Ronald Volker ends ETS drought with victory in Vienna
Very very happy, after a couple of ETS races I finally got the TQ and win again.”
Ronald Volker
Ronald Volker has finally broken his victory drought that stretched 11 races, all the way back to Mulheim Kaerlich at the beginning of the 16/17 season, having taken the win here in Vienna. Starting from pole position the former World Champion leaves Austria with a solid lead in the points standings, having also taken the bonus point for TQ. Despite some close racing with his long time rival Marc Rheinard, Volker was able to pull a small gap at the end to take the race, with Marc having to settle for 2nd place, just ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Freddy Sudhoff, with reigning Champion Bruno Coelho suffering another difficult race ending up in 5th. Ronald was quick to thank those who made it possible saying ‘I’m super happy to get the overall win for this event, we worked the last few weeks really hard to get the upcoming BD9 in good shape. A special thanks to Hayato and Team Yokomo for this as well as thanks to Jurgen from LRP for the support’. About his race he said ‘A2 was starting well but I struggled with my driving in the middle of the run and I made a few small mistakes on the left part of the track so Marc was very close but I really didn’t want it to go to A3 so I put my head down and got a bit of a gap so I didn’t need to defend’, concluding by saying ‘Very very happy, after a couple of ETS races I finally got the TQ and win again.’
I tried to push him but in the end I just pushed too much and lost more time.”
Marc Rheinard
Marc Rheinard ended A2 in second despite pushing hard to get the lead but admitted to pushing too hard ‘I struggled this time on the first lap and I was already 0.8 behind, the car felt better in A1, but I saw Ronald had small trouble 1 or 2 times so I tried to get close, and I was close, but then I was pushing too much so I hit a curb here and there’ continuing ‘I mean anyway there is no room to pass. I tried to push him but in the end I just pushed to much and lost more time’. On A3 the Infinity driver said ‘I’ll try to keep them (Alex & Bruno) behind me, drive my own race and hope they battle.’
‘I didn’t really have a good start’, commented Hagberg ‘I felt the track had less grip now so I struggled a bit to get the turn-in so I couldn’t really catch the guys in front so I just tried to defend the position and take it to the end’. With Volker having to sit out the 3rd A-main the Swede aims to go for the win but that might be hard as he believes the track ‘might be different again in the next main’.
The pace is now pretty similar, so almost anything can happen.”
Freddy Sudhoff
Making the only pass of the race, Freddy Sudhoff didn’t need an invitation to take advantage of a small mistake by Coelho as he took the position. Feeling his Awesomatix was now better than in the first main he said ‘I changed the car a little bit, trying a little different downstop settings which let the car rotate more in the mid corner’. On his pass on the 3-time ETS Champion, he commented, ‘luckily Bruno made a small mistake so there was a gap I could use. He chased me pretty hard to the end, it was a super fair fight, it was fun to drive’. On the final main and with the remaining podium positions still open the German said ‘I will see what happens in front. It looked like everyone slowed down a little bit and I kept my pace so the pace is now pretty similar, so almost anything can happen.’
Simon Lauter completed his domination of the Pro Stock class this weekend as the Awesomatix driver took another win, again ahead of his team mate Max Machler in 2nd, to wrap up his first overall win in the class. Following a coming together between Jan Ratheisky and Tim Benson, Frederik Mikkelsen was able to drive through the confusion and take 3rd, with the battling pair ending the final in 4th and 5th respectively.
In Formula, it was once again Simon Lauter who put on a master class, however this time is was on how to resist pressure as the German was pushed the entire race, first by David Ehrbar, who despite a few tries was not able to find a way passed. When the Serpent driver crashed it was Andreas Stiebler who went in pursuit of the Tamiya driver, but ran out of time at the end. With Lauter having a difficult A1, it is all still to play for in A3.
Alexander Stocker was another to wrap up the class win early as the former ETS Pro Stock champion took another win to take his first overall victory in the Masters 40+ class. Again it was Toni Mateo who took 2nd place with Christian Drießle 3rd. Having dominated Stock all weekend Daniel Pohlmann was not able to wrap up the overall win early as he endured a difficult race, which allowed Mark Valent to take the A2 win ahead of Krystian Kopacki and Kevin Sparbier.
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