a better allround package. Yannic Prumper completed the Top 6 followed closely by the Xray of Magnus Vassmar and new Awesomatix team driver Martin Lissau.
In Pro Stock Lissau’s team-mate Ivan Laptev claimed his second TQ run of the day over championship leader Martin Hofer. Laptev, who is struggling in Modified with a very nervous car, said his Pro Stock A700 chassis is very easy to drive and just gets better every run. Zdenko Kunak, who finished on the podium in Poland last year, set the third fastest time followed by Kyosho driver Vasco Christiaanse.
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