Polish capital awaits Euro Touring Series fourth round
Poland plays host to the fourth round of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series this weekend as it travels to a new venue, the huge Arena Ursynow, in the city of Warsaw. The final carpet race of the 2009/2010 season before the series move outdoors for Rounds 5 & 6, the second visit to the Polish capital has attracted over 200 entries including last year’s winners Yannic Prümper and Meik Niemann. Twelve months ago the two German’s notched up their first international race victories at the event, a special moment they will both be hoping to repeat again come Sunday.
Prümper makes a return to the ETS after school commitments forced him to miss the Czech round where 200mm World Champion Daniele Ielasi filled his drive at Toni-Sport. Despite being out of action for two months, the talented teenager is sure to be back up to speed quickly and be a serious podium contender this weekend.
Leading the championship by 2 points from Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck, Marc Rheinard travels to Warsaw as the clear favourite for the top step on the podium. Having won Round 2 in Budapest, the World Champion backed it up with a dominant performance last time out taking victory in the Czech Republic and now has his targets set on a third consecutive ETS race victory. Wilck, winner of the season opener in Kastellaun, is the only other driver to have been on the podium at all three opening rounds and will be determined get the better of Rheinard on the 41M X 28M track and leave Poland back at the top of the points table.
The star of Hrotovice, finishing fourth overall in the A-Main among the quality line-up of international team drivers, Zdenek Hamak will be hoping to repeat his best international performance and further impress Team Xray who are supporting the Czech driver for the 2010 season. Hamak will again have the benefit of working alongside full factory Xray driver Martin Hudy who currently lies joint fourth in the standings with Team Associated’s Juho Levanen.
In the 13.5T Pro Stock class there are four ETS race winners among the 107 entries but it is current standings leader and inaugural Euro Touring Series Pro Stock Champion Alexander Stocker that they will all be out to beat. The German dominated the opening two rounds but in the Czech Republic had to withdraw from the finals allowing fellow German Daniel Wohlgemuth to take his first win in the series from Russian driver Ivan Laptev.
Defending Pro Stock Champion Balint Rajki has had a difficult season so far and really needs to turn things around this weekend to have any chance of retaining his crown. Last year’s event winner Niemann makes a welcomed return to the series having been absent from the racing scene for a few months and is entered to run a Hot Bodies chassis. Another Hot Bodies that can be expected to feature strongly is that of super fast Swede Tommy Bergfeldt. The Redbull backed racer is a previous DHI Cup Champion and back in January had a great battle with Stocker who eventually took the win and so has a point to prove in Poland.
Round four of the Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series will be part of a major feature on Polish television with the country’s top TV station sending a crew along for the weekend to film all the action. OSM, the host club, have also arrange for the Lord Mayor of Warsaw to attend the event on Sunday making this a great showcase for the sport of r/c racing in Poland. Also supported by Speedpassion, the event gets underway with practice on Friday with RedRC.net on hand to bring live coverage throughout the weekend.
