Q4 Update – TQ run for Prumper
The fourth round of qualifying at the ETS in Slovakia saw Yannic Prumper record his first TQ run of the weekend but only after a late mistake by Serpent’s Marc Fischer. Both running on new tyres, Fischer would hold on to take 2nd with already confirmed Top Qualifier Ronald Volker completing the Top 3 on used rubber. Having been on a similar pace in practice to team-mate Volker, since the start of qualifying Prumper has struggled to match his fellow countryman and so for Q4 ran he tried a tyre additive from Volker’s engineer Umino Yukijiro. The additive turned out not to suit Prumper’s driving style with the 19-year-old saying his TQ run was a lucky result. Still in contention to start second on the grid behind Volker, for the fifth & final qualifier he will revert back to the additive he ran in the opening three heats which is a new sample blend Much More have giving him to test. In terms of chassis set-up Prumper will also change to a lighter shock oil for the run.
Holding a 1-second advantage over Prumper, Fischer said his roll was caused by him clipping the curbing but he doesn’t know why he made such an error. While he had new tyres and was able to set the fastest lap, he said his S411 was still pushing a little adding that it was probably not any worse than what every other driver is having to deal with this weekend. With Marc Rheinard and Alexander Hagberg expected to battle it out for the final TQ run due to both still having a brand new set of tyres at their disposal, Fischer said he hopes he can do a Top 6 run which he said should be enough to help him start from the front half of the A-Main grid.
Another driver to go into Q4 with new tyres was Freddy Sudhoff who would take his Awesomatix to fourth. The German said the first five laps were really good but then a problem with his rear left tyre started to hinder him in right hand corners. Adding that he was lucky to get away with the result, he said despite this he is very happy with how the new parts are working with them able to improve the car every run.
The round saw the best run of the weekend from American ace Paul Lemieux. Using his second set of tyres the US National Champion took his Thunder Power equipped T4 to the ninth fastest time just 18/1000ths behind Xray team-mate Adrian Berntsen.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Austrian Dominic Vogl TQ’d the penultimate round from former Champion Martin Hofer while Zdenko Kunak, who secured the overall TQ one round earlier, pulled up to save tyres having run just 4-lap to test a set-up change. Driving his Awesomatix A700, 16-year-old Vogl, who came so close to his first ETS win in Austria, was clearly delighted with his run having had troubled runs in the first three qualifiers.
View the event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
