Volker top seed at ETS Germany
Ronald Volker is the top seed for qualifying at ETS Germany. Having set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the first of the two rounds of controlled practice, the Yokomo driver’s time would stand as Volker failed to improve on a slightly hotter track in CP2. Topping the final practice from Volker would be Bruno Coelho, the Xray driver breaking into the 42-seconds for his 3-laps following his tyre issues in CP1. Making a massive improvement on his opening time, Infinity’s Jilles Groskamp would post the third fastest time by just 1/1000th of a second in front of Freddy Südhoff, the Awesomatix driver also taking a chunk out of his CP1 time. With Volker the only driver seeded in the top 7 not having run their faster time in CP2, that ranking would be completed by Marc Rheinard, Naoki Akiyama and Loic Jasmin.
Reacting to CP2, Volker said, ‘the sun came out so it was warmer and my car was a little difficult out of the start but it was still a decent run’. He continued, ‘I will leave (the car) unchanged for Q1 because it will cool down again but I will have to make some adjustments for Q2 tomorrow’ – a much hotter day being forecast at Minidrom Ettlingen. The World Champion added, ‘I noticed Bruno and Freddy are good on 5-minute pace, particularly Freddy. I think he has the best car for all conditions’.
‘Much better now’, was how Coelho summed up the final practice after a tyre came unglued in the first controlled practice. Suffering a mistake in the middle of the run when he ran wide onto the dust causing him to go off onto the grass, he said, ‘the track was hotter and already after one lap the tyres were overheating so it was very important to drive smoother in these conditions not to overheat the tyres’. Looking to Q1 which will run on a cool track, the back to back ETS champion said, ‘we need to increase traction but have to be careful to not overdo it and overheat the tyres’.
A very pleased looking Groskamp said, ‘I change a lot my set-up. I tried a lot of stuff in the earlier practices and put it all together for the final one’. The two time champion added, ‘the first three laps in particular improved which I couldn’t put together before’. Describing the set-up now on his IF14 as ‘pretty similar to Marc’s’ he said he will leave it unchanged for Q1. Having sat third fastest after CP1, Groskamp’s team-mate Akio Sobue would try to follow the direction of his team-mate’s set-up for CP2 and run no ARS but the Japanese driver said this left him with ‘super understeer’. Dropping to P8 in the seeding, he will revert back to his ARS car for Q1.
Südhoff summed up his strong pace by saying, ‘From the very first run the car has been good, its good in all conditions, hot or windy, and especially for 5-minutes’. The German continued, ‘The hot lap is missing a little but it is 5-minutes that is most important’. A driver on the positive side of the fence in terms of the track, he said,’I really like the track, it is different to all other tracks but the traction is really good and consistent’. Asked about Q1 he plans to leave his A800X ‘as is’ and ‘try to make no mistakes’.
‘So so, not bad’ was Rheinard’s thoughts on his CP2 run, the Infinity driver adding, ‘3 laps doesn’t matter it’s more over the full run thats important’. The German continued, ‘my problem right now is the right rear has more toe in the left one and that’s causing me to lose at lot at the end of the straight’. With this problem traced to a difference in the rear hubs, he will fit a new pair for Q1.
Winner of the ETS Warm-up race run by the Ettlingen club in June, Akiyama put his improvement down to making no mistakes. Running in Heat 22 of 23 and running the same set up on his BD8 as team-mate Volker, he would make a mistake on his opening lap in CP1 preventing him from getting the best from the tyres. Admitting his Warm-up Race attendance is an advantage on the ‘difficult track’, the 17-year-old got a clean opening 3-laps on his second attempt to put himself in the top heat for qualifying. Currently 11th in the overall season standings he is targeting his third A-Main appearance of the season as he tries to round out his first full ETS campaign in the Top 10.
View our event image gallery here.
