Euro Touring Series

April 12, 2015

Vejrak handed dramatic last lap A2 win

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Meen Vejrak sits perfectly poised to claim his first ever Yokomo Euro Touring Series victory as the Thai driver was dramatically handed a last lap A2 win when Top Qualifier Ronald Volker ran into the back of race leader Bruno Coelho on the final run down the main straight. Having got past team-mate Yannic Prumper earlier in the race, Vejrak was able to slip through the chaos with three corners to go to take the win half a second from a recovering Coelho while A1 winner Prumper completed the Top 3.

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With Coelho and Volker also making contact in the opening A-Main as the former tried a pass on the defending champion, Coelho this time round made an impressive pass on the Yokomo driver stick and looked to be on his way to check out for the win. With Volker’s car improving, with 2-minutes to go he started to close the gap on the leading Xray. Right with the Portugese driver, on the final run through the sweeper Volker would get a better run on his rival but half way down the straight he would spectacularly end up rear ending the white T4.

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Giving his reaction to the incident Coelho, ‘I think I made a great overtake on him (Volker) and then I only try to defend and do nothing stupid but on the last lap he crashed me. There was no way to pass me in that place’. One of the most exciting drivers to emerge in top flight international electric touring car racing in recent years, the 21-year-old said ‘at least I still managed to get second so the overall win is still on and for sure I will go for it in A3’. The overall win is now a three way battle but even with a win in the closing leg Coelho needs to run a faster ran time than Vejrak’s A2 winning time or if Prumper can get second he must beat the A1 winning time.

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Getting a 10-second penalty for causing the incident and going to Coelho’s pits immediately afterwards to apologise and take the full blame, Volker said ‘I feel absolutely terrible and know I made the wrong decision’. He continued ‘I knew it was risky because of the bump before the sweeper but I gambled and got the perfect line onto the straight but I wasn’t prepared for the speed difference and collected Bruno, I can fully understand Team Xray being mad at me. It was not intentional and in hinesight I should have settle for second not just in terms of having a chance for the win today but in terms too for the overall championship’.

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‘Car is improving and so is my luck’ joked Vejrak after the race. The former Nitro Touring Car World Champion said he was doubly lucky. Improving his car for the second A-Main by again changing back to the rear arms he ran in qualifying and fitting a more flexible top deck, he said having got by Prumper a broken sensor cover, which allowed the motor timing to change, left him lacking straight like speed but luckily the motor kept running. Focusing on keeping Prumper behind on the last lap he said all of a sudden he was leading. Describing his BD7 as ‘perfect’ he said other than fit a new motor sensor cover he would run it as is confident he can now race for a win on true performance.

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Prumper said a bad line over the bump unsettled his car causing him to hit the curbing onto the straight allowing Vejrak through. Able to come back at his team-mate he said he did have enough to try for a pass. While a second place finish could secure him the overall win he said due to the race time tie breaker he has no choice but to go for the win in A3. Behind the Top 3, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard would finish 4th followed by Alexander Hagberg with Freddy Sudhoff completing the Top 6.

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In a more sedate second A-Main of the Xray Pro Stock class Marek Cerny took the win to claim his second overall win of the Season #8. Behind the defending champion, Christian Donath would finish second having got by the Yokomo of former champion Martin Hofer. In Formula, Hofer would take the win from Roman Pichler and Marco Donadelli as A1 winner Michele Romagnoli and Top Qualifier David Ehrbar had a difficult race.

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April 12, 2015

Prumper wins action packed A1 in Italy

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Yannic Prumper has won an action packed opening A-Main at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Italy, the Yokomo driver heading a somewhat unexpected Yokomo 1-2 from team-mate Meen Vejrak. From the start it was an action packed race as Top Qualifier Ronald Volker and the no.2 starting Xray of Bruno Coelho made contact on lap 3. With Coelho coming off worst and dropping to the tail of the field while Volker continued to lead clearly struggling, the German would then put his Yokomo on the grass allowing five cars through. Posting the fastest lap of the race, once in front Prumper took control followed by Vejrak while the ever spectacular Coelho worked his way back to the front to finish 3rd, followed by Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg. Suffering his third incident of the race when he rolled after contact with championship title rival Marc Rheinard, Volker would eventually finish up 7th. Unfortunately after a good start by HB’s Jilles Groskamp his race would come to a sudden end when the former World Champion collected the Tamiya of Christopher Krapp, his replacement at TRF, which after crashing slid from the middle section of the track and into the path of the fourth placed PRO5, the high speed contact breaking both cars.

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‘A very good start to the day’ was how Prumper summed up the first A-Main. Describing his Muchmore powered BD7 as ‘a little loose for the first few laps’, putting that down to running on new tyres, he said after that the car was ‘very good’. Catching up his team-mate he said he the then ‘got unlucky’ as Volker made a mistake letting him to go into the lead and with no pressure from Vejrak the race was pretty straight forward thereafter. The 21-year-old, who came into the weekend sitting joint third in the standings with Hagberg, is clearly fired up by the prospects of claim his first ETS win his Austria in 2012.

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Continuing to turn around his weekend after qualifying started out with two DNFs, Vejrak was pleased with second from his best ETS starting position of fourth. Running a different rear arm on his Scorpion powered BD7, he said it gave him more steering but during the race the wind started to cause the car to get loose and he never got to opportunity to take the fight to his team-mate as he played safe to maintain second. Playing catch-up in terms of setup as he needed to run the car unchanged in the final two qualifiers to be sure of getting two finishes, he said he will further change the car for A2 as he looks for more forward traction.

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‘Unlucky’, that was Coelho’s reaction to finishing third. A welcomed addition to the championship, this season being his first campaign, the Portuguese star said ‘I overtook Ronald (Volker) but he he put me out’. Describing his LRP powered T4 as ‘super good’ he declared A2 will be better and ‘next time I will make the pass stick’.

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Giving his view of the incident Volker said ‘Surely it’s not how I wanted to start the day’. ‘Bruno pushed hard and tried to pass me around the outside but in my opinion he was not far enough ahead for me to give up the corner and unfortunately he suffered a body tuck’. The championship leader said ‘I lacked overall traction from start to finish and I had a hard time just getting around the track’. Still in the lead, he said through the long right hander he got out of shape touching the paint and it was this that cost him the win. Hoping his traction issues were only due to his first set of tyres he said hopefully for the next one the second set will be fine.

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‘I improved from 6th to 4th so the race was OK’, was Hagberg’s reaction to the race. Running third for a time he said a little mistake lost him that position and had it not been his team-mate Coelho he would not have opened up so much. Describing his T4 as ‘alright’ over the 5-minutes, the Swede said he is ‘pretty optimistc’ for A2 that he can again move up places through the race.

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From 8th on the grid Freddy Sudhoff would finish 5th. The HB driver said a set-up change made after qualifying gave him a car that better suited his driving style. Trying a pass on Hagberg at the end of the straight the German said he locked up hard and after that his tyres were done. Behind Sudhoff, France’s Loic Jasmin would complete the Top 6.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class Marek Cerny would take an easy tone to tone win. The Xray driver was never troubled over the 5-minutes as won by over 2-seconds from the Yokomo of Martin Hofer while Team C’s Johannes Sperr completed the Top 3. In Formula, Top Qualifier David Ehrbar made a mess of the start allowing Hofer to lead. Caught in traffic the German would be pushed out onto the grass allowing Michele Romagnoli to the front where he would stay to win from a recovering Ehrbar.

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April 11, 2015

Volker claims 16th ETS TQ in Italy

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On the return of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series to Italy it is Ronald Volker who will start on pole position, the Yokomo driver claiming his 16th overall TQ of the championship at the Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli. With only Bruno Coelho a possible challenger to the defending ETS champion becoming Top Qualifier at the third round of the championship, a mistake by the Xray driver in the fourth & final qualifier allowed Volker to record his third TQ run of the weekend. Despite losing over 3-seconds, Coelho would still post the second fastest time and the only driver to truly challenge Volker this weekend he will start his first asphalt ETS appearance from 2nd on the grid setting the stage for an exciting head to head dual in tomorrow’s triple A-Mains. Having come into the weekend as joint leader of the championship with Marc Rheinard, Volker moves one point ahead now and with his arch rival starting fifth that advantage looks likely to grow. While Rheinard had his best round in Q4 recording his only Top 3 run the same couldn’t be said for his new team-mate & reigning World Champion Naoto Matsukura and the Japanese ace will line-up on the B-Main grid on his TRF debut in the ETS.

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Confident Coelho would not be able to better his Q1 in order to deny him the overall TQ, Volker used the final qualifier to test a set-up change and despite being on used tyres said his LRP powered BD7 was better than the previous run on new tyres. With better overall balance the German said he was able to push harder pointing out that despite Coelho, who started directly behind him, being on new tyres the Portuguese driver was only closing the gap a little until his error. Looking to tomorrow’s finals he said he hoped he could bring home the win but added it wont be easy as he expects Coelho to push even harder than he did in qualifying. His first TQ start since winning the his fourth title in Luxembourg last season, when asked about the track for racing he said normally big tracks are not good but here there are 2 or 3 spots where a different line is possible which could be used to set-up a pass on the exit of the corner.

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‘Car was super fast & super good but I made a mistake’, was Coelho’s take on the closing qualifier. Last October’s World Championship runner-up, the 21-year-old is very confident for the finals saying ‘for sure I can fight with Ronald (Volker)’ for the win. His first ETS race on asphalt, he said he has the car to win and he will leave his LRP powered T4 unchanged adding ‘it is just down to him to drive it tomorrow’.

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Starting third on the grid will be Yannic Prumper. While the Yokomo driver didn’t get to make the most of his second set of tyres in the final qualifier suffering a spin out on lap 4, the German is ‘quite confident’ for tomorrow. Having suffered a boost problem in Q3 a call to Muchmore’s Mr. Jang indicated that the problem was caused by the overheat protection. Originally planning to fit a new motor & speedo, mechanic Toni Rheinard instead fit a fan to the motor and for Q4 everything ran with no problems. Describing third as a good position to be if something happens between Volker & Coelho, he said the big thing for him is to be starting ahead of Alexander Hagberg with whom he is currently tied for third in the championship standings.

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Having started out qualifying with two DNFs, Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak managed to turn things around and secure his best ever starting position of 4th thanks to another strong run in the final qualifier. Leaving his BD7 unchanged as he didn’t want to take any unessecary risk the Thai driver posted the fourth fastest time ahead of team-mate Loic Jasmin, a result that would also put the French driver into the A-Main. Having conducted a lot of testing back in Thailand since his last ETS outing last season the former nitro World Champion said his driving style is now better adapted to the Yokomo and that is reflected in his improved competitiveness this weekend. Preferring to run his own set-up rather than follow that of Volker or Prumper, who have different driving styles, he said together with Yokomo team-manager Robert Itoh they have a few ideas they will try for A1 in the hope of improving the car.

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Commenting on his Q4 performance Rheinard said his TRF419 ‘feels OK’ for the first 7 or 8 laps but then just loses 3/10th of a second a lap which is the same problem he’s been suffering all weekend. With ‘no pace for the Main’, the championship’s most winning driver said all he ‘can hope for is trouble up front so that he can sneak through’. Not the weekend the Round 2 winner had hoped for, TRF’s newest signing Christopher Krapp will join Rheinard on the grid as he scraped into 10th position with a 6th in the final qualifier.

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Going into the final qualifier holding provisional 4th on the grid, Alexander Hagberg was ‘very disappointed’ with his closing qualifier. The Swede was on a strong run but ‘messed up’ on the penultimate lap which dropped him to 9th for the round and he got bumped back to 6th on the starting grid by Vejrak and Rheinard. The Xray driver said while he hopes to be able to finish higher in the final he said a podium would now be difficult ‘but that’s how it is sometimes’.

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Making his debut for HB in Riccione, Jilles Groskamp will start the finals seventh ahead of team-mate Freddy Sudhoff. With the high quality field, a number of big names finding themselves in the B-Main, the Dutch driver said for his first race with HB’s new PRO5 7th in qualifying was ‘overall a good start’. Making an ‘extreme set-up change’, going in the completely opposite direction to before, he said while it ‘absolutely didn’t work’ he was happy that it showed changes make a difference to how the car reacts. For the final the plan is to use each main to test further set-up and build up data for future races. While disappointed for long time HB driver Andy Moore who has struggled all weekend he said ‘getting two drivers in the final is good for the new car’.

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‘Super happy to be in the A-Main on asphalt again’, that was Sudhoff’s reaction to qualifying 8th. Although he made the A-Main on the asphalt surfaced Mattsee round in Austria last season, he said not counting that it has been a while since he has made the A-Main grid at a big outdoor race. The German said over the last two qualifiers they ‘tried a lot of stuff’ of which ‘some worked and some didn’t’ but as a result they had found a good direction in which to go for tomorrow and he is confident they can find better pace for the final.

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For the Xray Pro Stock A-Main it will also be the defending champion who starts on pole with Marek Cerny claiming his second overall TQ of Season #8. The Xray driver produced a third TQ run in the fourth and final qualifier ahead of Martin Hofer, a result that will see the former champion start 2nd. Christian Donath’s Tamiya will line up third with Q1 pace setter Johannes Sperr’s Team C securing fourth on the grid.

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In Formula, David Ehrbar secured Serpent’s first TQ of the season thanks to his Q1 pace as Martin Hofer backed up his Q3 run to take the final qualifier leaving the two German’s tied on points.

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April 11, 2015

Yokomo 1-2 as Volker tops Q3 from Vejrak

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Yokomo claimed a 1-2 in the penultimate qualifier at Round 3 of the ETS in Italy with Ronald Volker topping the times from Meen Vejrak, the Thai driver finally completed a run after servo issues resulted in DNF’s in the opening two qualifiers. Running his second set of tyres, Volker’s second TQ run of the weekend is a significant one as it leaves his only challenger for the honour of Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho needing to post the fastest qualifier of the weekend on what today is so far proving a slower track. Still using his first set of controlled Ride tyres, Coelho would post the 3rd fastest time, an impressive pace for tyres that were on their third run, and now goes into the final qualifier armed with a fresh set of tyres.

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Starting from 7th, following his off in Q2, Volker was very happy to capitalise on his fresh rubber with a TQ run. The German said despite having new tyres the traction was lower than both last night when he TQ’d the opening qualifier and this morning’s run. Having to deal with ‘a lot of traffic’, he said while the four cars he passed didn’t obstruct him it was a slight distraction none the less. Planning to use the final qualifier to test a different set-up ahead of the finals, the four time defending champion who jointly leads the current standings with Marc Rheinard believes with the current track conditions Coelho will have his work cut out to deny him the extra bonus championship on offer for the overall TQ.

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Having had a tough start to qualifying due to a servo issue that was only discovered after Q2, with a new servo and a new receiver as a precautionary measure fitted to his BD7 Vejrak was clearly relieved to go the full 5-minutes. With ‘almost new tyres’, the former 1:10 Nitro World Champion managing only 1 timed lap in the previous 2 qualifiers, the Thai driver said he had no choice but to drive a safe round. Pleased to get a second he said there was room for improvement with the car set-up but needing to get another strong run he said he wouldn’t risk a change going into the final qualifier. While he has the advantage of a new set of tyres he said his target would be just to run another clean round and hope its enough to bump him up on the A-Main grid.

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‘Not so bad’ was how Coelho summed up his Q3 performance. The factory Xray driver said his T4 was ‘super pushing’ as the tyres were ‘finished’ after doing three heats. Having saved his second set for the final qualifier he declared himself as being in a good position for the last round adding he was ready to ‘break balls’.

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Another leading driver to park his car in the grass in Q2, Alexander Hagberg came back to set the fourth fastest time and book his place in the A-Main. Fourth in Q1, the Swede decided for Day 2 of the event to start out with team-mate Coelho’s set-up. Unfortunately going off on his opening lap in the day’s first run, the Nitro Touring Car World Champion didn’t get a feel for the set-up change. Leaving the car unchanged for Q3 but gambling to run his second set of tyres he said while a decent run the set-up didn’t suit his driving style. For the final qualifier he will go with a set-up of his own.

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Another driver on new tyres, HB’s Jilles Groskamp described his 5th as a ‘safe, solid A-Main run’. Starting off ‘a bit too safe’ and then having to open up to let Volker through, he said with his PRO5 suffering from more understeer than expected for new tyres he just focused on keeping the run clean. His first outing with his new team he said high speed understeer is still a big problem and he will try a new set-up in Q4 to try and alleviate this issue.

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Despite losing boost during the run Yannic Prumper would complete the Top 6. The Yokomo driver suspects the problem may have been caused by his motor getting too hot but as a precaution will fit a new motor and speedo for the final qualifier. Running on third run tyres with fresh rubber the Yokomo driver who was 3rd and 2rd in the opening two qualifiers should be a contender for a TQ run. Behind Prumper, Xray’s Marco Kaufmann enjoyed another Top 10 run with the 7th fastest time ahead of team-mate Tim Wahl.

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Christopher Krapp would be the fastest Tamiya of the round in 9th position just ahead of new team-mate Naoto Matsukura while Marc Rheinard was only 18th. Making a set-up change Krapp said it was the ‘wrong way’ and was frustrated by the fact he was running on his second set of tyres. He will revert to his Q2 set-up for the last run adding that hopefully he can ‘somehow put it into the A-Main’.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class Marek Cerny claimed his second TQ run. The defending back to back champion this time put his Xray top of the times ahead of the Tamiya of Christian Donath. Former champion Martin Hofer enjoyed his best round as he took his Yokomo to 3rd ahead of ARC’s Henrik Heitsch and the Scumacher of Nicolai Lindegaard.

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In Formula, Martin Hofer topped the third round with his Yokomo ahead of the Xray of Mike Gosvig, the pair the only drivers to run 15-laps of the Riccione track. Behind them Michele Romagnoli was third fastest while Q1 & 2 pace setter David Ehrbar had a troubled round leaving the Serpent driver only 18th.

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April 11, 2015

Coelho takes 2nd qualifier in Riccione

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Bruno Coelho opened Day 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Italy with a convincing Q2 TQ run. Second in yesterday’s opening qualifier, the Xray driver was the only driver to run 19-laps of the Riccione track this morning topping the times from Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper and HB’s Freddy Sudhoff. Having dominated yesterday’s action with only Coehlo in touch with his pace, defending champion Ronald Volker would be one of a number of drivers to end their runs in the grass.

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Setting the TQ pace from the first lap Coelho described his run as ‘super good’. Making an ackermann change to his LRP powered T4 for the first of the days three qualifiers, the 21-year-old said this made for a better feeling despite the car running used tyres. Starting behind Volker but going passed the grass bound BD7 on lap 3, the exciting to watch Portuguese driver said he was able to run a good clean 5-minutes eliminating the small mistake he had yesterday that ended his challenge for the TQ to Q1. Happy with his car and planning to leave it unchanged for Q3 the only decision he has to make is when to run his second set of tyres.

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Commenting on his off, Volker said the car felt slightly off balance and while never an issue previously when he ‘barely touched the curb it put it out of shape’. Aware Coelho was close behind and not wanting to obstruct him he moved off the racing line which he said turned out to be the grass. While marshals took sometime to get to his BD7 he said once he hit the morning’s damp grass he had already made the decision to end his run and although on used tyres save them. Others making trips onto the grass included Xray’s Alexnder Hagberg, Tamiya’s Naoto Matsukura and Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak. Like Volker, Hagberg pulled up after he went onto the grass on his opening lap. Matsukura would try to continue but after a second mistake called time on the run him saying afterwards a set-up change was ‘no good’ and he will will revert back to his Q1 set-up for the 3rd qualifier. Having had a DNF in Q1, Vejrak’s off in Q2 turned out to be due to a faulty servo which he now suspects was also his issue yesterday and not a bad set of tyres as previously thought.

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Prumper said his BD7 was better than yesterday after he reduced the cars toe-in back to 2 degrees although on used tyres the rear end was a little too loose. Pleased with his early pace, his best lap being a 16.489 compared to Coehlo’s 14.452, the German said after two small slides he just tried to keep the rest of the run clean knowing he had a big advantage over Sudhoff’s third position pace.

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Finishing over 2-seconds off Prumper, Sudhoff declared it ‘another good run’. With the benefit of being on his second set of tyres, the new factory HB recruit said a spring change made by team manager Hiroyuki Kasuya had improved the PRO5 from yesterday. The German said the car is ‘maybe too consistent now’ but with an A-Main start now seeming safe they can try bigger changes for the remaining two qualifiers. Messing up his opening lap, while it didn’t effect his overall position, he said its something he needs to work on.

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‘Better than Q1’, that was how Jilles Groskamp summed his run. Running a different set-up to Q1, the 2012 World Champion said while better it still wasn’t what he wants but a really clean run he was happy with 4th. The Dutch driver said for most of the track the car is ‘pretty good’ but the bump and the right right middle section as still a problem. He said the bump is a power problem as having the right throttle feeling for that part of the track is critical. For the right right section he will try a droop change as well as adding weight to his Orion powered PRO5.

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Fifth fastest, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard said he is just driving around around without mistakes and ‘profiting from others ending up on the grass’. While he described his Muchmore powered TRF419 as ‘pretty easy to drive’ he said it has less and less steering towards the end of the run making it difficult to maintain position, him having been ahead of former team-mate Groskamp for much of the run.

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Having just missed out on a Top 10 run in Q1 due to two mistakes, a safe clean qualifier saw multiple French National Champion Loic Jasmin record the 6th fastest time. The Yokomo driver admitted he got ‘Super lucky a lot of guys stopped’ but added he was happy to take it especially as it was on used tyres. No different to the majority of his competitors he said he would like to find more steering and so will make changes for Q3.

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Setting the 7th fastest time Xray’s Dionys Stadler was pleased with the result as he suffered a power problem during the run. Seeded in the top heat, the 18-year-old was on a Top 4 pace but ‘lost punch’. Unsure of the cause of the reduced power the German will fit a different motor and battery to his T4 for Q3.

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Christopher Krapp took his new Tamiya to the 8th fastest time with a run he described as ‘ok’. The former lead Kyosho touring car driver, went for a softer spring for Q2 but for the first 2-minutes this left his Orion powered TRF419 not so good. Improving for the second half he will go to a harder spring in the hope he can make the performance more equal over the full 5-minutes. The German added with the times very close ahead of him he would also focus on trying to improve his driving as there was time to be gained there too.

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Having pulled up after just one lap in Q1, Viktor Wilck with the benefit of practically new tyres would claim a 9th for the round. The Serpent driver said while his S411 is good from the middle to the end of the run in the beginning it is ‘really shit’. A problem that has plagued himself and team-mate Marc Fisher since the start of the event, the Swede will try a different diff and shock set-up for the penultimate qualifier.

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Completing the Top 10 Marco Kaufmann said he only wished he had been half a second faster as it would have put him in the Top 5. Suffering a mistake on Lap 2 in Q1, the Xray driver said Q2 was a ‘better run’ and now that he has a chance of making the A-Main the plan is to leave the car as is and just push harder.

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In the Xray Pro-Stock class the second round of qualifying would see defending champion Marek Cerny TQ with a convincing run. Setting the fastest lap, the Xray driver would outpace the Awesomatix of Max Machler by one & a half seconds with the Schumacher of Denmark’s Nicolai Lindegaard completing the Top 3. For surprise Q1 pace setter Johannes Sperr Q2 would see the Team C driver set the 8th fastest time just behind the Yokomo of former champion Martin Hofer. In Formula Serpent’s David Ehrbar was the only driver to repeat his Q1 form as the Serpent driver again enjoyed a second TQ run. This time round the German topped the times from the CRC of international 1:8 nitro racer Michele Romagnoli and the Tamiya of Italian Marco Donadelli.

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April 10, 2015

Volker from Coelho in opening Italian ETS qualifier

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Ronald Volker kicked off qualifying at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Italy with a TQ run however the defending champion’s anticipated domination wasn’t to be by a much as expected. Leading off the World class 11 car top qualifying group the Yokomo driver would find himself trailing Bruno Coelho before the Xray driver overheated his tyres. In the end just half a second separated the Top 2, Coelho posting the fastest time, while somewhat off the lead pace Yannic Prumper completed the Top 3 as the only other driver to run 19-laps of the Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

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Having dominated practice topping the 3-lap seeding times by almost 7/10ths of a second, Volker said he wasn’t surprised by the smaller margin over 5-minutes adding he expected it to be close. In a change to the 3-lap mindset of practice, the German said he drove a very cautious first lap which gave Coehlo the early advantage. Focusing on conserving his tyres for the first minute he said this ultimately helped him TQ the qualifier as his lap times remained consistent over the run and he was able to close and then build up a gap over Coehlo. ‘Very satisfied to get it done in Q1’, he said this is the key qualifier for outdoor racing as all drivers were on new tyres and as tyre management will be more influential over the remaining 3 rounds of qualifying tomorrow.

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Describing it as a good start to qualifying, Coehlo stayed safe for Q1 by running his T4 unchanged from the final practice. The World Championship runner-up said his T4 was fine and it was his driving that cost him the TQ. Feeling he overheated his tyres forcing him to slow up for a few laps he said when he tried to recover the time he ended up making a slight mistake handing Volker an unassailable advantage. One of the few drivers without a complaint about his car he said for tomorrow morning’s second qualifier the goal was to ‘just drive the car (he’s) got better’.

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Increasing the toe-in on his Yokomo from 2 to 2.5, Prumper said ‘maybe it was too much’ as he struggled with understeer. The German said ‘after 2-laps Ronald and Bruno were already gone’ and his BD7 started to push more and more over the 5-minutes. Ending up over 3-seconds off his team-mate’s TQ the 21-year-old said he needs to find a different set-up for tomorrow to be competitive.

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Opening up with a fourth place Xray’s Alexander Hagberg said the run was ‘a little slow’ attributing it to a combination of his own driving and his car. With changes after practice making his T4 ‘better’, the Swede said while now closer to his rivals he was ‘still not on the pace’. A two time ETS race winner on carpet, he said he needs to find more steering for Day 2 of this the 42nd running of an ETS race.

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World Champion Naoto Matsukura would be the fastest Tamiya of Q1 ending up 5th just ahead of his senior team-mate Marc Rheinard. The Japanese driver said they have a bit of work to do for tomorrow as he struggled with understeer. Losing over a second in time when he ‘got a little out of shape’ he plans to make a geardiff oil change as well as changing the shock oil and position. Rheinard said his TRF419 was ‘ok’ at the beginning but only got worse and worse with ‘no grip’ at the end of the 5-minutes. Having reverted to the set-up he ran yesterday when he was the closest driver to his title rival Volker, the German is clearly frustrated by the sudden drop off in his pace.

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Best of the newly expanded HB team, Freddy Sudhoff took his PRO5 to 7th. Having started out the day trying Jilles Groskamp’s set-up but finding it not to his liking he reverted to a completely different set-up he ran yesterday for Q1. A big improvement he said the car had better traction out of the corner and the pace was OK for the back of the A-Main. For his first race on asphalt with his new team he declared himself overall happy but said he hoped for tomorrow they can find a few extra tenths so as to put them in a position to challenge for a Top 5 result.

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For new star signing Jilles Groskamp the first qualifying was ‘not so good’. Slowed by Vejrak’s early spin, the Dutch driver said he got a little frustrated at being held up and feeling he was off the pace, overdrove leading to him hitting the curbing at the corner before the loop on lap 8 losing him 3-seconds. He said had he known he pace was not as slow as he thought he would have calmed down and probably ended up with a solid Q1 instead of 24th. He said while they still need to find pace, ‘tomorrow is another day’ and hopefully the can move forward.

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While Meen Vejrak, who seeded fourth for qualifying, suffered a tyre problem in Q1 that saw him spin on the opening lap and forced him to pull up, fellow Thai Yokomo driver Chavit Saligupta enjoyed a Top 10 run setting the 8th fastest time. Describing the run as ‘clean & safe’ the nitro touring car World Finalist said for tomorrow he will just push harder as his BD7 is working well.

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Tamiya’s Christopher Krapp said having to move to a different position on the driver stand to where he stood in practice he ‘drove the first minute shit’. While personally happy to get a Top 10 on his first qualifying run for his new team he said as a team TRF’s only target was being first. While the car can make the A-Main he said they are not competitive adding that was clearly highlighted to him when Volker and Bruno both passed him ‘on a different level’ during the qualifier.

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Despite ‘two stupid mistakes’, reigning Italian National Champion Nicola Marrone completed the Top 10. Adding weight to the front of his Xray T4 for Q1, the Hotrace Tyre brand owner said this made the car easier to drive giving him more steering through the track’s faster corners.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class the first round of qualifying sprung up a bit of a surprise when Team C driver Johannes Sperr TQ’d ahead of defending champion Marek Cerny. Also setting the fastest lap time, the German finished a very close 0.087 of a second ahead of the factory Xray driver. Behind them ARC’s Henrik Heitsch completed the Top 3, some 2-seconds off the lead pace. In Formula, with reigning champion Jan Ratheisky missing the race due to a shoulder injury, the class is wide open with Serpent’s David Ehrbar taking Q1 from MD Racing’s Tony Mur and the Project HP One of Roman Pichler. Well known Italian 1:8 nitro racer Michele Romagnoli was fourth fastest of the massive 84 Formula entries.

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April 10, 2015

Volker throws down the gauntlet in Italy

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Ronald Volker has thrown down the gauntlet to his rivals on the Yokomo Euro Touring Series’ to Italy by convincingly topping timed practice. Describing the Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli track as one of his all time favourite tracks, the Yokomo driver was almost 7/10ths faster than his closest rival Bruno Coehlo over three laps. Joint leader of the standings with Volker coming into the first outdoor race of Season #8 of the ETS, Marc Rheinard struggled over the 2-timed practice runs with the Round 2 race winner ending up only 11th fastest behind new Tamiya team-mates Naoto Matsukura and Christopher Krapp who ended up 6th and 10th fastest respectively. Making his race debut for HB, Jilles Groskamp kicked off his new contract with an encouraging pace that will see him seeded 5th for qualifying.

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Posting his fastest time in the first of the two controlled practice runs, Volker said he was happy with his pace throughout practice adding now he needs to put everything together for this evening’s opening qualifier. Having also topped free practice, despite having a distinct advantage over his rivals at the end of CP1 for the final practice run of the event the German would try a set-up change. Resulting in his LRP powered BD7 being a ‘little loose to drive’ and allowing Coehlo to be become the only driver to top him on the times sheets for the 7 recorded rounds of practice, the 4-time back to back champion will revert to his earlier setup for the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying.

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Contesting his first season of ETS, as expected the switch to asphalt looks to be suiting Worlds star Coehlo. The Xray driver said having struggled in practice yesterday a switch to the ARS rear suspension on the T4’15 had improved things. Describing the car as ‘good but not perfect’, the Portuguese driver said traction was still an issue they needed to work on. Having tried different things over the day to improve the cars steering he said for Q1 he would just make small changes that he hoped would allow him to close the gap to Volker.

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Changing back to longer shocks on his Yokomo for the final practice, Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper would post the 3rd fastest time. Having been running short shocks on his Muchmore powered BD7 he said he prefers the feel of the longer shocks but the change, while making the car faster, also made it more difficult to drive. Running 2 degrees of toe-in the German said he will continue with the long shocks and instead add an extra half a degree of toe-in which should make the car more stabile. Overall the Round 1 & 2 podium finisher declared himself happy with his practice pace adding he is feeling pretty confident for the opening qualifier.

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Making his first ETS outing of the season, Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak would end practice 4th fastest. The Thai driver said was happy with his BD7 and was using the track time to focus on the set-up of his Scorpion electrics for the ‘high speed track’ layout which is very different to the tracks in Thailand. Running the car pretty much as he raced it at the TITC he said it starts off really good but after 3-minutes starts to push, something he feels is down to the car needing a freshening up which he will do in preparation for Q1.

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Enjoying his ‘new challenge’ with his new HB team, Groskamp said considering he hasn’t had much track time with his new PRO5 ‘my pace is not bad’. The 2012 World Champion said his initial impression of the car is that it is easy to drive and stable and every run he has been trying set-up changes so as to build up as much knowledge as possible as to how it reacts to change. Happy with his 3-lap pace, pointing out ‘only one guy is really fast’, he said he is really looking forward to Q1 adding that with everyone on new tyres from the same batch that is when he believes we will get to see everyone’s true pace. Happy that both himself and his car have good consistency he said its a pity the track’s traction level is ‘so so’ as if someone finds something they can gain a lot of time with it. Picking the right right uphill middle section with its off camber corners as an area he feels he can improve he said adding weight to the front of the car could be of benefit. Also commenting on the bump before the sweeper leading onto the main straight he said for Q1 he will reduce the turbo on his Orion speedo so that it kicks in just after the bump.

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Making his first ETS appearance since his shock departure from Yokomo, Matsukura said for the last run his TRF419 was good as he clocked the 6th quickest time. Going up in the rear diff oil he said now he needs to turn his attention to the front end of the car. Feeling he has a good base set-up for the track which many drivers are struggling to get to terms with the World Champion said he hopes he can find more steering. Describing the layout as easy to drive he continued it is difficult to find the last few tenths admitting this is leading him to make many mistakes.

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Posting the 7th fastest time, Alexander Hagberg said his Xray feels OK put on the clock is too slow. Having struggled yesterday pointing out that unlike the some of their rivals they didn’t do pre-race testing, he said today they made good progress but still they have to come up with a change that will give the car more steering. Over a second off Volker’s pace over 3-laps the Swede said while their outright pace wasn’t there he was hopeful over a 5-minute run they would be more competitive.

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Behind Hagberg 18-year-old Xray team-mate Dionys Stadler set an impressive 8th fastest time. Liking the track layout ‘a lot’, the German was also much happier with his T4 after switching to ARS rear suspension for the final practice. Giving him more steering he said his car also ran very consistent over the 5-minutes and he will continue with an unchanged set-up for Q1.

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The star of Round 2 in Germany where he made his debut for Serpent, Viktor Wilck ended practice in 9th. Having ‘tried many things’, the Swede said its proving very hard to find a good set-up and the right combination of having enough steering and enough grip. The ETS race winner is struggling to get good pace out of his S411 at the start of the run but added by the end it is good. Planning to try a softer diff for Q1 he believes part of the issue being faced by drivers at the Road Race Riccione track is that some corners are off camber.

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Another driver making a high profile debut with a new team this weekend, Krapp completed the Top 10. While admitting his new TRF team is having problems with finding a set-up for this track the former Kyosho driver said he is really enjoying having team-mates to work with rather than working on his own. The previous ETS asphalt race winner, said overall traction is the issue but they don’t know why and they have each been trying different set-ups to try and find aspects that might improve their pace.

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Relieved to make the top qualifying heat, the outdoor track allowing for 11 car qualifiers, Rheinard said having ran pretty ok yesterday today they are in the ‘middle of nowhere’. Suffering understeer the 3-time World Champion said as a result the ‘fast corners are horrible’. Having ran 49-second pace yesterday the German said he was lost as to why they had lost speed, his best controlled practice time being a 50.457, 1.5 seconds off arch rival Volker.

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April 10, 2015

Track Focus – Road Race Riccione

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Name – Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli
Country – Italy
Location – Riccione
Host Club – Road Race Riccione
Surface – Asphalt
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Key previous races hosted – 1:5 Bike World Championship

The Yokomo Euro Touring Series this weekend makes a long awaited return to Italy with Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli in the touristic seaside city of Riccione welcoming a record entry for an outdoor ETS race. Built in 1999 the track is proving an instant hit with drivers with defending champion Ronald Volker declaring it as one of his all time favourite tracks. Run by the Road Race Riccione club which has a membership of 50, the club originally started out as an onroad nitro club but in recent years has seen electric become the main class. With MotoGP legends such as Valentio Rossi, Loris Capirossi and the late Marco Simoncelli from the area it is not surprising that rc bike racing is also popular with the track hosting the 1:5 Bike World Championship in 2012. The club is very proud of the fact that Rossi has driven the track when the 9-time World Champion drove a Serpent 1:8 nitro car.

During the hosting of the 1:5 Bike Worlds the club, many of the committee close friends of the Simoncelli family, auctioned a replica Marco helmet donating the money raised to the Marco Simoncelli Foundation. After this the two organisations have formed a close association with the club remembering the #58 rider by official incorporated his name in the track title and placing a tribute to him on the top of the drivers stand.

Laid out in an area 70 metres wide by 60 metres deep and having undergone one layout change in its 16-year existence, the main uniqueness is its subtle elevation changes. Last resurfaced in 2007 the greatest challenge of the track for Modified drivers is proving to be a bump just before the sweeper leading on to the 56 metre long straight. Describing the track as ‘not too difficult to look at’, Volker said the evaluations and camber changes make it a lot more challenging when you drive it. Commenting on ‘the bump’, the Yokomo driver said getting the right outside line to avoid it unsettling the car and at the same time carrying good speed onto the straight are key to a good lap time. Joint leader of the standings with Volker coming into the race, Round 2 winner Marc Rheinard described the track as ‘nice except for the one bump’. The Tamiya driver picked out the end of the straight as the key to the track as you try to brake as late as possible without overshooting for the corner. Describing traction levels as ‘medium’, as did Volker, he said a bit more would be ‘nice’ but it not a problem.