ETS hits 50 as Coelho LUX for title success
The penultimate round of the Euro Touring Series travels to Luxembourg this weekend (23-25 June) and to one of the most unique circuits in the world. With its famous Laguna Seca corkscrew section, Mini Circuit ‘Ville de Luxembourg’, plays host to the ETS for a third time as the race marks the 50th race in the world famous championship’s history. While marking a significant milestone for series founders Uwe Rehinard and Scotty Ernst, on track all the attention will be on the three way driver/manufacturer on track battle for the Season #9 Volante Modified title. Securing victory at the previous round which marked the start of the outdoor half of the season, it is Bruno Coelho who leads the way coming into the weekend. Last year the large track proved a very happy hunting ground for the Xray star as it was where he would claim his first ever win of the high profile championship and a win this Sunday evening would see him crowned only the fourth different champion of the ETS.
Behind Coelho, the only double winner so far this season, Marc Rheinard is the closest title challenger, 5-points off his Portuguese rival. Losing out on the win in Luxembourg last year on the tie break, Rheinard will be hopeful that full factory support from Japan for the weekend will give him a fighting chance of taking the title battle to the season finale in Slovakia next month. In Italy the championship runner-up for the last 5 seasons, was without the full TRF squad managing to get a third having not really been a match for Coelho and second placed Viljami Kutvonen. While he missed the A-Main at Round 4, Rheinard’s German team-mate Christopher Krapp appears to have found his way with the TRF419X taking a podium at the recent Reedy Race of Champions alongside Rheinard and winner Ronald Volker.
Having to work much harder this year than in any of his previous 5-consecutive title winning seasons, reigning champion Volker comes into the 5th round with a new air of confidence. With the first asphalt race proving a disappointment after a first win of the season on carpet a race earlier, the Yokomo driver feels his team have made progress with getting the BD7 2016 to his liking with his Reedy Race victory validation of that. A track where the Volker/Umino partnership have celebrated titles in the past with a 7-point deficit to Coelho, they will be hoping come Sunday that they can celebrate that they have a shot at retaining their ETS crown going to Coelho’s home track, the Hudy Arena.
Without the worries of being in title contention and on the back of a very promising result at Round 4, Kutvonen will be looking to go one better and join the elite list of ETS race winners. The Finn and his Awesomatix A800 have shown great promise on asphalt and together with Freddy Sudhoff, who put his example in the A-Main in Italy, they should be a formidable force in Luxembourg.
An exciting addition to the ETS entry list this weekend is the first appearance of the new Infinity team. A major force in the Euro Nitro Series with their driver Teemu Leino claiming the 1:10 win in Germany last weekend at Round 2, this weekend the team brings back two ETS stalwarts to the championship in Jilles Groskamp and Andy Moore. Groskamp was very strong in Luxembourg last year, then as a HB driver finishing on the podium, and with Infinity still to develop an electric touring car he has picked what he feels is the best car for the weekend with both himself & Moore running Xray chassis.
While Jan Ratheisky has already put to bed the Serpent Formula title with four straight wins the Xray driver is not in Luxembourg due to illness meaning the popular class will have a new name at the top of the result sheets. In Pro Stock, Ratheisky is on target for that title too, there will also be a new winner this weekend as all three winners from this season are absent.
