Q2 Update
Day 2 of the opening race of the 2011/12 Yokomo European Touring Series has got underway with the second round of qualifying with Ronald Volker continuing to set the pace as he improved on his Q1 time from last night to once again head the Tamiya Racing Factory team-mates Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck.
Knocking 1.5 seconds off his opening qualifying run, Volker said other than one moment when his LRP powered BD5 WXi got up on the two wheels it was another clean run. Feeling he was lacking a little corner speed compared with yesterday the reigning Champion plans to make some small set-up changes for Q3. With two TQ runs in the bag the German ace was more concerned for his team-mates who struggled badly with traction roll this morning. Running different set-ups to Volker both Naoto Matsukura and Yannic Prümper will try his set-up for their next run.
Crashing on his penultimate lap, Rheinard said even without losing the 1.5 seconds he was struggling to match Volker’s pace. Putting the speed of his rival down to the expertise of the Yokomo drivers engineer Umino Yukijiro, Rheinard said his own car feels easy to drive giving you the confidence to push hard but then suddenly gets edgy and very inconsistent. Admitting he is not really sure what to change to cure the problem the World Champion will switch from Tamiya springs to a set of his own MR33 brand springs for Q3. Wilck, who switched from running a geardiff in Q1 to a spool, said the change made little difference and his Thunder Power equipped TRF417x still had no steering and it was only a clean run that allowed him to take third for the round some 5 seconds adrift of Volker.
Annoyed with his driving in the opening qualifying Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg was much happier with his fourth fastest time in Q2. Loosing some time after a coming together with team-mate Zdenko Kunák, the Swede said he drove a lot more consistent and although this felt slow the times were ‘OK’. Looking for a more aggressive car he will try a different set-up for his next run. Fastest Xray in the opening qualifier in which he was fifth, Kunák could only manage 17th for the round.
Although fifth for the round, a big improvement on yesterday’s performance, former World Champion Andy Moore said he was still way off the pace on a track which he said is not particularly difficult. Having changed his shock set-up for the run the factory Hot Bodies driver said it was better but he still needs to find more steering. Running HPI Flux Pro electrics in his TCX he will try a different additive for Q3. HB team-mate Freddy Sudhoff, who is happier with his car having switched to the same set-up as Dominic Fleischmann set the seventh fastest time just behind the Kyosho of Christopher Krapp.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class, in which their are 166 competitors, former race winner Oliver Franke TQ’d the second qualifier by just 11/100ths from Zdenko Kunák who took Q1. Franke said he made his Hot Bodies more flexible for his second run and while it didn’t make it faster it made it easier to drive. The German said he is not sure whether to change his set-up for Q3 to try make the car faster or continue with the safe set-up he has now.
Champion of the Xray Pro Stock class Schumacher driver Martin Hofer, who was only 8th fastest in the opening heat, changed the bump steer on his car which he said solved his problem at one particular corner where he was struggling with traction roll. The German said he is still lacking pace but having made the car easier to drive his confidence is much better today. Last season’s Dutch ETS race winner John Bruins took fourth for the round.
View complete race results here.
View the event image gallery here.
