Volker is Top Qualifier in Poland
Reigning Euro Touring Series Champion Ronald Volker is Top Qualifier for tomorrow’s fourth round in Poznan, Poland, the Yokomo driver securing his third pole position of the 2011/12 season to line up ahead of Awesomatix’s Freddy Südhoff and Xray’s Alexander Hagberg in the Ride Modified A-Main.
Running the fastest heat of the weekend in the fifth & final qualifier, Volker was pushed hard over the 5-minutes by an ever improving Hagberg who set a new fastest lap of 12.672 on his way to second for the round. Aware that his LRP powered BD5 is still not the quickest in terms of outright pace Volker said changes made for Q5 gave him a better feeling with the car and he was able to drive it with a lot more confidence as a result. Commenting on Hagberg’s speed over a single lap he said he thinks over a full race distance he has the upper hand. Happy to take the overall TQ, the German said he is actually more happy about bagging the championship point that comes with it.
Hagberg said his ORCA powered T3 had a little understeer and considering this the Snowbirds Champion said he didn’t feel he could have driven much better so he was very happy with how he ended his day. Admitting to being a little frustrated at missing out on taking the penultimate round of qualifying due to a poor last lap which would cost him second on the grid, the Swede added he believes he has a good chance a going for the win tomorrow.
Struggling with traction roll in the final qualifier leading him to pull up after 3-minutes, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard will line up fourth on the grid following what he described as a ‘frustating’ day. With his chances of challenging Volker for the ETS title rapidly fading the World Champion had little to say about what he felt he could do starting from fourth. Team-mate Viktor Wilck was in contrast very happy with the final outcome of his day. Changing to a softer front shock oil and widening the front track of his Thunder Power equipped TRF417, the Swede said it felt good and was easy to drive until he made a mistake a hit a curb ending any chance of a strong final qualifier. The Swede said considering the circumstances he was happy to line up 6th.
Seperating the two Tamiya Racing Factory drivers was man of the weekend Magnus Vässmar. The 25-year-old who was in the B-Main on his last ETS appearance in Italy, was delighted with 5th on a grid that features four Xrays with Zdenko Kunák and 18-year-old German driver Marco Kaufmann also making the show. Although he made the A-Main previously, this is Vässmar’s best result but he said he is not setting himself any targets prefering to just wait to see how it goes.
Lining up 7th and 8th on the grid Andy Moore and Christopher Krapp both enjoyed a strong final qualifier but said maybe they found their pace a little bit too late in the day. Krapp said his first aim of the weekend was to get into the final and now that he’s achieved that he could now focus on the race. Finding a good set-up for Q5 he can now push his Kyosho a lot harder so his plan is to enjoy the finals and see how it turns out. Qualifying sixth for the season opener in Germany he ended up achieving his first ever ETS podium finish in the race, a performance he will be hoping he can repeat tomorrow.
In Pro Stock, HB driver Oliver Franke drove the perfect final qualifier to snatch the overall TQ honour from Xray’s Zdenko Kunák. The German needed not just to take Q5 but set a new fastest time and that just what he did denying the Slovak from taking a third pole position of the season. The first time the former race winner has TQ’d an ETS race he said he is very confident about his chances of taking the win tomorrow. Having taken three of the five qualifiers Kunák was very dissappointed to miss out and admitted he is going to have his work cut out tomorrow. Defending Champion Martin Hofer lines up third just ahead of the man he shares the current lead in the points standings with, Ivan Laptev.
In the Speed Passion Formula class Herbert Weber took the final qualifier with a new fastest time to ensure he became Top Qualifier on the tie break after he finished on the same quali points as Dai Sakaguchi.
Ride Modified Qualifying Round 5
1. Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo – 24/5:10.214
2. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 24/5:11.306
3. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 24/5:12.323
4. Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 24/5:12.629
5. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 23/5:00.615
6. Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Xray – 23/5:01.565
7. Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 23/5:02.167
8. Niclas Nilsson (SE) – Xray – 23/5:03.492
9. Marco Kaufmann (DE) – Xray – 23/5:03.502
10.Eric Dankel (DE) – Yokomo – 23/5:05.912
Ride Modified A-Main Grid
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – 310pts – Yokomo
2. Freddy Südhoff (DE) – 307 – Awesomatix
3. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – 306 – Xray
4. Marc Rheinard (DE) – 305 – Tamiya
5. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – 305 – Xray
6. Viktor Wilck (SE) – 302 – Tamiya
7. Andy Moore (GB) – 301 – HB
8. Christopher Krapp (DE) – 300 – Kyosho
9. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – 298 – Xray
10.Marco Kaufmann (DE) – 296 – Xray
Xray Pro-Stock Qualifying Round 5
1. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 22/5:03.736
2. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray – 22/5:03.971
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 22/5:04.281
4. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:06.895
5. Marek Cerny (CZ) – Yokomo – 22/5:07.820
6. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 22/5:07.888
7. Carsten Madsen (DK) – Awesomatix – 22/5:08.285
8. Denis Zuykov (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:08.723
9. Rob Janssen (NL) – Tamiya – 22/5:08.872
10.Fabian Bucher (DE) – Xray – 22/5:09.176
Xray Pro-Stock A-Main Grid
1. Oliver Franke (DE) – 310pts – HB
2. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – 310 – Xray
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – 306 – Schumacher
4. Ivan Laptev (RU) – 304 – Awesomatix
5. Steffen Leinburger (DE) – 304 – HB
6. Michal Orlowski (PL) – 303 – Tamiya
7. Tony Streit (DE) – 303 – Xray
8. Denis Zuykov (RU) – 300 – Awesomatix
9. Marek Cerny (CZ) – 298 – Yokomo
10.Rob Janssen (NL) – 297 – Tamiya
View the complete results here.
View the event image gallery here.
