Volker tops first time practice
Ronald Volker has made his intentions very clear at the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series at the amazing Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia, the Yokomo driver topping the first timed practice by a massive 4/10th over 3-consecutive laps from team-mate Yannic Prumper with title rival Marc Rheinard over a second off Volker’s blistering pace in 3rd. With Volker and Rheinard here to battle it out to become champion of this the sixth season of the ETS, the scenarios are simple. For Rheinard to deny Volker a third consecutive title, he must win anything less and irrespective of where his fellow German finishes on Sunday the title stays with Yokomo. Should qualifying go the way of Volker, securing him the bonus championship point for TQ honours, and even if Rheinard can pass him for the win then second would still be enough for Volker to defend his title so ultimately the pressure is on the Tamiya driver.
Having been content with his pace yesterday in open practice, today the first of two time practice runs left Rheinard clearly stunned by Yokomo’s pace. ‘I don’t know where he makes up the time’ was how Rheinard summed up Volker’s pace. Running a fastest lap which is 4/10th fastest than Rheinard’s best, the former 3-time World Champion said having thought they were in touch with the Yokomos yesterday, today ‘the gap is huge’ and he has no idea what he can do to find the pace.
While Rheinard had a certain look of defeat on his face after the first time practice, Volker had a quiet air of confidence about him. Having yet to win an outdoor ETS race in the series 33 race history, Volker summed up his run with ‘we’re doing well’. Describing the track as ‘the perfect track for racing Mod Touring Car’, he added that there was ‘no better place to host the ETS Finale’. Having found a ‘good set-up’ in yesterday’s open practice he said the balance of his BD7 is perfect. Happy with the performance of the car in the hot midday conditions he said for the final practice he will run the car as is but with the opening two qualifiers set to take place later this evening he said they will probably have to make a change to suit the cooler conditions.
Describing the track as ‘amazing to drive’ adding that he really likes the technical layout, Prumper said his BD7 was really difficult for the first 2-laps something he is putting down to the particular set of handout Ride tyres he ran. After 4 laps the 19-year-old said the car was really good and other than freshening up the shocks and diff he will stay the same for the second timed practice, the best of the two counting for a reseed of the drivers for qualifying.
The only other driver apart from the two title contenders to win a race this season, Vikor Wilck set the fourth fastest time. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver tried a different additive which he said on the hotter track was no better than what he ran in the morning’s open practice run. The Swede said at the beginning of the run this TRF417 feels ‘actually OK’ but then thee tyres go off causing the car to develop understeer. Asked what he plans to try for his next run the Gran Canaria winner said the ‘Yokomos were way too strong’ adding that ‘even if they improve the car he’s not sure its going to be enough to close such a gap’.
Having ‘essentially wasted a day yesterday’ due to a problem with a prototype Sanwa radio he was using, HB’s Andy Moore was very happy to post the 5th fastest time. Having had his regular Sanwa radio shipped from the UK overnight, the 2006 World Champion said today he feels like he is at the races and back on the same page as everyone else. Generally happy with his TCXX he said he will use the final practice to try a few small changes which he hopes will bring him that bit closer to the lead pace.
Completing the Top 6 was Alexander Hagberg. Team Xray’s lead driver said he is struggling a little. Knowing the track better than most, this being Xray’s development track, the Swede said his T4 feels good to drive but on the time sheets it’s too slow. Feeling that the car is maybe too easy to drive he said for the next practice he will run a different suspension geometry. Team-mate Marco Kaufmann took his example of the T4 to the 8th fastest time just behind the Tamiya of Thomas Pumpler. The 19-year-old is happy with the consistency of his car but looking to find a little more corner speed he will adjust the front anti-dive for his next practice.
Serpent’s Marc Fischer took his S411 to the ninth fastest time, the German describing his performance as ‘so so’. He said his car is good after 2-minutes but he needs to get it to work right from start adding that his rivals pace from the first lap is ‘awesome’. Feeling that his problem is tyre additive he said the difficult part is deciding which one is the best one to use.
In the Xray Pro stock class Marek Cerny set the pace from Danish driver Mike Gosvig with Dominic Vogl third. The Czech driver who leads the championship standing, and barring all but a disaster should be become champion of the series biggest class on Sunday, described his Xray T4 as ‘perfect’.
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