A-mains Leg 1 – Video
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bds46U6JFMI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOoosZvvI4[/youtube]
Rheinard & Fadtke win first A-Main
The first A-Main of the third round of the Euro Touring Series has been run with Marc Rheinard and Dennis Fadtke taking the respective Modified and Pro Stock wins. Starting from pole, Rheinard took an easy victory while Fadtke won a thrilling race from 9th on the grid with a great move on Top Qualifier Daniel Wohlgemuth at the final corner.
There was drama at the Sport-V-Hotel this morning just as the Modified C Final, in which the 200mm World Champion Daniele Ielasi is competing, were lining up on the grid. Melting snow on the roof of the hall had caused a number of leaks in the roof right over part of the track, forcing race director Scotty Ernst to halt proceedings and make the call of a track redesign to avoid the wet area. Thanks to the efforts of the host club racing resumed in around an hour with drivers given an extra minute of warm-up to adjust to the new layout.
First of the A-Main’s was Pro Stock. Unfortunately championship leader Alexander Stocker had to return home after his daughter became ill last night leaving the No.2 spot on the grid blank. With the extra gap over the pack it looked like the No.1 Hot Bodies of Daniel Wohlgemuth was checking out after the opening lap but the German made a mistake on lap 3 dropping him down the field and allowing local star Jiri Mara to take the lead but on lap 6 he too made a mistake. Russian Ivan Laptev was the new driver to lead but all the time Wohleguth was working his way back to the front. Eventually retaking the lead Wohlgemuth made another mistake this time with three laps to go allowing Fadtke, who was enjoying a superb drive from the back of the grid, to close right on his bumper. Coming to the last corner Fadkte pulled off a fantastic move getting his Tamiya down the inside to take the win by just 4/100th of a second.
Afterwards the winner said he was a little lucky in the race to get up front but that his adjustments to the front end of this Speed Passion powered TRF416WE had transformed it compared with qualifying. Wohlgemuth was clearly annoyed with himself for making two mistakes while leading and for miss judging the position of the timing loop but gave Fadkte credit for a great overtaking maneuver. Finishing third Ivan Laptev, who started the race in 5th, described the race as ‘very exciting and a lot fun’ and despite having led at one point was pleased to finish in the Top 3. Schumacher Racing’s Chris Ashton, who ran as high as second, finished 4th and hopes that with a little more steering on his Mi4LP for Leg 2 he can finish in the Top 3.
In contrast to the Pro Stock final the Modified race was a far more straight forward affair. In the early laps Levanen put a lot of pressure on Wilck for second but the Finn couldn’t find a way passed his Scandinavan neighbour and they finished how they had started. The big battle of the race was for fifth with Martin Hudy pushed all the way by Steen Graversen, with Elliot Harper and Zdenko Kunák joining the action in the latter part of the race. Hudy resisted the challenge and took fifth behind fellow Xray driver Zdenek Hamak. Finishing sixth from 10th on the grid Danish ace Graversen, who was feeling ill yesterday, said he was feeling a lot better today and that was reflected in his driving. All the drivers admitted that while traction was low on the new section of the track they actually preferred it.
Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 results
1. Fadtke Dennis – 18 Laps in 5:15.131
2. Wohlgemuth Daniel – 18 Laps in 5:15.171
3. Laptev Ivan – 18 Laps in 5:16.995
4. Ashton Chris – 17 Laps in 5:02.982
5. Klöckner René – 17 Laps in 5:03.196
6. Rajki Balint – 17 Laps in 5:03.780
7. Madsen Carsten – 17 Laps in 5:04.580
8. Mara Jiri – 17 Laps in 5:11.137
9. Schmidt Martin – 17 Laps in 5:12.681
10.Stocker Alexander – DNS
Modified A-main Leg 1 results
1. Rheinard Marc – 19 Laps in 5:12.719
2. Wilck Viktor – 19 Laps in 5:13.764
3. Levanen Juho – 19 Laps in 5:14.376
4. Hamak Zdenek – 18 Laps in 5:00.367
5. Hudy Martin – 18 Laps in 5:03.748
6. Graversen Steen – 18 Laps in 5:03.897
7. Harper Elliott – 18 Laps in 5:04.133
8. Kunák Zdenko – 18 Laps in 5:04.672
9. Moore Andy – 18 Laps in 5:05.386
10.Jefferies Olly – 18 Laps in 5:09.010
Full results can be found here.
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Modified Class qualifying – Video
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnVj4FHJqTk[/youtube]
The video embedded above shows action from Heat 7, qualifying round 4 and shows Team Associated team driver Juho Levanen take the TQ for the round ahead of Hot Bodies driver Andy Moore.
Rheinard tops opening Czech qualifier
Marc Rheinard has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying here in the Czech Republic. The World Champion set the pace from Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck who was 1.6 seconds off his 16 laps in 5:04.492 run. Having complained that his car felt tweaked in practice, the German moved the battery pack back to its original kit position for the first of the five qualifiers resulting in a much better car. Although happy to bag the maximum 155 points, Rheinard said he needs to improve the car further as it remains very loose under power. Making a number of mistakes during his run to the second fastest time, Wilck said his car was drivable but not perfect. The Swede said he hopes traction improves tomorrow as such conditions would suit his TRF416X.
Behind the Tamiya pairing it was Juho Levanen who was the closest challenger with a run of 16 laps in 5:07.686. The Finn switched to a heavier oil in the rear shocks of his TC5 but it resulted in the back end becoming very loose. With the handling compromised he said he was forced to drive a safe run and it paid off. The Finn is very confident he can improve the car and challenge for a TQ run in the four remaining heats tomorrow.
It was an encouraging start to the weekend for former World Champion Andy Moore as he recorded the fourth fastest time. The factory Hot Bodies driver said his Cyclone TC is working surprisingly well. Feeling average for the first 2-minutes of the run he said it really came good in the last 2-minutes. The Englishman said he wants to try some changes for Q2 but will not decide on what adjustments to make until the morning.
Martin Hudy made it four different brands of cars in the Top 5 as he took his Xray T3 to fifth fastest time ahead of former team-mate Elliot Harper. Harper said he didn’t drive well in the first heat and that going with a harder shock oil had also made his TRF416X hard to drive. The British teenager, who only got four hours sleep last night, says the car has a lot of potential but he wont decide on how to get that out of the car until he’s had a decent nights sleep.
Having surprised everyone in practice with his stunning pace Zdenek Hamak could only manage 11th fastest in the first round of qualifying. The Czech driver changed to a heavier oil in the rear of his Xray T3 which made the rear of the car very unstable. With his fastest lap of 18.519 still standing, Hamak plans to return his car to the set-up used to record that time.
Tomorrow’s action gets underway with the opening round of qualifying for the huge Pro Stock entry here in Hrotovice.
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World Champions go head to head as ETS makes first visit to Czech Republic
The third round of the 2009/2010 Euro Touring Series travels for the first time to the Czech Republic this weekend where almost 200 drivers from around the world will descend on the town of Hrotovice in the south of the country. While current electric Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard is no stranger to competing in the Xenon Racing backed series, this weekend the German will go head to head with the nitro Touring Car World title holder Daniele Ielasi.
The Italian’s participation in the 3-day event has come about after he met up with Marc’s brother Toni at the Italian Grand Prix back in December. Racing an old car he had borrowed from a friend, Ielasi made the A-Main impressing Toni enough for him to offer the man behind IDM engines the use of a Tamiya/Speedpassion combination for the Czech event. Keen to see how he would compare against his electric equivalent when using the same equipment Ielasi jumped at the offer.
In the championship it is Viktor Wilck who leads the way holding a slender one point championship lead over his Tamiya team-mate Rheinard. The Swede, who dominated Round 1 in Kastellaun from pole position, finished third in Budapest where Rheinard won but will be hoping to reverse that result this weekend and extend his lead in the standings.
Once again there will be a large team presence this weekend. Juho Levanen heads the challenge for Team Associated and will be joined by British team driver Olly Jefferies who makes his first ETS appearance. 2006 World Champion Andy Moore is in attendance for Hot Bodies, while Martin Hudy represents the Xray factory who took second last time out with Teemu Leino. Having made their official team debut in the ETS at Round 2, Schumacher Racing are back for more with 5 times British Champion Chris Grainger. Other big names set to do battle in the A-Main include talented youngsters Yannic Prümper and Elliot Harper. This will be Harper’s first international outing since his switch from Xray to Tamiya at the end of last season. Former factory Kyosho driver Steen Graversen will make the trip from Denmark and having enjoyed a very strong run to
fifth at the DHI Cup with his privately entered Tamiya will be one to watch.
One very interesting entry is Kiyo Suzuki, the man responsible for designing Tamiya’s very successful TRF416. Kiyo, is due in Europe for the Toy Fair in Germany the week after the race and is coming a few days early so that he can make his ETS debut. Kiyo is best known for being Marc Rheinard’s pitman at the World and European Championships but will now race against him in the Modified class.
In the 13.5T Pro Stock class a massive 120 drivers are entered setting the stage for action packed racing. There is really only one man they must aim to beat and that is German ace Alexander Stocker. The Hot Bodies driver won the opening two rounds and won the DHI Cup at his first ever attempt earlier this month. After a disappointing outing at his home race where he finished fourth defending Champion Balint Rajki will be looking to get his campaign back on track.
Round three of the Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series, which is also supported by Speedpassion, gets underway with practice on Friday and the event can be followed throughout the weekend on RedRC.net who will be in Hrotovice to report live on all the action.
Leino takes runner up spot with Leg 3 win
With Marc Rheinard securing overall victory in Budapest after Leg 2 of the A-Main and opting to sit out the final race of the day it was Xray’s Teemu Leino who took the win in Leg 3 to claim the runners up spot for the Hungarian round of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series. Starting from 4th on the grid, Leino was given his break on the very first lap when an impatient Viktor Wilck tried a move on Top Qualifier Ronald Volker at the final corner. Sending the Yokomo into a roll this allowed the Finn to pass them both and once in front he ran the perfect race as chaos broke loose behind.
Another attempt by Wilck to pass Volker resulted in the Kastellaun winner losing two places while further into the race Volker traction rolled out of second spot. Xray’s new T3 chassis now looked like it was on for a 1-2-3 finish in the Leg but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately for 16-year-old Zdenko Kunak, who was putting in one of the drives of his life, he made contact in the infield with an out of shape Elliot Harper that sent the Slovak’s car rolling out on to the straight. Waiting for a marshal at the side of the track to put his car back in the infield he was collected by Sebastian Lein’s Tamiya, putting both cars out of the race. Kunak was clearly gutted to see his race end so cruelly but after such a strong showing the youngster will get his big day soon.
At the finish it was Volker who took second, four seconds adrift of Leino, with Wilck third. Ending the day on exactly the same points, the ETS Round 1 winner was given the final podium placing thanks to his faster race time in the opening Leg. Rheinard’s win and Wilck’s third means the Tamiya Racing Factory team-mates will go to the next race in the Czech Republic sharing the championship lead.
In Pro Stock it was all still to play for in the 3rd Leg of the A-Main with Top Qualifier Alexander Stocker and Yukijiro Umino having a win apiece but the No.1 car was the class of the field once again. Leaving the field behind Stocker did show he is still human making a mistake just as he entered his final lap. Losing 3 seconds, this allowed Umino’s Yokomo to close right up but the German remained calm and held on to claim the win and his second consecutive overall ETS victory. Upholding local honours, Gabor Forrai finished third ahead of defending champion Balint Rajki to stand on the third step of the podium.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9LXafSAG-c[/youtube]
Modified final standings
1. Rheinard Marc (DE) – 2pts [1:1, 2:1 [3:10]]
2. Leino Teemu (FI) – 3pts [3:1, 2:2 [1:3]]
3. Wilck Viktor (SE) – 5pts [1:2, 3:3 [2:10]]
4. Völker Ronald (DE) – 5pts [3:2, 2:3 [1:10]]
5. Harper Elliott (GB) – 9pts [1:4, 2:5 [3:6]]
6. Prümper Yannic (DE) – 10pts [1:5, 3:5 [2:6]]
7. Hudy Martin (SK) – 11pts [3:4, 2:7 [1:7]]
8. Moore Andy (GB) – 13pts [2:4, 1:9 [3:9]]
9. Lein Sebastian (DE) – 14pts [1:6, 2:8 [3:8]]
10.Kunák Zdenko (SK) – 5pts [3:7, 1:8 [2:9]]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlwWrO73MYE[/youtube]
Pro Stock final standings
1. Stocker Alexander (DE) – 2pts [1:1, 3:1 [2:2]]
2. Umino Yukijiro (JP) – 3pts [2:1, 3:2 [1:10]]
3. Forrai Gabor (HU) – 5pts [1:2, 2:3 [3:5]]
4. Rajki Balint (HU) – 6pts [1:3, 3:3 [2:5]]
5. Faur Cristian (RO) – 8pts [3:4, 2:4 [1:6]]
6. Kunák Zdenko (SK) – 10pts [1:4, 3:6 [2:9]]
7. Miko Peter (HU) – 14pts [2:7, 3:7 [1:8]]
8. Ashton Chris (GB) – 15pts [1:5, 2:10 [3:10]]
9. Juhász Viktor (HU) – 15pts [2:6, 1:9 [3:9]]
10.Orlowski Blazej (PL) – 15pts [1:7, 2:8 [3:8]]View the full results from all classes here.
An event that saw the entry double from last year to 160 drivers from 16 countries, the organisers here in Hungary were once again excellent hosts. With a short break now to enjoy Christmas the next round of the Euro Touring Series, which is also supported by Speedpassion, will venture into new territory when the Czech Republic will be invaded by some of the best touring car drivers in the world on January 29-31. We hope you can join us then.
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Rheinard wins first A-Main
Marc Rheinard has won the first A-Main here in Budapest, heading home a Tamiya 1-2 after pole sitter Ronald Volker rolled out of contention on the second lap. Volker’s Yokomo led off the line with Rheinard’s Tamiya right behind but caught a dot on lap 2 that sent the LRP powered BD5 into a roll. Despite landing rubber side down the German dropped to fourth and next time round hit trouble again at the same section which ended his challenge. Up front World Champion Rheinard held the lead over his Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck, who set the fastest lap, to win by 2 seconds with Teemu Leino securing third a further 3 seconds adrift. Having just made it into the A-Main thanks to a strong last qualifier Yannic Prumper continued his improved form today to finish 5th behind Elliot Harper.
In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker easily converted his pole position start into victory crossing the finish line over half a lap up on second placed Gabor Forrai. In the early part of the race Yukijiro Umino looked like he might challenge Stocker, getting the jump on Forrai’s Tamiya, but the Yokomo driver made a mistake on lap four which put him out of contention. Further mistakes saw the former Japanese Champion finish last. Defending ETS Champion and last year’s winner here at the Dabas-Diego Sports Centre, Balint Raijki finished third with his Hot Bodies Cyclone. Biggest mover of the race was Schumacher’s Chris Ashton who came from last on the grid to take 5th.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zSIPBN6de0[/youtube]
Modified A-main Leg 1 results
1. Rheinard Marc – 25 laps in 5:01.962
2. Wilck Viktor – 25 laps in 5:04.029
3. Leino Teemu – 25 laps in 5:07.119
4. Harper Elliott – 25 laps in 5:10.534
5. Prümper Yannic – 25 laps in 5:12.025
6. Lein Sebastian – 25 laps in 5:12.585
7. Hudy Martin – 24 laps in 5:00.643
8. Kunák Zdenko – 24 laps in 5:07.916
9. Moore Andy – 21 laps in 4:19.254
10.Völker Ronald – 21 laps in 4:34.212
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycaxETR7eE[/youtube]
Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 results
1. Stocker Alexander – 24 laps in 5:04.849
2. Forrai Gabor – 24 laps in 5:12.868
3. Rajki Balint – 24 laps in 5:13.395
4. Kunák Zdenko – 23 laps in 5:01.845
5. Ashton Chris – 23 laps in 5:02.550
6. Faur Cristian – 23 laps in 5:03.190
7. Orlowski Blazej – 23 laps in 5:11.119
8. Miko Peter – 22 laps in 5:03.496
9. Juhász Viktor – 22 laps in 5:05.945
10.Umino Yukijiro – 22 laps in 5:06.688
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Rheinard holds overnight TQ in Hungary
Marc Rheinard is the overnight TQ holder here in Budapest, Hungary, after the World Champion took maximum points in the penultimate round of qualifying for Round 2 of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series. Setting a new fastest time and just missing out on breaking into the first 25 lap run of the event, the German reversed the order of Q2 to head home his Tamiya Racing Factory team-mate Viktor Wilck with a time of 24L/5:00.301. Rheinard’s first clean run of the day, he said his 416X was easier to drive allowing him to also set a new fastest lap for the large indoor track with a 12.322. Wilck said his car was suffering with a little understeer but nothing too major.
Ronald Volker continues to be the only real serious threat so far to the Tamiya team, taking his Yokomo to another Top 3 time. The former European Champion said he is loosing time to his rivals in the tight corners but feels with a little more steering on his BD5 he can challenge for the overall TQ honours in the morning’s fourth and final qualifier.
Fourth fastest in Q3 was Teemu Leino followed by Andy Moore and Elliot Harper. Adding to his second fastest time in Q1 the Finn is the top placed Xray in the overnight qualification rankings, just ahead of team-mate Elliot Harper who was sixth in the third round of heats behind Hot Bodies driver Andy Moore.
In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker once again was the only driver to record 23 laps, describing his Hot Bodies’ handling around the track as being like a ‘carving ski’ through snow. The German, who was the inaugural ETS Pro Stock Champion and who currently leads the 2009/10 standings, hasn’t yet secured the TQ but it is hard to bet against his car carrying the No.1 in tomorrow’s A-Main. Local driver Gabor Forrai is the only man who can challenge Stocker for that honour but could only manage a distant third in Q3. Second fastest was 16-year-old Slovak driver Zdenko Kunak. The Xray driver believes he was on for topping the time sheets until he suffered radio glitches.
Modified top 6 standings after round 3
1. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 308pts
2. Wilck Viktor (SE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 308pts
3. Völker Ronald (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 307pts
4. Leino Teemu (FI) – Xray/Team Orion – 304pts
5. Harper Elliott (GB) – Xray/Nosram – 303pts
6. Moore Andy (GB) – Hot Bodies/Team Orion – 301pts
Pro Stock top 6 standings after round 3
1. Stocker Alexander (DE) – Hot Bodies – 310pts
2. Forrai Gabor (HU) – Tamiya – 308pts
3. Kunák Zdenko (SK) – Xray – 305pts
4. Faur Cristian (RO) – Serpent – 302pts
5. Rajki Balint (HU) – Hot Bodies – 300pts
6. Umino Yukijiro (JP) – Yokomo – 300pts
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