Volker sets pace in first timed practice
Having had all day to either relax or travel to the nearby Arena 33, once the Modified action got underway this evening at Round 2 of the Euro Touring Series in Muelheim Kaerlich it was Ronald Volker who was quickest off the mark. Topping the single free practice session, the Yokomo driver backed that up by topping the first of the two controlled rounds from Bruno Coelho, his 3-lap pace a 35.181 compared to the Xray driver’s 35.419. Making his ETS debut with Infinity, Marc Rheinard completed the Top 3 a further 3/10ths off while VBC Racing’s Yannic Prumper made it an interesting Top 4 by putting his car in the early mix.
One of a number of drivers who spent the week testing at Arena 33 in preparation for ETS Germany, Volker was very happy with his opening pace. Having destroyed one of his race cars at Arena 33 on what was to be his final run yesterday evening when he collected a car stopped in his path giving a 4-hour rebuild to do, Volker ran two cars in the free practice and while similar on pace he opted for what he referred to as the Umino car. Describing his CP1 performance as ‘a very good start to the evening’ he said the BD8 had slightly too much steering and they would ‘make a little change for CP2’. Asked about the track layout, the World Champion described it as ‘fast and flowing’ adding the ‘front chicane will be interesting come the final because there is an opportunity to pass there but otherwise there is not much room to pass’.
‘Pretty OK but it is not at 100% yet’ was Coelho’s reaction after CP1. Winner of last weekend’s TITC, the ETS Champion added, ‘we still need to work on the car and make it faster for sure’. Asked were he was looking to improve his T4 he said ‘we need more overall traction and steering’. Team-mate Alexander Hagberg would take his example to the 7th fastest time, the Swede over half a second off on his fastest 3-consecutive laps.
His first ever ETS race not driving a Tamiya, Rheinard, who is nursing a cold since return from the TITC in Thailand, said his SMJ prototype felt like a different car compared to how it was in testing at Arena 33. The German said, ‘the traction is pretty low even though Pro Stock and Formula had run their first practice and opening qualifier on it and so all the testing we did at Arena 33 is not much use’. He continued, ‘my car feels like it has no grip but as the tyres get older they get a little more grip which should hep but its still going to be a struggle for traction’. Infinity team-mate Akio Sobue, the Japanese team having just two drivers at this round, would post the 6th fastest. The Japanese driver said his car had very responsive initial steering but it quickly turned to understeer and for CP2 he will made a shock change to try cure this.
Prumper declared his P4 as a ‘much stronger start to the weekend (than previous outing)’, the German adding, ‘I think the car is very good for 5-minutes’. With VBC Racing designed Carven Chow in Germany for the last week for testing, Prumper said this had helped them improve the car a lot although he added there was no comparison between the ETS track, really low traction, and Arena 33, where the traction was really high. In terms of improving his car for CP2 he said they need to improve it through the right hander after the centre straight where it is a little loose in the rear. He will change to a softer diff to try improve it.
Posting the 5th fastest time Lucas Urbain said his strong pace, ‘wasn’t expected’. The French driver who put his VBC into the A-Main during last season’s ETS, said, ‘the last few races have not been good as a team on carpet but we did a lot of work and now all our cars are competitive which is very pleasing’. The Hong Kong manufacturer’s third team driver Marc Fischer was also in the Top 10 with P8. Very happy with his car in the high speed corners, saying ‘I really like it’, Urbain feels he can improve the car in the slower corners and will make a front shock spring change for the final practice.
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