Andernach to bring third successful ETS season to a close
They say time flies when your having fun and obviously the Euro Touring Series has been creating lots of it as this weekend brings to a close a third successful season of Scotty Ernst and Uwe Rheinard’s vision for a European ‘Friendship’ Electric Touring Car Championship. At the end of this weekend here in Andernach, Germany, over 500 individual drivers from all around the world will have raced in the 2009/2010 Xenon Racing backed ETS, including the first ever Australians. To celebrate its third anniversary the organisers are throwing a party at the track on Saturday for the 228 entries and have erected a huge marquee just for the occasion, with Scotty saying ‘racing is important but so is having fun’.
Heading the entry at the sixth round is newly crowned three time World Champion Marc Rheinard who come Sunday is set to claim his first ETS title, Jilles Groskamp having won the past two titles. A native of Andernach, this is the German’s home track but he cant take the home win for granted with a host of World class drivers here to challenge him including former World Champion’s Atsushi Hara, Andy Moore and half of the drivers who made up the World’s final at Burgdorf two weeks ago. Rheinard hasn’t had much time to celebrate his historic World title defense having spent last week in Portugal racing in the 1:8 Off Road European Championships and straight after this race head’s to Houston, Texas, where he will compete in the 200mm Nitro Touring World Championships. Tamiya Racing Factory team-mate Viktor Wilck, who was also racing in Portugal, will be keen to put a disappointing Worlds behind him this weekend. His challenge for the ETS title ended at the last round but the Top Qualifier here last year he will be keen to cement the runners-up spot in the overall standings by ending the series as he started it by taking his second victory of the 2009/10 season.
Hara has been busy too, flying to Thailand after the World’s to test 1:8 Buggy at Pattaya in preparation for the defense of his Off Road World title later this year before returning to Germany for the ETS finale. With 1:8 buggy now his main focus he tried new engines from OS, a new clutch and new parts on his D8 and was very happy with the test but he is very much looking forward to his Touring Car weekend here in Andernach. The winner of this event in 2008, this is the Japanese ace’s second appearance in the 2009/2010 series having won the last round in the Netherlands where he showed just how fast the modern modified touring car has become with his TCX recording a top speed of 115kph on the MACH straight. At the Worlds the gear diffs were the big thing and Andy Moore has used the time between races to test the same diff that Rheinard used to take him to the title. Returning back to England, the 2006 World Champion did some testing at Ardent Raceway. Running on the indoor carpet track he said he didn’t like the feel of it but having had a run here on asphalt he said it feels good. Hara has opted to stick with the standard ball diff saying he will let Andy do the work for now but he thinks the gear diff is the future for the class.
While most of the drivers have been busy racing or testing, Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker has taken a complete break since Burgdorf. The German said he has just spent the last two weeks taking it easy and now feeling refreshed he is very much looking forward to a fun event this weekend. New team-mate and Worlds finalist Yannic Pruemper spent last weekend testing and learning more about his Speed Passion powered BD5. The German teenager has also been trying gear diffs and likes the feeling it gives the car.
Another World Championship finalist on the entry list is Kyosho’s young new star Christopher Krapp. Finishing fourth in Burgdorf, he and his Team Orion powered TF-6 are sure to be serious podium contenders. Other strong contenders include Xray drivers Zdenek Hamak and David Ehrbar. Last weekend Hamak won the second round of the Czech Nationals and at the last ETS encounter Ehrbar TQ’d the final round of qualifying. Lucas Urbain, who showed he can do magic with his aging Losi at the Worlds, will be one to watch but having come straight to Germany from working the night shift at his job, the French driver said today he’s going to need a lot of coffee but tomorrow he hopes he mix it with the top runners in qualifying.
Staying on after the Worlds so that they could compete in an ETS race, Simon Nicholson and Ryan Maker become the first Aussies to race in the series. After a bit of sightseeing including a trip to the Nurburgring, the pair have had the chance to test here during the week and are very positive they can make up for the dissappointment of the Worlds. Nicholson only got his Prototype Phi chassis from Corally a week before Burgdorf but with a few days extra running at Andernach, a track he really likes the layout of, he is a lot more confident with the car. Maker who said the track here is really nice to drive is also much happier with his ride and has been running gear diffs in the front and rear of the Yokomo.
Set to retake the Pro Stock title he lost to Balint Raijk here last year, Alexander Stocker returns to the series in style competing in both Pro Stock and Modified. Having been away from the racing scene for a while due to the arrival of a new baby, the German is normally at the controls of a Hot Bodies but with the new TCX chassis not yet available he will run a Yokomo in the class he has dominated and has opted for a Tamiya for his Modified debut. Thinking that racing in the two classes this weekend would be a great idea the German said this morning he’s not so sure it is. Stocker faces a quality entry which includes Czech winner Daniel Wohlgemuth, who is back running his Xray T3, Rob Janssen, who is has just got the new Corally Prototype Phi, Zdenko Kunák and Ivan Laptev.
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