Volker takes first win of his ETS title defence
Ronald Volker finally got the defence of his Yokomo Euro Touring Series title on track with the first win of the season at Round 3 in Austria. After fending off an intense challenge from ETS Germany winner Bruno Coelho in A1, the Yokomo driver took a relatively easy A2 win finishing more than a second clear of his Xray rival. A race that would see the Top 5 finish as they started, ETS Czech winner Marc Rheinard finished the leg third a further 1.3 seconds back followed by Alexander Hagberg and Viljami Kutvonen. Wrapping up his first win in almost a year, which he incidentally was also claimed in Austria, Volker becomes the third different winner of the season as the championship now prepares to move outdoors onto asphalt for the second half of the season.
‘It’s been a super weekend, it needed to be if I was to be a title contender’, was how Volker summed up his 13th ETS victory. Chasing a sixth consecutive title in the premiere Volante Modified class but struggling at the opening two rounds, the German said, ‘we worked hard on our car set-up in the lead up to this race and it paid off. Thanks to Umino and the rest of the team. It worked out perfectly’. Commenting on A2 in which he set the fastest lap, he said ‘from the start I was able to hold the gap over Bruno but after 3-4 laps he started to come closer so I pushed harder aiming to maintain the gap but I started to pull away which meant I was able to take it easy the final minute’. Asked about the upcoming switch to asphalt, Round 4 taking place in Italy next month, he said,’it is so tight with Bruno and Marc you can’t predict how it will be’. He added ‘while we are working very hard to improve so are the others so it is wide open for the title’.
Although he was unable to repeat the impressive challenge he mounted in A1, Coelho still declared A2 ‘a good result’. The Portuguese ace felt the track had changed second time round and with ‘less traction’ the rear of his Hobby Wing powered T4 was in particular ‘loose in the chicane’. As a result he said he could ‘take no risk’ there. Looking to A3 with second overall still undecided, when asked if he would change his car set-up for the final encounter he said ‘I think I will leave it alone as we are still a little faster than Marc’, Rheinard being the only one who can demote him to the final step on the podium.
‘Just not fast enough’ was Rheinard’s reaction to the race. Not getting to full gauge his pace again Volker and Coelho in A1 after contact from Hagberg, the Tamiya driver said ‘there is a little bit missing (in the car’s performance)’. With the car losing steering as the race goes on, when asked if he would change it for A3 he replied, ‘I’m not sure, to be honest I don’t know what to change’. With a crash from Coelho his only real chance of second overall he said, ‘Like I said before I need to be on the podium. I could try to race Bruno but I also need to look behind me to protect a podium finish’.
Also being decided in A2 was the Xray Pro Stock winner with Top Qualifier Jan Rathiesky claiming his second win of the season to extend his lead at the top of the standings. A fraught race, after which reigning Champion Marek Cerny found himself excluded from the event for unsporting behaviour, 10th place starter Tom Krägefski would finish the leg in second, with Helge Johannessen completing the Top 3. In the Serpent Formula class, a mistake from Ratheisky means A3 will decide if the reigning champion can claim a third consecutive win of the season. Winning A2, Roche driver Olivier Bultynck will be hoping to deny the Xray.
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