Business as usual as Volker tops practice in Poland
Practice for the fourth round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series is complete and it is so far business as usual at the carpet event for Ronald Volker as he took his Yokomo to the three fastest consecutive laps in the fourth & final practice in Poland to become the No.1 seed for the opening qualifier that will bring Day 1 of proceedings to a close. The reigning champion set the pace ahead of Xray’s Magnus Vässmar and his Yokomo team-mate Eric Dankel while Marc Rheinard, who was Volker’s closest challenger in the first timed practice, failed to improve his time. Despite a simpler chicane for the final practice the World Champion was one of the few drivers not to improve their times something the German blamed on the new set of controlled tyre he ran in preparation for qualifying which left his Tamiya with a lack of steering.
Volker was surprised at the lack of difference the changes to the chicane made as the entry was still key to posting a quick lap time. Using the run to scrub in his qualifying tyres, the German said his BD5 felt pretty good but added it should be even better for Q1 and have more steering as the tyres come in. Dankel said his Yokomo was difficult to drive for the first half of the 5-minutes due to running on fresh tyres and while it started to come good by the end, allowing him to post the third fastest time, he was going to give the car a full check over as it felt as if it was slightly tweaked.
Changing the roll centres and tyre prep on his Xray, Vässmar said this had made it both faster and easier to drive. Planning to continue with that set-up for Q1, the Swede said the car is safe and his focus is now on keeping his driving together with the full five minutes rather than three consecutive laps that are going to count in qualifying. Team-mates Zdenko Kunák and Alexander Hagberg were also able to improve their times and position ending up 4th and 5th fastest. Kunák was happy with changes to his T3 2012 but still feels the front is a little soft under breaking. Having made a better job of his driving in the final practice Hagberg said it was still not good enough but planning to adjust the flex in his car so as to make it a little more comfortable to drive he is hopeful of further improving it in the final run of the day.
Completing the top 6 was former World Champion Andy Moore. The factory HB driver, who last week signed a major sponsorship deal with Hobby Wing to use their speedos in this a World Championship year, was pleased with changes made to his TCX for the final practice. Changing to a lighter shock oil and adding more camber he said it gave him more overall traction and better stability in the long sweeper. Although the changes cost him a little steering the British Champion said he should be able to rectify that for Q1.
Elsewhere in the Ride Modified class, standings leader Christopher Krapp improved his time to 11th just shy of 10th fastest Martin Hudy. The Round 3 winner said his Kyosho was smooth to drive but ultimately too slow. Although the times over 5 minutes should be better than 11th fastest he will try a different shock set-up on his Orion powered TF6-SP for the opening qualifier. After tweaking his Tamiya in the first timed practice, TRF’s Viktor Wilck tried a different set-up for his second run but said it made his Thunder Power backed TRF417 ‘way too loose’ resulting in a slower time despite the track’s new, faster, layout. The Swede will revert back to his earlier set-up for Q1.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Kunák will be the top seed for qualifying ahead of Oliver Franke. Fastest in the first timed practice the Hot Bodies driver had a problem with his speedo second time round but with a new replacement speedo fitted he is confident he should be ok for the first qualifier. Former race winner Daniel Wohlgemuth ended practice third fastest ahead of Gran Canaria winner Marek Cerny and the Schumacher of defending champion Martin Hofer.
View the complete results here.
View the event image gallery here.
