Euro Touring Series

February 24, 2017

Kreder takes opening Pro-Stock qualifier

Awesomatix driver Markus Kreder has TQ’d the opening round of Pro Stock qualifying at ETS Germany, the German recording 24-laps to top the times ahead of Team Magic driver Patrick Gassauer. Running together in the second fastest heat, just over 1/10th of a second separated them with Noah Asendorf, also running the same heat, completing the Top 3 just missing out on achieving a 24 lap-run. While former ETS Champion Alexander Stocker set the pace in controlled practice to be the top seed for qualifying, when it came to qualifying none of the Top 11 that made up the top heat would post a Top 10 time. With ETS Czech winner & early championship leader Alexandre Duchet fastest in a top heat fraught with incidents ahead of Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky, the times where not there with Duchet’s pace only good enough for P12 while reigning champion Ratheisky found himself down in 15th. For Stocker, Q1 fared even worse with an incident on lap 3 costing the Awesomatix driver, who posted the fastest lap of the top heat, over 3-seconds resulting in the German being 31st fastest.

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February 24, 2017

Track Focus – Muelheim-Kaerlich

Host – ETS
Country – Germany
Location – Muelheim-Kaerlich
Venue – Philipp-Heift Halle
Track type – Temporary
Surface – Carpet
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Previous ETS races hosted – 5

The German round of the Euro Touring Series makes its sixth visit to Muelheim-Kaerlich, the race remaining the biggest on the six round ETS calendar with this year attracting over 350 entries. Held in the Philipp-Heift Halle, the biggest change to previous years is not visual but organisational with the schedule split to accommodate the large entry. Traditionally each round of practice, qualifying and Mains includes all three classes of the ETS but to make days shorter for racers, these classes have been separated. This means the first half of the opening day is now dedicated to the biggest class, the Xray Pro Stock class, who will run their practice rounds and opening qualifier before the action switches over to the Scorpion Formula class and ending with the Volante Modified action.

On closer inspection of the fast flowing track, the shade of the black ETS carpet, which while the manufacturer says its the same material, is a lighter colour. With the carpet coming in the same batch as that used for the nearby Arena 33, where the new indoor facility has been a hive of activity all week with drivers testing ahead of the ETS weekend, the colour difference appears to have little effect the characteristics of the carpet. In terms of the track size, it again covers the same 20m X 34m area but gone are the plastic lane dividers which have been replaced with wood.

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February 23, 2017

Coelho out to extend ETS advantage in Germany

The Yokomo Euro Touring Series moves to Muelheim-Kaerlich in Germany this weekend (24-26 Feb) with Bruno Coelho looking to extend the championship lead he established after taking the TQ & win at the Season #10 opener in the Czech Republic in December. Riding on a high from his TITC win in Thailand last weekend where he fought off intense pressure from former ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp in A3 to secure overall victory, Coelho’s mindset for the resumption of the ETS will also be boosted by the fact that the Round 2 venue is where the Xray driver took a breakthrough first win on carpet last year. That weekend would prove a strong one for Xray with team-mate Alexander Hagberg, a previous winner of the event, making it a 1-2 for the Slovakian manufacturer but their rivals will be determined to prevent such celebrations this time round.

The first time, since commiting to a full ETS campaign 7-seasons ago, that he is not the reigning champion, Ronald Volker will be hoping extra testing since Round 1 will pay dividends this weekend. The World Champion was once the dominant force on carpet and while he made the final step of the podium in Hrotovice he was never a match for Coelho. Taking full advantage of the recently opened Arena 33 permanent indoor track to try and get more comfortable with his Yokomo on carpet, the German will want to ensure he doesn’t go a fifth race in a row without victory, a statistic that has never befell the 5-time ETS Champion before. An exciting addition to the Yokomo team for Round 2 is former Kyosho/Tamiya driver Christopher Krapp, with the former ETS race winner having previously podiumed in Muelheim.

Equalling his best ETS finish with second at Round 1, Viljami Kutvonen would love nothing more than to go one better in Germany. The Finn, who has become an established front runner of the championship, got his 2017 season off to a brilliant start in January when he took a convincing TQ & win ahead of Volker at the DHI Cup in Denmark. Unfortunately illness prevented the ‘Iceman’ from travelling to the TITC but now fighting fit again, he will push harder than ever to give Awesomatix their first win in touring car’s premiere class.

While Xray, Yokomo and Awesomatix are expected to challenge for victory one big unknown for the first race of 2017 is new arrival Infinity. Having officially announced its EP program last week on the eve of the TITC, the Japanese company has bolstered its EP driver line-up with some big names notably Marc Rheinard. In Czech Republic, the 4-time World Champion marked the end of an era by running a special colour scheme in A3 as he made his final outing with lifelong sponsor Tamiya who dissolved their iconic TRF race team. With tyre quality issues making for a difficult debut with Infinity at the TITC, Rheinard will be aiming for a much improved showing at what is his home race. Winner of the German round two years ago, Rheinard will be joined in flying the Infinity flag this weekend by ex-Tamiya team-mate Akio Sobue with both drivers running the SMJ prototype chassis.

Elsewhere, after opening the season by putting his Schumacher into the A-Main, Elliott Harper will have his sights set on representing the British brand again in the main event come Sunday. Last year, the mutiple Worlds finalist claimed a season equalling best for the small factory team with 8th place in Muelheim. Leading the Serpent challenge, Viktor Wilck had a tough Round 1 finishing 18th, but at the same venue he made a strong debut for his current team in 2015, the World Championship podium finisher will be targeting a significantly better result this weekend. For VBC Racing pairing Yannic Prumper and Marc Fischer Round 2 is a home race and both will be out to secure the Hong Kong manufacturer a place in the A-Main. For Fischer it is his first ETS outing with the team, the arrival of his first child stopping him on his travels to the season opener.

December 4, 2016

Kutvonen best of the rest at Czech ETS

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With Bruno Coelho dominating the season opener of the Euro Touring Series in the Czech Republic it was Viljami Kutvonen who was to prove best of the rest. Qualifying third for the Hrotovice event, the Awesomatix driver would again get passed the No.2 starting Ronald Volker to win the closing final to claim second overall behind Coelho, it his first time to a ETS carpet podium finish. For Volker, finishing A3 in second would leave the World Champion to complete the podium, his third place the lowest finishing position the 5-time champion has opened a new season of the ETS with. With Coelho sitting out A3, Marc Rheinard would somehow manage to hold off Alexander Hagberg but the result was not enough for him to make the podium on his final outing with TRF, a relation that has run for an amazing 22-years.

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‘I got the result I wanted from the last final’, was a very happy Kutvonen’s reaction after a great drive to keep Volker at bay. The Finn, who really came to the fore in last season’s ETS claiming two podium finishes, said, ‘I think 2nd was the maximum we could have got this weekend. I think everyone agrees Bruno was in his own league so I’m happy to take 2nd’. A great start to Season#10 for the driver who finished 5th in the standings last season, looking to the rest of the championship he said, ‘we will try to keep improving and our goal of the season must be to catch up with Bruno. He is so fast’.

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Volker said while his BD8 was ‘better for A3 it was still edgy to drive’. Leading for five laps he would ‘almost traction roll’ the car getting up on two wheels but while he would save it, on landing he said, ‘I didn’t have the traction and Viljami couldn’t avoid hitting me’. Resuming behind Kutvonen he said, ‘I charged hard to get the extra point (for 2nd overall) and put him under a lot of pressure but he resisted it’. Summing up his performance, the 13-time ETS race winner said, ‘I didn’t have the opportunity to test as much for the start of the season this year as my local track closed but as Arena 33 opens in January and it is only 1-hour from my home so there will be more opportunities to test’. He concluded, ‘I am maximum motivated now to get back on top’.

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Starting A3 with a special bodyshell to mark the end of partnership that started in 1994, Rheinard said ‘I think my tyres were done. I went slower and slower and couldn’t get the podium’. Acknowledging his battle with Hagberg, he said ‘Alex drove a nice race and he didn’t attack too much’. Racing for the ETS’ most winning manufacturer, it amassing 21 wins from the 52 races to-date and three championship wins including the inaugural title, Rheinard said it was important personally for him to mark his final race with TRF and he asked his body painter Takashima Design to come up with a design and once off colour change. Starting out racing with a Tamiya at 8-years of age, he signed his first official factory contract in 2005 having secured the first of three Touring Car titles he would bring the iconic Japanese rc brand. Claiming 14 wins and 12 TQs over the last 9 seasons of the ETS, the Season#3 Champion’s loyalty to Tamiya has been unique to the sport.

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In Pro Stock and Formula, A3 was also about deciding who would complete the podium, new star Alexandre Duchet taking the overall Xray Pro Stock win and David Ehrbar the Scorpion Power System Formula win. In Formula Olivier Bultynck would take a tone to tone win to secure second while second in A3 gave René Kölbel third overall. Pro Stock was a more fraught affair with Bultynck the eventual winner after a number of incidents including Top Qualifier Christian Donath getting pushed out of the lead by Noah Asendorf. In the end Donath recovered for third behind Lars Hoppe to secure second overall with Asendorf completing the Round 1 podium.

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December 4, 2016

Dominant Czech win makes it a perfect start for ETS Champion Coelho

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Having been on a different level from the first qualifier at the season opener of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in the Czech Republic, Bruno Coelho leaves Hrotovice with maximum championship points after securing the overall win with another dominant performance in A2. Top Qualifier for the event where he made his ETS & carpet racing debut 2-years ago, the Xray driver made light work of his opposition with a repeat of Saturday night’s easy A1 victory. His sixth ETS race win, the result is particularly important to Coelho who openly admits carpet is not his favourite surface. While Coelho checked out, winning the second encounter by 2.5-seconds, there would be two entertaining battles behind him with Ronald Volker and Viljami Kutvonen scrapping for second, Kutvonen coming out on top. The other battle was for fourth with Marc Rheinard managing to keep the faster Alexander Hagberg from finding a way past.

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A race where he just made it into the A-Main on his first attempt and then finished on the podium last year, Coelho said on taking what is only his second ETS win on carpet, ‘I don’t have so much to say, the car was great again and I made no mistakes’. He continued, ‘For this is a super important beginning to the season as carpet is not my favourite, I am much happier racing on asphalt, but coming from 3rd last year to TQ & win is really good. It’s a long season but this has been a good way to start it’. In terms of his Hobbywing powered T4 2017, which was clearly a step ahead of his rivals in terms of its performance in what most drivers described as ‘strange’ track conditions, the Portuguese ace said, ‘we were super prepared for this weekend as we did a lot of testing at the Hudy Arena and this stood to us. We also tested some new parts there which we did not use here so it is very encouraging for us for the future that we already have this pace’.

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‘Much better now’ was how a very satisfied looking Kutvonen summed up finishing 2nd ahead of Volker. Having been unhappy with his Awesomatix in last night’s opening final, dropping to P4 from 3rd on the grid, the Finn made ‘a lot of changes’ to his LRP powered A800’s set-up. In with a strong fighting chance of second overall in Hrotovice, a result that would match his best ETS finish when he took second in Riccione last season, he said, ‘we need to overtake Ronald again’ in the closing final. While happy with his car, being the closest to Coelho in terms of fastest lap times, he said, ‘maybe I will make a little (set-up) change to try to get a little extra pace’, his best lap only 0.049 of a second off Coelho’s.

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World Champion Volker said finishing 3rd in A2 was ‘definitely not what I wanted’. He continued, ‘we tried to get more steering for A2 to close the gap but that left me with a loose car at the beginning so Bruno pulled away and Viljami got by’. Kutvonen was helped by an error from the 5-time ETS Champion on lap six when the Yokomo driver sled wide and hit a dot at the chicane. From the middle of the race, the German said his LRP powered BD8 ‘got better and (he) was able to close in to Viljami’ but with the track ‘difficult to pass’ he ‘couldn’t get by in time’. For the concluding final he will change the car’s set-up to ‘more similar to A1’.

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Third in A1, switching to a stiffer top deck on his Tamiya Rheinard said the car ‘pushed more and more’ and he ‘wasn’t able to catch up (to the second place battle)’ adding ‘it was just too slow’. Like Volker he plans to go back to his A1 set-up, last year’s winner hoping he can somehow salvage a podium finish .

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In the Xray Pro Stock class ETS debutant Alexandre Duchet marked himself out as a surprise title contender as he wrapped up the overall win with another victory in A2. Capitalising on an early error from Top Qualifier Christian Donath and contact between Olivier Bultynck and Noah Asendorf, once in front the French driver put in an impressive drive controlling the race to win by 1.5 seconds from fellow Xray drivers Asendorf and reigning champion Jan Ratheisky. 23-years old, Duchet only took up touring car racing this season having previously raced Mini-Zs for 2-years. In the Scorpion Power System Formula class the overall win was also decided in A2 with Top Qualifier David Ehrbar doing a Mercedes F1 on it and leaving the field in his wake, number 2 starter Olivier Bultynck finishing over 3-seconds back. The win marks the Serpent designer’s first ES win on carpet.

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December 3, 2016

Coelho cruises to A1 win at ETS

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Bruno Coelho cruised to an easy victory in the opening A-Main at Round 1 of the Euro Touring Series in the Czech Republic. Having TQ’d earlier in the day in Hrotovice, the Xray driver made light work of his opposition to win by 2.4-seconds from Ronald Volker who in turn had a 3.5-second advantage over 3rd. It was the battle for 3rd that would provide the entertainment as a train of cars backed up behind P3 starter Viljami Kutvonen until a slight error by the Finn let Marc Rheinard through to complete the Top 3. Managing to hold off the challenge of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, Kutvonen would hang onto fourth.

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‘Everything was perfect’ was how Coelho summed up his dominant A1 performance. Making heavy contact with the barrier at the end of the straight on his way to executing a clean sweep of the four qualifiers forcing him to change tyres for the final as the impact broke both right side wheels, he continued, ‘I was a little afraid that they (the second set of tyres) might not work as expected but they did’. Making ‘a very good start’, setting the fastest lap of the race on his 5th lap, the Portuguese ace said the race ‘got easier’ when Volker made a mistake. After this he said, ‘then I just tried to make no mistakes and get to the end all ok’.

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Commenting on his race Volker said, ‘we got everything better for the main by improving the tyre prep and the car set-up and I was able to pull away from the field but Bruno was able to pull away from me’. The World Champion continued, ‘we have to try find something for A2 or even the next ETS. This is something we have to work on’. Losing about a second with his roll over, the Yokomo driver said, ‘I can’t be too disappointed with 2nd and the gap to the drivers behind but it’s looking like this (second) is the maximum we can do this weekend’. Not fully admitting defeat, he said, ‘we will consider some changes for tomorrow to try challenge for A2’.

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‘That is all I can do’, was Rheinard’s reaction to him pulling a third out of A1. Winner of the event last year from the TQ, the Tamiya driver continued, ‘I don’t know what Bruno is doing, he is just in a different World’. Widely expected to be his final ETS outing under the Tamiya Racing Factory banner, he said, ‘It’s a long way off yet but I would like to finish the weekend with a podium. Third is the maximum we can get and that’s what we will be aiming for tomorrow’. On getting by Kutvonen, he said, ‘he went wide and left me room so I was able to get passed’.

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The only driver to mix it in anyway with Coelho and Volker in qualifying, Kutvonen said was not happy with his car in A1 saying, ‘I made a set-up change and it was shit’. The Awesomatix driver adding, ‘I will go back to what I had before for A2’. On losing position to Rheinard, he said, ‘I lost the rear and went wide and Marc was there so I couldn’t close the door’.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class it was to be an entertaining first A-Main. Top Qualifier Christian Donath led the way with the No.2 starting Olivier Bultynck on his Tamiya’s rear bumper until the Belgian flipped his Awesomatix. This gave Donath some temporary space before Alexandre Duchet took the challenge to the German. As the race entered the second half Donath would have a rollover allowing the impressive French driver to go to the front where he would hold on for the win. Behind Donath found himself now under pressure from Noah Asendorf, the Xray driver attempting an inside pass in the final dash to the finish line. They touched but it was Donath who was declared 2nd. In Formula, Top Qualifier David Ehrbar took an easy win after his main challenge Bultynck got hit from behind on the third lap and retired with a shock off. Champion Jan Ratheisky would finish a distant second with third going to René Kölbel.

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December 3, 2016

Volker to start P2 as Coelho completes quali clean sweep

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Ronald Volker will start second on the grid for the first A-Main of the new season of the Euro Touring Series. With the Top Qualifier already decided in the penultimate round of qualifying when reigning champion Bruno Coelho made it three out of three, Q4 was about deciding how they would line up behind the Xray driver. While Coelho would complete a clean sweep, even surviving clanging his car on the steel boards in the sweeper at the end of the straight, him topping the final qualifier would by default secure Volker the No.2 spot. Volker, winner of 5 of the 7 ETS races held in Hrotovice, would conclude qualifying with a P3 as Viljami Kutvonen broke into the Top 2 although the result changed nothing for the Finn who will start third. On for a potential Top 3 run, last year’s race winner Rheinard would roll his Tamiya on the penultimate lap but the result wouldn’t have changed his starting position and he lines up fourth.

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‘Didn’t feel much different to the other qualifier, Bruno was still a bit too fast’, was how Volker summed up the last qualifier adding, ‘I was matching pace with Viljami’. The Yokomo driver continued, ‘we got the car better in terms of it being easy to drive but we need to get more steering for A1 to have a chance’. Feeling the track was now ‘in better condition’, the World Champion felt ‘the track improved and the tyres are improving but the set-up was too conservative for the conditions, but we can fix that for A1’. With team-mates Yugo Nagashima (P8) and Naoki Akiyama (P10) joining him in the finals, the German said, ‘It is great that Naoki and Yugo are also in the A-Main. It’s Yugo’s first ETS race and making the A-Main is a great result’.

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‘The plan was to secure 3rd on the grid and beating Ronald that time was a bonus’, said a pleased looking Kutvonen after Q4. Having crashed out of Q3, the Awesomatix driver who will be joined by team-mate Freddy Südhoff (P9) in the A-Main, said, ‘the car is now pretty consistent for the 5-minutes. It’s good now’. Enjoying two podium finishes last season, looking to the first of the triple finals, he said, ‘we’ll just wait and see what happens’.

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Not overly frustrated by his late roll, Rheinard said, ‘I was struggling at the beginning and had Alex (Hagberg) behind me so I let him by but then he made a mistake and I was in front of him again. The car started to work pretty ok towards the end but then I went and had a nice roll on the curbing. Even if I didn’t, my overall starting position would have been the same’. Describing the track conditions for the last round as ‘kind of better but still weird’ he said his TRF419 is ‘still hard to drive because it’s loose’ and they ‘need to find something for the final’. Starting behind Rheinard will be his TRF team-mate Akio Sobue who lines up ahead of Hagberg.

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In the Xray Pro Stock a very pleased Christian Donath took his first overall ETS TQ. Taking the final qualifier to add to his Q2 topping run the Tamiya driver become the Top Qualifier on the tie breaker with Q1 & 3 pace setter Olivier Bultynck. French driver Alexandre Duchet will line up third ahead of Noah Asendorf as reigning champion Jan Ratheisky completes the top half of the grid. In the Scorpion Power Formula class, David Ehrbar is Top Qualifier. The Serpent designer took a third TQ run in the final qualifier helped by the early exit of Bultynck who broke his Q2 topping Roche 3-laps into the deciding qualifier.

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December 3, 2016

Coelho to start ETS defence from pole position

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Bruno Coelho will start the defence of his Euro Touring Series title from pole position, the Xray driver becoming Top Qualifier at the season opener in Czech after he made it three out of three in the penultimate qualifier. His 5th ETS career TQ, Coelho would again set the pace ahead of Ronald Volker in Q3 even surviving flipping his car. With Top 3 pace setter from Q1 & 2 Viljami Kutvonen crashing out in third qualifier when he ran a wide line on the main straight and then understeered into the boards at the sweeper breaking his Awesomatix, this would allow last year’s Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard to post his best round with a P3 ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Elliott Harper.

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‘Having one point already is a very good start to the season’, was Coelho’s reaction to claiming the overall TQ which carries a bonus championship point. Describing his Hobbywing powered T4 as ‘awesome at the start’, he said when he heard he had just posted a fastest lap time of the weekend he pushed even more but suffering a flip this was ‘a signal to stop (pushing) and manage getting the car to the end’. While his ‘car was amazing for the first 3-minute he said he had ‘the same problem as before in the last 3-laps’, the car getting loose in the rear. Asked about dealing with his continuing issue in the finals, the World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘for sure if I am fighting for the win it will be a problem but all (drivers) are having the same issue so it’s a problem for both sides’.

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A ‘similar story to the other qualifiers’ was how Volker summed up his run. The World Champion continued, ‘we changed two things on the set-up and it changed a little the handling of the car but it is still not good enough to catch up’. While the car was now ‘more predictable in the end than before’, he will make ‘another small change for Q4’. A 14-time ETS race winner & 20-time Top Qualifier he said, ‘we need to maintain P2 on the grid which is still open’, two of the four qualifiers counting.

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Rheinard said Q3 was ‘for sure a little better’ adding ‘but it’s still a flight (to drive the car)’. Changing to harder shock oil, lowering the diff and switching to a different front spring, the 4-time World Champion said while this improved the car he may also have benefited from the track not being any better (feeling) but a little faster’. Currently sitting P4 on the grid, the Tamiya driver believes ‘the finals are going to be interesting with everyone struggling in the last minute and a half of the 5-minutes’.

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‘A bit better, we were closer to the front’, was Hagberg’s view of his P4. He continued, ‘we are still struggling the last minute for rear traction’. Losing time as Kutvonen crashed in front of him and finishing 2/10ths of Rheinard he said ‘maybe without this I could have got third’. For the final qualifier, the 2015 European Champion plans to make further changes to his ORCA powered T4 by going more in the direction they took ahead of Q3.

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After spinning while on ‘a really fast run’ in Q2 this morning leaving him 24th fastest, with an improved set-up on his Schumacher Mi6 Harper would enjoy make up for the earlier error to get a P5. The British driver said, ‘we fixed the spinning around thing and that time I could drive harder for all the 5-minutes’. Not wanting to divulge what set-up changes they had made to improve the car he said they included the car’s rear end. A side effect of the change was the car lost steering and so they will now fine tune the set-up to get the car ‘more consistent for the last one’ with a change to their additive routine also planned.

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Making his ETS debut in Hrotovice, Yokomo driver Yugo Nagashima would round out the Top 6 for Q3. The reigning 1:12 Japanese National Champion put his improved performance down to a clean run. With ‘too many mistakes’ in the first two heats, the 21-year-old said his car is also getting better each outing but the focus for the final qualifier is on trying harder with his driving. Behind Nagashima fellow countryman Akio Sobue took seventh ahead of the impressive German teenager Thimo Weissbauer with Naoki Akiyama in 9th followed by TRF’s Christopher Krapp.

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The Xray Pro Stock class saw Olivier Bultynck put in a second TQ run meaning the Top Qualifier will be decided in Q4. Behind the Belgian Awesomatix driver, reigning champion Jan Ratheisky would enjoy his best heat so far with a P2 ahead of fellow Xray driver Noah Asendorf. The third qualifier of the Scorpion Power Formula class also produced a repeat TQ, this time for Serpent’s David Ehrbar who will fight it out with Bultynck for the first overall TQ of ETS Season #10.

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