Volker tops Rheinard in Q2
Ronald Volker recovered from a slow start to the second round of qualifying this morning at the Euro Touring Series in Germany to give Yokomo its second TQ run of the weekend. Initially it was Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard who set the pace while Volker was on target for the fifth fastest time, but with his BD7 improving for the second half of the run the defending Champion would come back to top the times by 0.374 over his arch rival Rheinard. Behind them last night’s Q1 pace setter Yannic Prumper completed the Top 3 followed by Viktor Wilck and Alexander Hagberg.
Describing it as an ‘exciting qualifier’, with Rheinard, Prumper and Marc Fischer all having turns are setting the pace, Volker said in the beginning of the run his car didn’t have a good balance and he pretty much ruled himself out of having any chance of a TQ run. Aware he had lost a lot of time over the early laps but with the car improving over the run he said he decided to push. While he ‘took a lot of risks’, surviving two occasions when his car ‘almost left the track’, he said it was very satisfying to manage to end up TQ’ing the round. Putting his slow start down to tyre prep rather than a set-up issue, the defending champion said they will adjust it for the penultimate qualifier to get the car to work better earlier in the run.
‘Almost! Disappointing to of all people lose out to Ronald’, that was Rheinard’s reaction to the run. The Tamiya driver said his TRF419 ‘starts off good’ but by the end of the run is ‘missing punch’. Running a 5 turn Muchmore motor and charging his battery to 8.2 volts, for Q3 he will now charge to 8.4v as well as adding more turbo to his speedo settings. In terms of the car’s set-up he said it ‘felt pretty good’.
Prumper said his ‘driving was bad for the first 3-laps’. While his driving improved, like Volker he said his tyre prep was off and for the next one he will use more additive.
Setting the fourth fastest time, Viktor Wilck said his S411 was ‘good now’ but as in Q1 the run contained too many driver mistakes. Having gone up in the oil in his rear diff and reverted to the standard kit steering blocks, the newly signed Serpent driver said it was now just down to him to improve his driving. Having been on a TQ pace early on, Marc Fischer would also lose out to driver errors to end up 7th fastest. Also reverting to a standard car and increasing the diff oil from 6 to 7k, the German would set the fastest lap of the round saying ‘finally I am fast’. He said the biggest element in the improved pace was down to his tyres with him switching to his second set of race tyres for the qualifier.
Posting the 5th fastest time, last year’s event winner Alexander Hagberg said ‘for the first minute the car is undriveable as I have zero rear traction’. Having had similar issues in Q1, when he described his run to 3rd as ‘lucky’, he said having changed his set-up for Q2 but it making no difference he is now suspecting its his tyres that are the issue. While the car improves towards the end of the run he said his tyres still looking like brand new which at this point in the event shouldn’t be the case.
Completing the Top 6, Christopher Krapp said a camber change and less droop on his TF6 gave him a good car but he messed up his driving. The former ETS race winner said closing in on Wilck he just pushed a bit too hard and almost rolled. Considering running the car narrower for Q3, he said he might instead just focus on driving which will bring him the most improvement.
In Pro Stock, Mike Gosvig took the second qualifier from Q1 pace setter & Xray team-mate Marek Cerny with Awesomatix’ Max Mächler third fastest. Third in last night’s opening qualifier, Gosvig ran a harder rear spring on his T4 for Q2 which he said for the first laps had him thinking it was a bad decision but then the car ‘just got faster and faster’ as the change gave him more corner speed than yesterday. Passing Jan Ratheisky after the German rolled his T4, the 20-year-old Dane said it was hard having him running directly behind him for the second half of qualifier. Pleased with his car he will leave it unchanged for Q3.
Defending champion Cerny, who after a good night’s sleep was feeling a lot better, said his run was ‘quite OK’. Feeling that traction was higher than Q1 and that the hall being cooler than yesterday, he said his car was not as good as last night, leading to a number of small mistakes. Expecting conditions to be better for Q3 as the temperature rises, the outside temperature this morning reading -4, the Czech driver for now does not plan to change his set-up.
In Formula defending champion Ratheisky made it two from two as he this time topped the qualifier from Xray team-mate Francesco Martini with Roman Pichler again third quickest. Fresh from his Formula win at the Snowbirds in Florida, he said while his X1 is getting better each run he still needs more steering. Having moved the rear wing in as close as is possible to the chassis to reduce rear grip he said for Q3 he will narrow the rear axle width, run a harder monoshock as well as changing to a smaller pinion for more braking.
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