Rheinard TQs final qualifier
Marc Rheinard has TQ’d the final round of qualifying at the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Slovakia. The Tamiya driver, who is the only one who can deny Top Qualifier Ronald Volker from wrapping up his third consecutive title of the Ride Modified class, said he was only able to top Q5 as a result of being one of the few drivers who had a new set of tyres left. Topping the round by 1-second from Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, who was also on a fresh set of tyres, the 3-time World Champion said his Much More powered TRF417 still does not have a good feeling and the advantage of the new tyres was only good for the first 5-laps after which he started to lose steering particularly when turning left.
The result will see Rheinard start second on the grid at the Hudy Racing Arena directly behind Volker but the series’ most winning driver said being realistic the Yokomo’s drivers pace is too much for him to be able to do anything about getting the win needed to regain the ETS title he lost to Volker 3 seasons ago. Known for pulling off some of the most memorable passes in the sport, Rheinard said his only chance for tomorrow is to try make moves on his arch rival at places he described as ‘not normal spots’. Such is Volker’s pace this weekend, even on used tyres he never finished outside the Top 3 throughout the five rounds of qualifying. In Q5 he set the third fastest time ahead of the Associated Juho Levanen, who was on new tyres.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Dominic Vogl backed up his Q4 TQ run by again topping the time-sheets, this time from Awesomatix team-mate Viljami Kutvonen securing himself second on the grid behind Top Qualifier Zdenko Kunak. Having struggled in early qualifying, Vogl looks to have found his form and should make Kunak, the outgoing champion, work hard for the win tomorrow. Championship protagonists Marek Cerny will start from 4th behind Kutvonen and directly in front of the Schumacher of former Champion Martin Hofer.
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