Euro Touring Series

February 26, 2017

No surprises as Volker cruises to A1 win

Other than the surprise for the A-Main drivers that it is dark at 06:30 in the morning as they left their hotels for the track, the opening A-Main at Round 2 of the Euro Touring Series was an uneventful encounter with Ronald Volker cruising to an easy win. While Bruno Coelho would attack hard on the opening lap, the Top Qualifier quickly pulled clear of the reigning champion to win by more than 2.5-seconds. The leading battle of the race would be for third between Infinity team-mates Marc Rheinard and Akio Sobue but with overtaking opportunities on the Muelheim-Kaerlich track layout at a premium, Rheinard would maintain his third place to the finish.

‘I have never run an A-final that early but I’m very happy to win A1, just one more to go’, was Volker’s reaction his Sunday morning drive. The Yokomo driver said his LRP powered BD8, which they ran unchanged from qualifying, was ‘slightly loose on the opening lap which allowed Bruno to get quite close but then he had a bobble and I had a gap’. Reacting with the fastest lap on the race on his second lap, the German, who is closing in on his 14th ETS career win, said, ‘after that I was comfortable and could pull away’.

Summing up his race, his gap over Rheinard at the finish also 2.5-seconds, Coelho said, ‘I can’t say it was a bad race’. He continued, ‘we changed the car again completely and it was an improvement but not enough to catch Ronald. For the next one we will try to improve it more’. Commenting on his fast start the Xray driver said, ‘I try to force more at the start but the 3rd lap I got loose coming onto the straight and Volker got space. I tried to push again but couldn’t catch him so drove to save my 2nd place’.

Running his colour scheme for the first time this weekend, Rheinard said ‘it still feels like there is no grip’. Commenting on his battle with Sobue, the former event winner said, ‘I hit the curb and spun out and that allowed Akio to get close’ but the German hinted the treat of being passed by his team-mate was nothing he couldn’t deal with. Running out of ideas of what to change to try improve the car for A2, he concluded, ‘I will go back to my white bodyshell and put on my second set of tyres’ – the white bodyshell the same Protoform LTC-R design as the painted one he just ran.

In the Pro Stock A-Main, Top Qualifier Marcus Kreder only managed to lead for three corners before crashing allowing fellow Awesomatix driver Olivier Bultynck to the front, the Belgian pulling clear to win easily from reigning champion Jan Ratheisky who came out on top of a three way battle for second that involved Helge Johannessen, who after contact recovered to third, and former Champion Alexander Stocker. In Formula, Top Qualifier David Ehrbar took an easy tone to tone win with his Serpent ahead of the Xray of Andreas Stiebler with fifth place starter Bultynck getting his Shepherd up to third.

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February 25, 2017

Coelho best of rest as Volker completes qualifying clean sweep

Xray’s Bruno Coelho lines-up best of the rest on the grid for Round 2 of the Euro Touring Series in Germany tomorrow as Ronald Volker completed a clean sweep in the fourth & final qualifier. While having already wrapped up the overall TQ in the previous round, Volker didn’t let up in Q4 and switching to his second set of tyres topped the times by a 2.1 second margin, signing off with the fastest lap of the round on his final lap. Behind, it was Coelho who for a third time was second fastest, the defending champion recovering from an early mistake to secure second overall on the grid ahead of Marc Rheinard. Second fastest in Q2, Rheinard was in contention to line-up closest to Volker but the final qualifier would be the Infinity driver’s worst as he ended up with a P5, his slow pace leaving Alexander Hagberg frustrated as he couldn’t get by the German. Completing the Top 3 for the final qualifier by 0.043 from Hagberg, this would give Akio Sobue fourth on the grid ahead of the Swede.

Appearing to have given up hope of being able to find a way to reduce Volker’s advantage, going over his latest performance Coelho said, ‘At the beginning I made a mistake when I hit a dot and lost time. As we have been changing the car every run it takes a few laps to get an understanding of how its working and once I did then I could drive good again. While it was better (this round) I can’t say it was good’. Asked about tomorrow’s finals, drivers pretty unanimous that the layout offers little passing opportunities, Coelho conceded his aim was to ‘try to keep my second’.

While quietly relieved to put the car in the A-Main after failing to do so on his Infinity debut last weekend in Bangkok, Rheinard was clearly frustrated that changes to his car are having no effect and that it is something outside his control that is influencing the race. Running a completely different shock on his SMJ Prototype, he said the car still felt the same adding, ‘its zero fun to drive’. Regarding the finals, the 14-time ETS race winner said, ‘I think I will need to look out behind me more than looking forward’.

Bettering his best qualifying of last season’s ETS, Sobue was happy with fourth on the grid, the former podium finisher saying his car was ‘not so bad’ for the final qualifier. Adding more camber and rear toe in, the 22-year-old said this gave him more traction but looking to the finals his view was that it was going to be ‘very difficult to overtake’.

‘Not good’ was how a clearly annoyed Hagberg reacted after Q4. Top Qualifier & victor of the event in 2015, the Xray driver said, ‘I was catching Marc (Rheinard) at the end. He was very slow but didn’t open and this cost me fourth on me grid for sure’. Like those starting ahead of him and speaking from his final qualifying experience he concluded ‘it’s impossible to pass on this track’.

In the Xray Pro Stock and Scorpion Formula classes the Top Qualifiers would be decided in the final round. Having TQ’d the opening two rounds of Pro Stock Markus Kreder who go up against Alexandre Duchet for the overall TQ who took Q3 but by the second lap the Frenchman’s challenge was done giving Kreder pole ahead of fellow Awesomatix driver Olivier Bultynck and the ARC of Helge Johannessen. Winner of the season opener, Duchet will have his work cut out to retain his championship lead from ninth on the grid. In Formula David Ehrbar TQ’d the final round with the only 22-lap run of the weekend to take pole on the tie-breaker from Andreas Stiebler, the TQ extending the Serpent designer’s championship lead.

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February 25, 2017

Volker is Top Qualifier at ETS Germany

Ronald Volker is the Top Qualifier at ETS Germany, the Yokomo driver claiming pole position for his home event for the first time since 2012 with a third TQ run in the penultimate qualifier. His 21st ETS career TQ, Volker was once again the class of the field in Q3 and on a slower track would be the only driver to manage 26-laps. Best of the rest, Volker’s rivals struggling to match his pace, would be Bruno Coelho, the Xray driver outpacing Infinity’s Marc Rheinard by 6/10ths of a second. Akio Sobue would make it a strong round for electric touring car newcomers Infinity as he enjoyed his best round getting a P4 ahead of former event winner Alexander Hagberg.

‘We started with great form yesterday and were able to carry it into today. Qualifying has worked out perfect and I can’t be more satisfied at wrapping up the TQ a round early’, was how Volker summed up becoming Top Qualifier. A driver who is being widely praised for his efforts of late in trying to turn around his form having struggled at the ETS season opener, he was quick to acknowledge the work of his long time mechanic Yukijiro Umino for his part in the competitive return of the Volker/Umino partnership. Opting to leave his car unchanged from Q2, he said ‘the traction is getting away a bit and everyone went slower so we may try something for Q4’.

Reacting to Q3 a confused Coelho said, ‘we completely change three times, a different chassis and different set-up but there was no difference. When you change three times but the car is still the same something is wrong’. With a number of drivers hinting at the fact they feel the carpet is the issue, Coelho’s take was, ‘for sure the carpet is the not the same. I couldn’t get my car from Czech to run straight on the track. Also the tyres are not the same and the additive is not the same but maybe the problem is the driver is broken’. With this race a breakthrough first carpet win for the reigning champion last year he conceded, ‘We will try to keep second’.

Having made ‘many changes’ to his SMJ Prototype, Rheinard, like Coelho, said ‘it made no difference’ adding, ‘maybe I need to change my tyre prep’. Looking on target to start his first ever ETS race that he is not a Tamiya driver from at least third on the grid, he continued, ‘the track feels strange and maybe this carpet is not good anymore’. While from the same supplier of the now widely used black ETS carpet, the batch in use in this year in Muelheim Kaerlich is a noticeably lighter shade of black.

Sobue declared ‘4th for the round was ok’ but the Japanese driver added, ‘today is difficult conditions because each time the track is different’. Having transformed his car from being super difficult to super easy between last nights opening qualifier and this morning’s Q2, the Infinity driver said he now had ‘zero traction again’. Not sure how the track will be for the final qualifier, the 22-year-old said he will set the car up for it having even less traction.

Having opened qualifying with a P4 last night with his spare car after heavy damage in the final practice, it was Alexander Hagberg’s spare car that would again put him in the Top 5. With no time to rebuild his ‘race car’ for Q1 due to the condensed schedule, he did get it rebuilt for Q2 this morning but it ‘wasn’t as good as expected’ and ended up with a P7. Opting to switch back to the car he ran in Q1, the Swede was on a very strong Top 3 run until a mistake with the resulting one second lost dropping the Swede back to P5.

Completing the Top 6, Yannic Prumper said, ‘I don’t know whats happening but my car is pushing like hell now’. The VBC Racing driver continued, ‘I don’t know what to change. Maybe I need to try a different set of tyres but I’m not sure that is the problem. Maybe it is just the carpet’. Behind Prumper, Awesomatix had its best run with both ETS Czech runner-up Viljami Kutvonen and Freddy Sudhoff making the Top 8.

In Pro Stock, Alexandre Duchet finally came good as the top seed posted his first TQ run. The winner of the season opener, the Xray driver was quickest from Olivier Bultynck and Q1 & 2 pace setter Markus Kreder. In the Scorpion Formula class, Andreas Stiebler backed up his Q2 TQ with another, this time ahead of reigning champion and Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky as Bultynck again completed the Top 3.

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February 25, 2017

Volker again in Q2

Having set the benchmark on the opening day of the Euro Touring Series yesterday in Germany, Ronald Volker picked up where he left off with another TQ run this morning in the second round of qualifying. Bettering his Q1 time by over a second, the Yokomo driver would outpace his rivals by over 3-seconds with Infinity’s Marc Rheinard the only one also able to run 26-laps. With Bruno Coelho flipping early on, leaving him and Rheinard on top of one another costing them both time, Xray’s Olly Jefferies would just pip his team-mate for third with new Infinity signing Akio Sobue completing the Top 5.

Now on target for his first 21st ETS career TQ, Volker said ‘I can’t be more happy to get another TQ run. It was made easier by Bruno and Marc costing each other time’. Opening the qualifier with the fastest time, the World Champion continued, ‘basically I did more intense warm-up laps to get a better start and that paid off allowing me to get a good gap at the beginning’. Describing the track as feeling ‘different to drive on compared to yesterday’, he said his LRP powered BD8 was ‘still balanced’ and going into the penultimate qualifier while they ‘might try a small adjustment it would be nothing big’.

‘Lets say at least I’m back in the A-Main’, was Rheinard’s reaction after Q2, the statement a reference to his B-Main appearance at last weekend’s TITC. Holding the honour of the all time most number of ETS wins, the former Champion said, ‘Only Ronald’s Yokomo is fast’ highlighting his former TRF team-mate Christopher Krapp is ‘struggling’. On Volker’s advantage he said, ‘For sure we lost time, me & Bruno. He let me go cause he was struggling and then I had to let him go cause I was struggling but the main issue for me is the car is hard to drive consistent. It has no grip’.

‘I didn’t change anything, I only adjusted my brake set-up’, was how Jefferies summed up his P3. Eighth fastest in Q1 and causing Volker a big scare when he tapped the heat leader, the British driver added, ‘I need more initial brake where I ran into Ronald last night and he helped me realise that’. Please with his T4, saying ‘it is nice to be the top Xray’, he said the open track is making everyone so close and having to open up for another driver like he did with Volker last night costs you a lot of time.

Coelho said, ‘It was strange, I had no feeling in my driving and flipped in the second lap’. He added, ‘After this I open for Rheinard but then he had to open for me. It was kind of a funny thing that we had to keep opening for each other’. A convincing winner of the season opener, he concluded, ‘for sure my car is not perfect but the conditions are different to the last ETS but we will try our best to improve the car for the next one’.

Struggling to a P16 with a ‘super difficult’ car in Q1, Sobue said a new set-up had made his SMJ Prototype now ‘super easy’ to drive. The Japanese driver said the main improvement came from a diff change but for Q3 he needs to find a set-up in between the two extremes as the car now needs more steering.

Completing the Top 6 Yannic Prumper was of a similar mindset to Rheinard saying, ‘I’m happy to make A-Main again. It’s a long time ago’. The VBC Racing backed driver said, ‘my car now has too much push and the competition is so tough if you just hit the curb you lose 2 or 3 positions’. Looking to Q3, the pressure of making the A-Main lifted, he said ‘we need to get more steering’. Behind Prumper, Alexander Hagberg would run a P7 for the round followed by the Schumacher of Elliott Harper and the Awesomatix of Viljami Kutvonen.

In the Xray Pro Stock class, the Day 2 schedule having reverted to the traditional all three classes per round format, Markus Kreder backed up his opening TQ run with another from the second fastest heat. The Awesomatix driver topped the times ahead of reigning champion Jan Ratheisky with Helge Johannessen who crashed out of Q1 completing the Top 3. In Formula, Andreas Stiebler got the better of Q1 winner David Ehrbar to TQ the round with Team Shepherd’s Olivier Bultynck having a much better day to set the third quickest time.

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February 25, 2017

‘A perfect Day 1’ as Volker takes Q1 in Germany

Ronald Volker has taken the opening round of qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Touring Series, the former champion capping off a dominant first day in Germany. Opening the day by setting the pace in free practice, the Yokomo driver would back that up by topping seeding practice before going on to close the evening with an authoritative TQ in the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying. Coming into the weekend on the back of his longest run of ETS races without a win, the rejuvenated German took Q1 with ease ahead of reigning champion Bruno Coelho, even surviving a tap from Olly Jefferies that got him out of shape when he lapped the British Xray driver. Marc Rheinard would set the third fastest time making the first qualifier a repeat of the Top 3 form seen in controlled practice. The biggest change in Q1 would come from Alexander Hagberg, who having been only 10th in practice just scrapped into the top heat, ended the day with a P4.

‘A perfect Day 1’ was Volker’s reaction after his TQ run. Once widely recognised as unofficial World Champion of carpet racing, the reigning World Champion added, ‘we worked a lot to get back on top as I have mentioned before it meant a lot that Arena 33 opened a month ago because we could test a lot’. A 2-time winner in Muelheim Kaerlich, he continued, ‘even though the conditions are not the same as here we benefited from this testing’ highlight that the use of Yokomo’s RTC rear system and the use of LRP’s LCG batteries where the two biggest changes since ETS Czech Republic, all as a result of having a venue to test extensively at.

‘For sure not very good, ok 2nd is not bad but we still need to work on the car’ was how Coelho summed up the first qualifier. The current championship points leader thanks to his TQ and win at the season opener in December, the Portuguese driver explained the issue was that his car ‘feels that there is no traction overall’ adding, ‘we will try to improve our base for tomorrow and see what happens’.

Rheinard said, ‘results wise it was ok but the gap is too big’. The former Muelheim Kaerlich winner who is only on his second outing with Infinity continued, ‘the car is is just floating around, it just not getting any bite and I’m not sure what to do’. While finishing only 8/100ths of a second off Coelho looking at Volker’s time the 4-time World Champion said, ‘I just have no idea why he is so fast’.

Describing his 4th as ‘a decent start’, Hagberg achieved the time with his spare car. The Swede said, ‘I wrecked my good car in the last practice round and had to run my back up car because the compressed schedule didn’t give me enough time to fix my good car’. Switching to a spare car, which he said he was as good as his race car he said the approach for Q1 was to ‘just try to get a run’ and that ‘worked out alright’. Aiming to have his good car fixed for tomorrow, when the ETS will revert to its normal scheduling, the 2014 ETS Germany winner is confident for Q2.

Posting the fifth fastest time, Yannic Prumper said it was ‘a good run and a good start for all the VBC team’. While he didn’t drive so good at the beginning himself, the German said he is also ‘still looking for just a little more steering’. Asked what changes he planned to achieve this he pointed at the car’s designer saying, ‘I hope Carven (Chow) can find something’.

Completing the Top 6, Lucas Urbain was delighted with his opening qualifier. The popular Frenchman said, ‘I had a bobble two or three laps from the end which lost me 4th to Alexander and Yannick but I didn’t expect to be that competitive. I’m super happy’. After a set-up change left him to struggle in the final practice, he said ‘the car is good now but there is a tiny drop off towards the end which is fine but I think we can improve that for tomorrow’. Posting the 9th fastest time Marc Fischer would make sure all three VBC Racing’s team driver where in the Top 10, a marked improvement for the manufacturer.

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February 24, 2017

Volker tops seeding at ETS Germany

Ronald Volker is the top seed for qualifying at the ETS Germany, the Yokomo driver’s time from the first timed practice remaining unbeaten. While Volker would fail to improve on his time his closest rivals would but only by the slightest of margins. Improving his fastest 3-consecutive laps by 0.004, Bruno Coelho would stay second fastest with the highest improver being VBC Racing’s Marc Fischer who would knock team-mate Lucas Urbain from P6. Improving by a more significant 0.161, Infinity driver Marc Rheinard would again complete the Top 3 ahead of Yannic Prumper and Akio Sobue, the second & final controlled practice a carbon copy of the Top 5 in CP1.

Making a front end set-up change to his LRP powered BD8 after reporting too much steering in CP1, Volker said the result of the change ‘was worse’ and he would ‘go back to the CP1 set-up’ for the opening qualifying. Describing final practice as ‘still a fast consistent run’, the World Champion concluded, ‘everything is looking promising for Q1’.

While his time improvement was negligible, Coelho said, ‘for sure its much better now but we are still not on the pace’. Asked how he felt his Hobbywing powered T4 was on 5-minute pace going into the first qualifier, last year’s Muelheim-Kaerlich winner replied, ‘for sure we are a little slower than Volker I I think we will be better for qualifying as we found something on the car that was not perfect so we definitely can improve from that’.

Rheinard put his improved pace down to his handout Volante tyres getting better after another run. With this a home race for the German, who lives just 15-minutes from the temporary track, he said his prototype SMJ ‘still doesn’t feel right’ and for qualifying he will ‘check it is all straight’. Planning no set-up change, he said his aim was to ‘try put in a safe Q1’. Team-mate Sobue, said a change to lighter oil shock oil made little change with the car still ‘difficult’ and for Q1 he will go the opposite direction with the shocks and go to a heavier oil.

Changing to a softer diff in his VBC, Prumper said, ‘It actually felt the same and the time was almost the same’. The former ETS race winner is still confident he has a good car for 5-minutes concluding, ‘my target is a clean run for the first qualifier’. Team-mate Fischer summed up his improved performance with ‘it was ok’. His first ETS outing with VBC, he said a shock set-up change had made the car ‘easier to drive’, it having been ‘too edgy before’. Having tried a front shock set-up change on his WildfireD09 Urbain said ‘it was worse’ and now ‘too difficult to drive’ he will go back to his CP1 set-up for Q1.

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February 24, 2017

Volker sets pace in first timed practice

Having had all day to either relax or travel to the nearby Arena 33, once the Modified action got underway this evening at Round 2 of the Euro Touring Series in Muelheim Kaerlich it was Ronald Volker who was quickest off the mark. Topping the single free practice session, the Yokomo driver backed that up by topping the first of the two controlled rounds from Bruno Coelho, his 3-lap pace a 35.181 compared to the Xray driver’s 35.419. Making his ETS debut with Infinity, Marc Rheinard completed the Top 3 a further 3/10ths off while VBC Racing’s Yannic Prumper made it an interesting Top 4 by putting his car in the early mix.

One of a number of drivers who spent the week testing at Arena 33 in preparation for ETS Germany, Volker was very happy with his opening pace. Having destroyed one of his race cars at Arena 33 on what was to be his final run yesterday evening when he collected a car stopped in his path giving a 4-hour rebuild to do, Volker ran two cars in the free practice and while similar on pace he opted for what he referred to as the Umino car. Describing his CP1 performance as ‘a very good start to the evening’ he said the BD8 had slightly too much steering and they would ‘make a little change for CP2’. Asked about the track layout, the World Champion described it as ‘fast and flowing’ adding the ‘front chicane will be interesting come the final because there is an opportunity to pass there but otherwise there is not much room to pass’.

‘Pretty OK but it is not at 100% yet’ was Coelho’s reaction after CP1. Winner of last weekend’s TITC, the ETS Champion added, ‘we still need to work on the car and make it faster for sure’. Asked were he was looking to improve his T4 he said ‘we need more overall traction and steering’. Team-mate Alexander Hagberg would take his example to the 7th fastest time, the Swede over half a second off on his fastest 3-consecutive laps.

His first ever ETS race not driving a Tamiya, Rheinard, who is nursing a cold since return from the TITC in Thailand, said his SMJ prototype felt like a different car compared to how it was in testing at Arena 33. The German said, ‘the traction is pretty low even though Pro Stock and Formula had run their first practice and opening qualifier on it and so all the testing we did at Arena 33 is not much use’. He continued, ‘my car feels like it has no grip but as the tyres get older they get a little more grip which should hep but its still going to be a struggle for traction’. Infinity team-mate Akio Sobue, the Japanese team having just two drivers at this round, would post the 6th fastest. The Japanese driver said his car had very responsive initial steering but it quickly turned to understeer and for CP2 he will made a shock change to try cure this.

Prumper declared his P4 as a ‘much stronger start to the weekend (than previous outing)’, the German adding, ‘I think the car is very good for 5-minutes’. With VBC Racing designed Carven Chow in Germany for the last week for testing, Prumper said this had helped them improve the car a lot although he added there was no comparison between the ETS track, really low traction, and Arena 33, where the traction was really high. In terms of improving his car for CP2 he said they need to improve it through the right hander after the centre straight where it is a little loose in the rear. He will change to a softer diff to try improve it.

Posting the 5th fastest time Lucas Urbain said his strong pace, ‘wasn’t expected’. The French driver who put his VBC into the A-Main during last season’s ETS, said, ‘the last few races have not been good as a team on carpet but we did a lot of work and now all our cars are competitive which is very pleasing’. The Hong Kong manufacturer’s third team driver Marc Fischer was also in the Top 10 with P8. Very happy with his car in the high speed corners, saying ‘I really like it’, Urbain feels he can improve the car in the slower corners and will make a front shock spring change for the final practice.

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February 24, 2017

Ehrbar TQs first round of Formula qualifying

David Ehrbar has got Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series off to a perfect start, the top seed backing up his practice topping pace by TQ’ing the first round of qualifying in Germany. Winner of the season opener in the Czech Republic, the Serpent driver had a 2-second advantage over the Xray of Matej Dobnikar over the 21-laps completed, posting the fastest lap along the way. Fourth fastest in practice, reigning champion Jan Ratheisky would set the third quickest time ahead of Xray team-mate Noah Asendorf, the Swiss driver less than 1/10th off the German. Completing the Top 5 would be Pro Stock top seed Alexander Stocker at the controls of his Roche. Runner-up at ETS Czech, then driving for Roche, Season #9 championship front runner Olivier Bultynck would put his new Shepherd chassis in the top heat but the first qualifier would see the Belgian have some bad laps resulting in a 12th for the round. For the season opener’s other podium finisher René Kölbel, who finds himself in the second fastest heat, Q1 would net the Austrian a P10.

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