Rheinard tops Q2
Current champion Marc Rheinard has taken the second round of qualifying for the Dutch ETS encounter, heading home Q1 pace setter Jilles Groskamp and a much happier Ronald Volker. Despite heavy overnight rain, conditions for this mornings Q2 were dry but the track was slower meaning neither Rheinard or TRF team-mate Groskamp could repeat their 20 laps from yesterday evening’s opening qualifier. Rheinard said there was less traction following last night’s rain but now his Speed Passion powered TRF417 was good at the beginning of the run and starting to fade at the end, the complete opposite to yesterday. Able to get an advantage over the first two laps on Groskamp the World Champion said he should have had a bigger margin on his team-mate but for ‘some stupid laps’ as he followed closely behind the No.1 starting car.
Clearly quicker than his rivals over the opening laps of the first qualifier Groskamp said his car was now pushing in the beginning, something he feels may be due to removing his tyre warmers too soon before the start. Running a Protoform’s LTC-R, the Dutch ace will switch to a Speed 6 for Q3 which he hopes will allow him to match Rheinard’s corner speed.
Having had his car shut down in the opening heat, champion elect Ronald Volker was clearly in higher spirits today as he took his LRP powered Yokomo to 3rd. The German ace spent 3 hours working on his car this morning as he switched to the same set-up as French team-mate Cyril N’diaye. A big improvement, he said it was now much easier to drive and believes that without the two 16 second laps caused by traffic incidents he could have been very close to matching the pace of the two Tamiyas. Fifth fastest in Q1 N’diaye was on target for another Top 5 run until he made a big mistake on his 14th lap which cost him a massive 3.5 seconds.
Another of the top drivers who failed to finish the opening qualifier after he stripped a rear belt, Team Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp enjoyed a strong start to Day 2 taking his TF6 to the fourth fastest time. Really pleased with his car, the German said his driving on this occasion did not get the most from it.
Fifth fastest, a substantial 1.6 seconds off Krapp, TRF driver Viktor Wilck was not happy with his run summing up how the car felt promptly with ‘shit, like driving on ice’.
With former World Champion Andy Moore absent due to British Championship commitments this weekend, Freddy Sudhoff is the lead Hot Bodies driver. Having struggled yesterday the rapid German fully rebuilt his TCX for Q2 reverting back to the standard kit chassis plate which allows the car to roll more. Able to run the sixth fastest time he is a lot happier with the feeling and is confident of further improvements in Q3 and 4.
Winner of the fourth round of the ETS back in March Juho Levanen said his Reedy motored Associated TC6 is slowly getting better but still lacks steering. The Finn hopes two cuts in the top deck for Q3 will cure the problem.
In Pro Stock, Schumacher’s Martin Hofer made it two out of two as he was again fastest from the Tamiya of Dutch driver John Bruins with Swiss driver Sandro Kuriger, also driving a Tamiya, third.
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