Prumper TQs opening qualifier at ETS finale
Yannic Prumper produced a blistering opening qualifier at the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Austria to top Q1 by a massive four seconds over the HB of Andy Moore with defending champion Ronald Volker the only other driver to manage 21 laps of the Traiskirchen track to record the third fastest time. Changing to a heavier shock oil in his Thunder Power equipped BD5 for the first of the four qualifiers, the young German was clearly delighted with how the car handled in the cooler conditions. Finding it a little difficult over the first 2-minutes of the 5-minute run from then on it was very easy to drive and had ‘minimum traction roll’. Impressing onlookers with the authority he stamped on Q1 over the World class field, Prumper said afterwards with the car working so well he has no plans to make any changes ahead of tomorrow morning’s Q2.
Describing Prümper as being in a different league, former World Champion Moore was pleased with second saying he just focused on driving safe and for that approach his Hobbywing powered TCX felt pretty good. With a good points hall from the round the British Champion said he can push harder in his next run but said in order to do this he will need to improve his set-up. While new team-mate Shin Adachi took 8th in the round, Atsushi Hara pulled up after he traction rolled on his fourth lap. One of the greats of the sport, Hara admitted he was trying a little too hard but having had no problems at that section of the track in practice said he was surprised to roll there. With practically new tyres for Q2 Hara is hoping he can register a good run in the morning but he was not the only one to pull up after early mistakes, both Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck and Yokomo’s Hayato Matsuzaki also having the advance of better tyres for Q2.
Having found his LRP powered BD5 difficult to drive from the start Volker said he reverted to going for a clean run which paid dividends as he took third and was fastest of the four title contenders. Losing some time having to let team-mate Prumper through, the only double race winner of the season said they have no choice for tomorrow but to try a different set-up as he struggled in the infield with understeer.
Just missing out on a 21-lap run, factory Xray driver Alexander Hagberg was content with his run to fourth as he always knew he would be at a disadvantage on new tyres. With his ORCA powered T3 stronger on used tyres the Swede hopes this will allow him to capitalise tomorrow when all drivers are on worn rubber. Team-mate and fellow countryman, Magnus Vassmar said his car was much better than it had been in practice but added there is still room for improvement. One of the stars of qualifying at the Polish ETS encounter where he TQ’d a round, he set the sixth fastest time just behind Marc Rheinard and ahead of Kyosho’s title hopeful Christopher Krapp.
Rheinard, who currently leads the points standing thanks to his TQ & win at the previous race, said his car was not nice to drive resulting in him flipping the Speed Passion powered TRF417. Having set the pace in practice, the World Champion who will go for a unprecedented three world titles in a row later this month, said he found the track for Q1 a lot more grippy but expecting the track to be warmer for Q2 doesn’t plan any set-up changes as he was pretty happy with his car in such conditions early today.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class Austrian driver Philipp Neudinger drove the best 5-minutes of his life only to have the time disallowed for his ratio being below the allowed 4.50 for the control Speed Passion speedo and motor class. Driving an Awesomatix, Neudinger followed the gearing ratios contained in the manual of the unique Russian designed car but when manually calculated at post race tech inspection it was discovered those figures in the manual had been rounded up and he was infact running 4.979. Although he believed Neudinger had not intentionally tried to break the minimum 4.50 ratio rule, race director said Scotty Ernst said the rule was was in place in the super close class and he had no choice but to disallow the time. This gave Xray driver Tony Streit the TQ for the round. Having struggled in practice the German found his car was tweaked but having time to complete a full rebuild before qualifying he said the car is now very competitive and he is very confident for the remaining three rounds of heats.
Championship leader Zdenko Kunak had a terrible opening heat, the factory Xray driver struggling on new tyres and managed only the 25th fastest time. Also competing in Modified where he posted the ninth fastest time, the talented Slovak racer said he has a good set-up for used tyres and he should be OK for tomorrow’s qualifiers. Title rival Olver Franke also had poor opening heat managing only the 7th fastest time after rolling his HB.
In the Speed Passion Formula class San Marino driver Andrea Selva set the pace ahead of Simone Leonardi and promising young Polish racer Bartlomiej Zambrzycki.
Ride Modified Q1 Top 10 times
1. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokmo/Thunder Power – 21/5:10.158
2. Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 21/5:14.216
3. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 21/5:14.668
4. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/ORCA – 20/5:00.130
5. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 20/5:00.990
6. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray/Thunder Power – 20/5:03.811
7. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 20/5:05.169
8 Shin Adachi (JP) – HB/Reedy – 20/5:05.470
9. Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Xray/LRP – 20/5:05.615
10.Martin Hudy (SK) – Hudy/LRP – 20/5:06.431
Xray Pro-Stock Q1 Top 10 times
1. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 19/5:10.456
2. Bernhard Bopp (DE) – HB – 19/5:11.756
3. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 19/5:11.845
4. Morten Iversen (DK) – Awesomatix – 19 5:13.488
5. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 19/5:14.001
6. Martin Wilfinger (AT) – Serpent – 19/5:15.003
7. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 19/5:15.186
8. Marek Cerny (CZ) – Yokomo – 18/5:00.194
9. Radek Flek (CZ) – Yokomo – 18/5:00.381
10.Felix Wiessmann (DE) – Yokomo – 18/5:01.093
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