ETS motors to Poland for second half of season
After a 6-week ‘mid term’ break, the second half of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series gets underway this weekend (13-15 April) with drivers traveling to Poland for the fourth race of six that make up the calendar for season number five of the world renowned electric touring car championship. While Poland has been a regular fixture on the annual ETS schedule, like the opening three races of the 2011/12 season another new venue awaits competitors with the country’s fifth largest city Poznan playing host to drivers from 22 different nations. Adding to the excitement of the Polish round is the race being a part of Motor Show Poznan, a full size car motor show which has previously attracted 46,000 visitors.
Following his hugely popular maiden ETS win in Gran Canaria Christopher Krapp is the man who sits at the top of the points standings in the premiere class ahead of current & former champions Ronald Volker and Marc Rheinard who are equal second, two points adrift of their fellow German. Also securing Kyosho’s first win in the series’ history, Krapp’s wrapping up of the overall win on the holiday Island in the second A-Main is already the most watched race of the season with 10,000 views. Starting out the season with a podium finish at Round 1 in Germany and then fourth in Italy, the 19-year-old now has that first win under his belt and will be looking to continue his form which has put him right in contention for the overall championship title.
Having dominated the opening two races of the season, Volker will be looking to put the finals day drama of Round 3 to the back of his mind this weekend and try get his title defense back on track. Having qualified third in Gran Canaria, the factory Yokomo driver was forced to withdraw from the asphalt event following the practice final after the last of his prototype speed controllers expired. Back to racing on carpet in Poland, the European Champion is widely recognised as the best carpet racer in the World currently and will be looking to capitalise on this the last carpet track of the season.
World Champion Rheinard knows that this weekend is a crucial one for him if he is to have any chance of lifting the ETS title for a second time. The Tamiya driver has struggled to be any match for his great rival Volker and even when the defending champion hit trouble at Round 3 he could not capitalise coming away with another 3rd, the same result as he achieved at the previous race in Italy.
Outside of the Top 3 in the championship standings, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper could spring a surprise in Poland. Hagberg was very fast at round 3 and took a well deserved second behind Krapp and the Swede is very hungry for that first ever ETS victory. Showing great form in Italy where he finished second to team-mate Volker, 18-year-old Prumper has a single ETS win to his credit and that came in Poland but that was three years ago. Forced to miss Round 4 due to school commitments, the German is back and more determined than ever to put an end to his winning drought.
In the biggest category of the ETS, the Xray Pro Stock class where 269 drivers have already registered championship points, the lead in the standings is shared between defending champion Martin Hofer and Ivan Laptev despite neither driver having won a race yet this season. Third in the standings, former Hobby Class Champion Michal Orlowski will be extra motivated to do well this weekend as he races in front of his home crowd and seeks his first ETS Pro-Stock win. Having missed Gran Canaria, Round 1 winner Zdenko Kunák is back this weekend as is Round 2 victor Steffen Leinburger. A surprise winner at Round 3 on his first ETS appearance of the season, Czech racer Marek Cerný will be hoping he can continue where he left off.
In the new Speed Passion Formula class young Polish racer Bartlomiej Zambrzycki, who is second in the standings, will be hoping he can show his more senior rivals the way round this weekend in front of the expected large crowds. Round 4 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series gets underway with practice on Friday and culminates with triple mains for all drivers on Sunday. All the action from Poznan can be followed live throughout the weekend on RedRC.
