Groskamp takes Q2
Tamiya’s Jilles Groskamp has TQ’d the second qualifier in Apeldoorn outpacing Q1 pace setter and team-mate Marc Rheinard by 36/100ths while behind them Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper and Xray’s Alexander Hagberg turned around poor heat 1 results to set the third & fourth fastest times respectively in a round in which a number of top drivers hit problems.
Last year’s Top Qualifier at the Dutch ETS encounter, Groskamp was pleased with the performance of his Orion powered TRF417X on used tyres with his time three seconds off that set by Rheinard in Q1. Suffering one ‘unexplainable’ mistake on lap 7 the Dutch ace said the run was otherwise clean and he will continue with the same set-up for the penultimate qualifier. While Groskamp & Rheinard topped the timesheets the other two member of the TRF squad hit problems. Reedy Race Champion Viktor Wilck flipped his Thunder Power fitted 417 onto the grass at the end of the straight on his opening lap and losing too much time as he was marshalled opted to pull up and save his tyres for Q3. The youngest member of the team, Elliot Harper was on target for a Top 4 time but 2 laps from the end he suffered a motor failure which brought his car to a halt on the racing line at the start of the main straight.
While Prumper was just 2/10th off Rheinard in third and French team driver Cyril N’diaye put in another strong performance to set the fifth fastest time, Yokomo team leader Ronald Volker said his team are lacking pace this weekend. Only able to produce the 11th fastest time, the defending champion said even if their car was perfect he has not been driving well himself so far this weekend. Having sat out the opening qualifier so as to have new tyres for Q2, returning team-mate Hayato Matsuzaki’s plan didnt pay off as he suffered problems with the gluing of his tyres.
Tyres issue hit a number of leading drivers with Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp, who retired from Q1 with a motor failure, having to pull up with a tyre coming off the rim. The Gran Canaria race winner set the fastest lap of the round with a 15.013 and clearly has the speed to TQ here if only he could turn around his luck. Fifth fastest in Q1 Serpent’s Marc Fisher along with Xray’s Paul Lemieux also had to pull up when the gluing broke on their tyres despite having reglued them ahead of use, as recommended by the series organisers.
In Pro Stock Xray’s Tony Streit TQ’d the round ahead of former Apeldoorn ETS winner Rob Janssen and fellow Dutchman Bart Wubben who makes a welcome return to racing this weekend. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier, Schumacher’s Martin Hofer was again quick setting the fastest lap of the round before tyre gluing issues made his car a handful dropping him to 11th.
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