Volker tops seeding from Rheinard & Coelho
Ronald Volker is the top seed for qualifying at the opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series. Having set the pace in the first timed practice, the reigning champion would further improve his 3-consecutive lap time in the second & final run. Behind the Yokomo driver it was his long standing rival Marc Rheinard who would make the biggest improvement between rounds to go P2 just 0.067 of a second off. Having been second fastest in the CP1, Bruno Coelho would complete the Top 3 a further 1/10 behind. Making a return to the ETS, former race winner Adrian Berntsen would provide the biggest surprise of practice as he took his relatively unknown Gizmo chassis to the fifth fastest time behind former Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg.
No stranger to setting the pace in Hrotovice, having a 100% winning record at the event, Volker said while he was ‘happy to top the times and start first (in the top heat)’ on the BD7 2016’s first ETS outing his car was still a little more difficult to drive than he would like. Very happy with the speed of the car and his lap times over the run, his last three laps counting as his seeding time, he still wants to make the car easier to drive for Q1. Although he would only end up 7th fastest, team-mate Yannic Prumper was happy with his BD7. The German said on the improving track, his car felt better but a heavy crash prevented a better time. Having just run 3-laps that was 3/10th slower than his CP1 time, 5-laps in he knocked a spring retainer off and needing to pit to have it fixed he couldn’t get a good time in.
‘The car is good to drive’ was Rheinard’s reaction to the second timed practice. The Tamiya driver said running a wide rear end and rebuilding the shocks made his Much More powered TRF419 more stable. Only losing out on topping practice when Volker put in a late fastest 3-laps, last year’s Top Qualifier said he was not sure about the end of the run. The qualifiers are a minute longer than the 4-minute practice, and with his pace dropping off while Volker’s improved he is a small bit concerned. Planning to leave his car unchanged, the only thing he will change is his tyres having being alternating between two sets of the new for season 9 Volante ETS controlled tyres. Inbetween French drivers Lucas Urbain and Loic Jasmin, Rheinard’s TRF team-mate Christopher Krapp would end practice P9. P6 after the first practice, the German adjusted his shock shafts making them longer having suspected with them screwed in extra far following drilling of the shock end that they where causing it to clamp the ball. After the adjustment he said it caused the car to ‘drive like a boat’ so he will go back to the shorter set-up.
A driver who finished out Season #8 of the ETS with two wins having made his championship debut at this event last year, Coelho said his T4 was ‘very good’ but the practice contained ‘a few driver mistakes’. For qualifying the 22-year-old said he plans to opt for running an ‘alu chassis for now’ in Q1 adding it ‘feels very good’. Only 5/100th off Coelho, team-mate Hagberg will also run an aluminium chassis saying it has more corner speed. The Swede complained of a tweak in the car when he ran it back to back with a carbon chassis in CP1 and with the feeling still there he feels it could be related to tyres. Having run the same set of tyres in both practices and planning to run them again in the first qualifier tonight he said he will ‘just find a way to drive it like that’.
Having stopped competitive racing in 2014 after his win at ETS Gran Canaria so as to focus on his studies, Berntsen said he was ‘quite surprised’ by his pace. Running only his second race with Martin Christensen’s Gizmo chassis, the Norwegian said going to heavier rear diff oil in the CZ1 for CP2 had improved the car. With more corner speed and happy with the feeling of the car, the 22-year-old plans to run it unchanged for Q1.
Completing the Top 6, Elliott Harper described his performance as ‘not too bad’. The factory Schumacher driver said they have done a lot of carpet testing including attending the Mibo Cup and this has allowed him to get a better understanding how his driving affects how the car works. Having made a lot of progress with set-ups and running an updated aluminium chassis this weekend which has more flex, that has also helped with giving the Mi5 Evo steering. Feeling that ‘the car rolls too much making it hard to feel the steering’ he will play with the shock set-up for the first qualifier.
In the Xray Pro Stock class reigning F1 Champion Jan Ratheisky topped the seeding for Xray ahead of the Kyosho of Tim Benson. Winning his first ETS race last season in Luxembourg, Serpent’s Julian Borowski completed the Top 3 in front of defending champion Marek Cerny. In the Serpent Formula class, former champion Hebert Weber was quickest from David Ehrbar and Christian Donath with last year’s race winner Ratheisky fourth.
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