Wilck Top Qualifier at ETS Gran Canaria
Tamiya Racing Factory’s Viktor Wilck is the Top Qualifier for the 3rd round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria. The Swede secured his first ETS pole position since 2010 after posting his second TQ run of the day in the 6th & final round of qualifying on the Spanish holiday island. Defending Champion Ronald Volker will start second, only able to post the 8th fastest time in Q6, with his Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prumper securing the third grid spot in front of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg.
Having taken a big gamble when he sat out the opening round of qualifying yesterday Wilck was delighted that it had paid off securing his first ETS TQ in 15 races and the first for Tamiya since Apeldoorn last year where team Marc Rheinard took the honour. The only front running driver with new tyres for the closing qualifier, Wilck topped the timing by 2.5 seconds from Serpent’s Marc Fischer who in turn was 5/100th fastest than last year’s race runner-up Hagberg. Commenting on tomorrow’s race Wilck said that with everything equal he believes he can go for the win tomorrow but he added tyre tactics could still be a key factor in the outcome of the race. Having previously TQ’d three ETS races but only converted one into a win, the Reedy Race champion is confident of adding a second win in the series to his CV pointing out that he sees Prumper as his biggest treat rather than Volker.
Volker’s aim for the final qualifier was to set a Top 3 time as this would have secured him overall TQ honours but said he lacked a little pace despite having tyres that were only on their second run. Eventually finishing the 5-minute run 4.8 seconds off Wilck, the Top Qualifier at the opening two rounds of the 2012/13 season said he was still happy with second as the track had plenty of opportunities for overtaking. Like Wilck, the German, who is chasing his third consecutive ETS title this season, believes tyre strategy will play a part in tomorrow results.
Making his debut on the island, Prumper is upbeat he can challenge for the win tomorrow saying his Muchmore equipped BD7 is really good on new tyres. Confident that he is a little faster than his team-mate Volker he said being able to overtake will depend a lot on the track conditions and the level of traction they bring. Already a circuit that has low traction he said if the conditions are not right it will be very difficult to move off the racing line for any attempts at passing.
For Christopher Krapp, who TQ’d last year’s event before going on to take a very popular first ETS win for himself & Kyosho, it was a disappointing qualifying. The German who opened qualifying with a solid run to third needed a good last qualifier to move up him to the grid but he could only manage 7th meaning he will start the A-Main from 8th in between Andy Moore and Adrien Berntsen.
In contrast to Krapp, for the winner of last year’s Pro Stock race Marek Cerny qualifying saw the Czech driver TQ 5 of the 6 rounds, an electrical problem in Q3 denying the Xray team driver a clean sweep. Starting behind the Xray Pro Stock Championship leader will be the Awesomatix of Finnish talent Viljami Kutvonen with defending champion Zdenko Kunak’s Yokomo completing the Top 3 spots for the grid.
Ride Modified Q6 times
1. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 16/5:07.052
2. Marc Fischer – Serpent/Thunder Power – 16/5:09.680
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray/ORCA – 16/5:09.737
4. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo/Muchmore – 16/5:10.069
5. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya/Muchmore – 16/5:10.298
6. Andy Moore – HB/Hobbywing – 16/5:10.944
7. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho/Orion – 16/5:15.682
8. Ronald Volker – Yokomo/LRP – 16/5:11.879
9. Meen Vejrak – Yokomo/DualSky – 16/5:13.791
10.Juho Levanen – Associated/Reedy – 16/5:15.053
Ride Modified A-Main Grid
1. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 462 pts
2. Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 460
3. Yannic Prumper (DE) – Yokomo/Muchmore – 459
4. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/ORCA – 457
5. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Muchmore – 455
6. Marc Fischer (DE) – Serpent/Thunder Power – 454
7. Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 453
8. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 451
9. Adrien Berntsen (NO) – Xray/ORCA – 466
10.Loic Jasmin (FR) – Yokmo/LRP – 466
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Grid
1. Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 465 pts
2. Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 459
3. Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Yokomo – 458
4. Olivier Bultynck (BE) – Yokomo – 453
5. René Klöckner (DE) – Yokomo – 452
6. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 451
7. Trin Tanongsakchaikul (TH) – Yokomo – 450
8. Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 449
9. Toni Mateo (ES) – Yokomo – 448
10.Alvaro Fernandez (ES) – Tamiya – 446
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
