Groskamp pulls TQ run out of nowhere
‘I pulled that one out of nowhere’ was how former ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp summed up his surprise TQ run in the opening round of qualifying at the final round of the ETS at Andernach. The Dutch racer topped Q1 from the Hot Bodies of Andy Moore and TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard while practice pace setter Ronald Volker ended up in the barrier on the opening lap.
Having lacked pace in practice, on a track that he said has never been successful for him, Groskamp was very amused by his TQ run but said his Orion powered Tamiya was much improved after fitting a fresh diff in which he increased the oil from 700 to 1000w. Producing a more stable car, the Apeldoorn Top Qualifier said running a set of used controlled tyres also made for a better overall package.
Moore was happy with second for the opening round but said he pushed too hard over the final laps as he tried to get the better of Rheinard but this resulted in two average laps that he felt lost him the top spot. Also finding used tyres to suit his car better the 2006 World & European Champion said it was more stable but he still needs to find something to give him a little more steering.
Losing Volker on the opening lap when a front drive shaft broke under braking at the end of the straight, Team Yokomo’s Yannick Prumper produced the third fastest time just 1/10 shy of Moore. Changing to Yokomo’s new longer chassis which the team are trying out here this weekend, the World finalist said it made the car better in every aspect and only for a mistake which cost him almost a second felt it was good enough for a TQ run.
The Top Qualifier and winner of the event last year, Marc Rheinard was on target to take the round but got it wrong on the last lap losing over 2 seconds dropping him to fourth. The outgoing champion said he didn’t drive a good heat and was pushing too hard at the end trying to make up for some poor laps.
Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp took his TF6 to the fifth fastest time followed by the Awesomatix of former team-mate Steen Graversen. Setting the seventh fastest time young German René Klöckner put in a great opening round of qualifying mixing it among the World class field.
Setting the fastest lap of the round Atsushi Hara said his TCX was finally good maybe too good as his driving let him down on lap 5 while he was setting the TQ pace. Having struggled in practice he put the same set-up as he runs a lot at his local track in Thailand on the car for Q1 and it transformed it to being very precise which he said lead to a mistake when he rode up on a curb and then crashed into a track barrier loosing him over 3.5 seconds. Ending up eigtht, the winner of the first ever ETS race at Andernach said tomorrow his event will really get started as he now feels he has the confidence to win here again.
As in practice Eric Dankel was once again the quickest of the Xray drivers with the ninth fastest time ahead of team-mate Alexander Hagberg. Juho Levanen, winner in Poland, was 11th fastest with his Associated TC6.
In Pro Stock the opening qualifier went to Awesomatix team driver Ivan Laptev. The Top Qualifier at Round 4 of the series in Poland, he said having found his car difficult in practice a switch to running anti roll bars on the A700 gave him a very consistent car. Despite running a poor opening lap he was able to take the round by a comfortable one and a half seconds over the Xray T3s of Tony Streit and last year’s winner Michael Kiesewetter. Getting to run their second qualifier, which brought Day 1 of Round 6 of the 2010/11 Yokomo Euro Touring Series to a close, Laptev improved on his time outpacing Steffen Leinburger by over 2 seconds.
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