Wilck TQs 2nd qualifier at ETS Round 3
Having pulled up right after the start of opening round of qualifying in Gran Canaria yesterday Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck was able to capitalize on fresh tyres this morning taking Q2 at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series ahead of the Yokomo’s of Yannic Prumper and Loic Jasmin who both also had the advantage of fresh tyres. Best of those on used tyres was Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who posted the fourth fastest time. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier Ronald Volker became the latest driver to play the tyre strategy games pulling up immediately after crossing the start line in Q2. Originally scheduled to be the best 2 rounds counting from five, a change to the timetable has added a sixth round of qualifying with three rounds now to count meaning every driver will need to run at least once on used tyres.
Running a time that was 1.1-seconds off Volker’s Q1 pace, Wilck said he was happy to TQ the round but despite having new tyres his Speed Passion powered TRF417 felt a little loose. Not willing to disclose when he planned to use his second new set of allocated Ride controlled tyres, the Swede who was the only driver to run an 18-second lap time said rather than change his chassis set-up he would focus on the preparation of his new & used tyres.
Having run three laps on his tyres in Q1 before pulling up after a mistake, Prumper said even with this small amount of running the tyres had lost the potential for a TQ Finishing over 2-seconds off Wilck, he also described his Muchmore equipped BD7 as a ‘little loose’ adding that he too would focus on getting more from the tyre rather than go after a better chassis set-up.
French National Champion Jasmin was pleased with his run to the third fastest time but said his LRP powered BD7 which was really good in the beginning of the run lacked consistency and was difficult to drive at the end. Running tyres that only did 2-laps in the opening qualifier and setting the TQ pace for the first half off the run, he said he will make a change to his shocks for his next run in addition to adjusting his tyre management.
Hagberg was pleased with the performance of his ORCA powered Xray T4 on used tyres. Suffering slight damage to one of his tyres in Q1 on his way to posting the second fastest time, the Swede said for the first few laps his car felt a little tweaked but once the tyres came in it ‘felt pretty good’. Planning to leave everything as is last year’s event runner-up said the rest of qualifying was going to be about when to run new or used tyres and he hoped he would be able to make the right call on the strategy to choose.
Last year’s winner Christopher Krapp, who was 3rd fastest in Q1, could only manage 16th in Q2. Switching body for the round, the Kyosho driver said he had a problem with the side catching a front tyre and tucking but overall he just had a lack of traction. Changing to the same tyre additive he used on his new tyres he said it didn’t work with the car just sliding around. For his next run on used tyres the German will switch back to the previous additive he used in practice which gave much better traction.
Fifth in Q1, Marc Rheinard was again fifth in the second qualifier the 3-time World Champion saying that he had little choice but to run a ‘slow steady round’ due to the lack of traction. Setting the 7th fastest time behind Dominik Fleischmann, Andy Moore took a similar approach but the 2006 World Champion had two moments, the second of which saw him roll his Hobby Wing powered HB TCXX costing him 2 positions. The Top 10 was completed by Serpent’s Marc Fischer, TOP Racing’s Steven Weiss and Awesomatix’s Viljami Kutvonen.
In the Xray Pro Stock and Speed Passion Formula classes Marek Cerny and Jan Asmer picked up where the left off yesterday to produce their second TQ runs of the event.
Ride Modified Q2 times
1. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 16/5:06.670
2. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:08.964
3. Loic Jasmin – Yokmo/LRP – 16/5:09.704
4. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:11.369
5. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya/Muchmore – 16/5:13.914
6. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:14.263
7. Andy Moore – HB/Hobbywing – 16/5:14.518
8. Marc Fischer – Serpent/Thunder Power – 16/5:14.543
9. Steven Weiss – TOP/LRP – 16/5:16.254
10.Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix/LRP – 16/5:16.644
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