Volker dominates first A-Main
Reigning Yokomo Euro Touring Series champion Ronald Volker looks set to be on target to make the perfect start to his title defence with the Top Qualifier dominating the opening A-Main in Mülheim-Kärlich, Germany. Setting the fastest lap of the 5-minute encounter, the factory Yokomo driver took the win by over 5 seconds from the Tamiya’s of Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck who both struggled to match his pace.
Only in the opening few laps did it ever look like Volker might have a race on his hands but once the German found his rhythm he just checked out forcing his rivals into mistakes as they were forced to push their cars to the limit to try stay in contention. Volker said afterwards he felt a little pressure ahead of the first race and drove too carefully for the opening laps as a result allowing Rheinard to run on his tail, the World Champion making contact with the No.1 Yokomo at the start of the third lap. Getting his confidence with his LRP powered BD5 WXi, which he will leave the same for the second A-Main, he said once he started to push he could see his rival Rheinard couldn’t match his pace and he knew he had control of the race.
Rheinard said his TRF417x had the ‘worst combination’ of handling with it pushing, lacking corner speed and also traction rolling. An 8-time ETS race winner the former champion said he had to steer the car using the throttle. Suffering an unexplainable spin out, which Wilck repeated a few laps later at the same spot on the track, Rheinard said it been a frustrating8 weekend as on asphalt they have a great car but carpet is proving extremely difficult. With half of the six ETS rounds on carpet he said the team must find a solution if they are to have any chance of retaking the title they held for the first three season of the ETS.
Starting from sixth on the grid factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp finished fourth but felt 2nd was possible. After struggling with his Orion powered TF6 for the opening laps Krapp said the car came good and he was able to close in to Wilck but in his quest to find a way past the Swede he made a mistake. A World finalist, Krapp feels with better tyre prep finishing on the podium this evening is on the cards.
Best placed Hot Bodies was Dominic Fleischmann who took his LRP powered TCX to fifth ahead of the best placed Xray of Zdenko Kunák who started 10th in the grid. Starting fourth on the grid Andy Moore summed up his race as ‘One to forget’. The British Champion said his HPI Flux powered TCX was loose off the line and then wanted to be up on two wheels. His lack of pace was to cause an early pile up as the much faster No.5 Xray of Alexander Hagberg had to check up to avoid the slower Hot Bodies and in turn got hit from behind. Hagberg eventually finished 7th, one place ahead of Moore.
In the Xray Pro stock A-Main Zdenko Kunák converted his first ever ETS TQ into a win in the first A-Main seeing off pressure from the Hot Bodies of Oliver Franke. Kunák looked to have the race in the bag early on but Franke started to close the gap and under pressure the Xray driver made a mistake on lap 17 of 23 to allow the German to get to get on his bumper. With four laps to go Franke then had a moment of his own allowing the 18-year-old Slovak to take the win by 9/10ths of a second. Starting from fifth on the grid reigning Champion Martin Hofer came through to take third despite a spring change on his Schumacher leaving him with very little steering.
Ride Modified Leg 1 results
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 25L 5:13.257
2. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 24L 5:05.586
3. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 24L 5:06.630
4. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 24L 5:07.151
5. Dominik Fleischmann (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 24L 5:08.573
6. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray/LRP – 24L 5:12.181
7. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/LRP – 24L 5:12.953
8. Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/HPI Flux – 24L 5:14.952
9. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo/Thunder Power – 23L 4:55.532
10.Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 23L 5:11.543
Xray Pro Stock Leg 1 results
1. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray – 23L 5:08.591
2. Oliver Franke (DE) – Hot Bodies – 23L 5:09.476
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 23L 5:13.014
4. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 23L 5:14.168
5. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 22L 5:01.294
6. Steffen Leinburger (DE) – Xray – 22L 5:06.134
7. Daniel Wohlgemuth (DE) – Tamiya – 22L 5:06.134
8. Carsten Madsen (DK) – Awesomatix – 22L 5:06.825
9. Philipp Hagnauer (CH) – Yokomo – 22L 5:07.066
10.Michael Spiering (DE) – TOP – 22L 5:10.537
View complete race results here.
View the event image gallery here.
