ETS Spain finally gets underway as Volker TQs opening qualifier
The first outdoor round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series finally got underway this evening in Spain with Ronald Volker taking what could prove a very important TQ run in the first of the two qualifiers on the revised schedule. With yesterday’s action completely washed out, drivers arrived to a dry Asoger RC track this morning allowing for a round of practice in qualifying heat order. With qualifying finally getting underway it didn’t take long for rain to briefly stop things again but it was only Mother Nature’s warm-up before the action was halted again by a huge downpour meaning another frustrating delay for drivers. With sunshine finally appearing from behind the clouds to speed up the drying of the track when things did get back on track it was Volker who lead away having been fastest in Thursday free practice from Bruno Coelho. Coelho looked to be on target for P2 also in the opening qualifier until a mistake with a minute to go which would benefit Marc Rheinard and Freddy Sudhoff who ended up 2nd & 3rd fastest respectively ahead of the reigning champion. Winner here last year, Alexander Hagberg ended up only P9.
Summing up his TQ run, his advantage 1.3-seconds over Rheinard, Volker said, ‘I am very happy to keep up my practice pace in Q1. I was always in the Top 3 on Thursday. It was nice to start with a TQ after the delays’. The Yokomo driver added, ‘it is a crazy situation here to wait so long and you have the extra challenge to get warm enough to drive’. With drivers dressed more like they are waiting to go skiing rather than RC Racing due to how cold is it here in Madrid, the championship leader continued, ‘I thought I was going to lose the qualifier during the run as Bruno was catching but I was able to keep my rhythm. I am definitely happy with the car. I wasn’t able to test as much as I wanted for this race because of the weather here in Europe but compared to previous outdoor seasons it looks more promising now with my LRP powered BD9. Asked about set-up changes for Q2, which will hopefully take place tonight once the weather stays on side, the German said, ‘when the track conditions come up we will go back to the shock and diff settings from two days again but these are only minor changes’.
‘A solid start’, was Rheinard’s reaction to the opening qualifier. The Infinity driver added, ‘I suddenly made a 360 (degree spin) onto the loop on the second lap and lost about a second and then Ronald punched it over the loop (at the finish) which gave him 4/10th. Anyway it was a good start after the long break and the track having no grip and a lot of wind too’. Looking to the second qualifier, he said, ‘It should be faster the next one. I wont change the car because it will be hard to tell if its the track or car that changed’.
Reacting to his performance, the German having set himself up with a fan heater on his pit table, Sudhoff said, ‘They were tough conditions. It is pretty close between Ronald, Marc, Bruno and myself’. The Awesomatix driver added, ‘the car is performing very well since the first practice here (on Thursday) and I just made some small changes. The next round is going to be super important. I think it will be quicker and with 1 out of 2 to count all is still wide open even for the TQ. Asked if he planned any changes for his second qualifier, the German said, ‘I will adjust the speedo if the traction is higher’.
‘It was a good run until the fourth minute when I touched the curbing at the start of the straight and flipped. I lost 2-seconds’, was how Coelho described his opening effort. Asked about the track conditions the Xray driver, and 2017 Spanish winner, replied, ‘it was tricky and it was super windy which you could feel on the car. At the start my car was good but then it started to get loose in the rear but that doesn’t justify my mistake’. He concluded, ‘we will change small things for the next one to make it easier to drive. Conditions are very difficult and the traction is low but I hope the there will be more grip the next one’.
Setting the fifth fastest time, Viktor Wilck said his run ‘was OK’ explaining, ‘the beginning was ok but after a little while I had traffic with Kaufmann and then I spun on the curb. It was tricky but all in all it was a clean run’. Looking to Q2 the newest addition to the Infinity team line-up said, ‘I will change a few things and think maybe I will try running the car a little narrower’.
Having ended a four year spell of no ETS wins here 12-months ago, when asked about Q1 Hagberg replied, ‘It was not great. Either the lack of grip is not suiting my set-up or I need to improve my tyre prep’. The Xray driver added, ‘the limited track time in particular is difficult for me but we will work harder for the next round (of qualifying).
In the Pro Stock class joint championship leader Simon Lauter produced the TQ ahead of a gaggle of his Awesomatix team-mates. Making the switch to Awesomatix since Round 2 of the ETS in Germany, Dominc Vogl was second fastest with Christian Donath completing the Top 3 followed by Olivier Bultynck, Max Mächler and the first non Awesomatix driver Jan Ratheisky. In Formula, Ratheisky topped the times from Bultynck and Lauter.
View complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
