ETS descends on Czech Republic for start of Season #7
The World’s top electric touring car racers and teams will descend on the Czech Republic this weekend (1-3 Nov) for the opening round of Season #7 of the Euro Touring Series. Once again defending champions Yokomo are to be title sponsors of the world famous championship and the Japanese manufacturer will be looking to get the start of their title defense off to the perfect start just as they have done by winning the opening race of the last three seasons. With Ronald Volker chasing a fourth consecutive ETS title, in addition to ETS race winner Yannic Prumper Yokomo have bolstered their team for Round 1 by entering their reigning 3-time 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura. However once again Volker’s biggest challenger is set to be fellow German Marc Rheinard, Tamiya’s 3-time former World Champion having finished runner up for the past three seasons having been champion of the 2009/10 season.
Despite being the most winning driver in the ETS with 11 victories to his credit with Volker next with 8 wins, Rheinard has in previous seasons always been left to play catch-up over the season such is Volker’s pace on carpet. Both drivers, together with Serpent’s Marc Fischer, attended a recent round of Michal Bok’s MIBO Cup at the Sport-V-Hotel complex as preparation for the ETS season opener but Rheinard struggled to match his arch rival finishing third behind him and Fischer. A driver not normally known for his pre-event testing efforts, the lack of competitiveness at the MIBO Cup has pushed Rheinard to travel to the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia where he is currently testing alongside the Xray team trying to better get to terms with his new TRF418 on carpet.
The big surprise of last year’s Czech encounter when he pushed Volker very hard for the overall win forcing the event to be decided in Leg 3 of the A-Main, Fischer will be one to watch this weekend. The event marked his and Serpent’s first ETS podium finish and having been unable to repeat the result since, the German will be extra determined to get the small team’s new season campaign off to a strong start by putting his S411 back on the podium. Also claiming his only podium finish of last season in Hrotovice, Awesomatix lead driver Freddy Sudhoff will be looking to put the Russian company’s new A700L Evo in the mix over the three day event.
The only driver apart from Volker & Rheinard to take to the top step of the podium last season when he won in Gran Canaria, Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck will be hoping he can avoid the same result as last year when he found himself in the B Final for the first two races of the season. HB’s Andy Moore suffered a similar start to his campaign, but the former World Champion ended the season strongly and will be hoping to carry that form through to this weekend. After a disappointing 2012/13 campaign, former race winner Alexander Hagberg will be hoping he & Xray can return to the form that made them a title contender for the Ride Modified class during Season #5 of the ETS.
One interesting entry for Round 1 is Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk. With lead touring car driver and former ETS race winner Christopher Krapp unable to attend the season opener, Kyosho are sending their Swedish offroad star. The reigning 1:8 Offroad European Champion and Euro Offroad Series frontrunner has very little previous touring car experience but said he is excited about making his ETS debut and seeing how he gets on against the world of onroad racing’s best drivers.
With the Xray Pro Stock class making up 150 of the close on 300 entries for Round 1, the biggest class of the ETS undergoes a big change for the new season with Muchmore the new supplier of the classes handout electrics. Racers will use Muchmore’s FLETA EURO ESC in combination with the FLETA ZX 13.5T motor with Xray’s reigning Champion Marek Cerny heading the entry. The Czech driver won his home event last year on the way to his first title and is highly motivated to get his title defense off to the perfect start spending the lead up to the event testing at the Hudy Racing Arena.
Continuing it successfully growth, the Formula class will also undergo an electrics change for its third season on the ETS schedule. Attracting an impressive 43 entries for the season opener which will be headed by defending Champion Jan Amser, the growing variety of different chassis being used will all feature the same handout electrics from new partner Hobbywing.
