Euro Touring Series

May 23, 2010

Hara powers to victory in first A-Main

Hara powers the victory in first A-Main

Atsushi Hara has won the opening leg of the A-Main here at a sun soaked MACH. The Hot Bodies driver used the ‘horse power’ of his GM powered Hot Bodies to work his way from fourth on the grid to snatch the race win from Marc Rheinard 3 laps from the end of the final. The former Touring Car World Champion said he knew his only chance of overtaking was going to be on the main straight and that’s what he did. Having changed to thicker shock oil on his new TCX chassis for today’s very hot track conditions, the Japanese pro said his car was working really well but feels it will be hard to repeat the result again in Leg 2. Having the power is one thing but being able to get it stopped from 110 + kph is another and Hara said with the tyres now used it will be hard to take advantage of the spectacular top speed he has.

Marc Rheinard

Having got the jump on Top Qualifier Viktor Wilck off the start and into the first corner current World Champion & ETS standings leader Rheinard said he gave away the race. Challenged for the lead by his Tamiya team-mate Wilck the German said he let up too much when the Swede retired with a stripped spur gear allowing Hara to take 6/10th out of his lead on one lap alone. Knowing Hara was fast at the end of the main straight Rheinard tried staying on the power longer but he then struggled with getting his Speed Passion powered TRF416 slowed down.

Defending ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp completed the Top 3 but admitted he was a bit lucky with the demise of Wilck and Andy Moore. The Dutch ace said his Tamiya is working really well but a clear lack of straight line speed is making it hard to challenge for the win. Hara blasted passed him on the straight but as soon as they reached the infield Groskamp was all over the back of his car actually making contact with the rear bumper of the Hot Bodies. With the temperature continuing to rise here in the Netherlands the European Champion feels this will help reduce his power disadvantage.

Running the same set of tyres he ran in qualifying Steen Graversen will be one to watch in the remaining two finals. With a fresh set of tyres at his disposal he will have a distinct advantage over the rest of the field. ‘Should not be possible’ was how the fast Dane described his fourth place finish after a great clean battle with Dutchman Bart Wubben and France’s Cyril N’diaye. Graversen said he may gamble on running old tyres once again in Leg 2 and save his new set for the final race of the day but admits its a big risk.

Although he failed to finish the race, going out at the 3-minute mark while running second, Wilck said he was caught by surprise at how fast Rheinard was off the start. Able to close the gap to the leader in the mid part of the race he said his car suffered with a little understeer making it hard to challenge Rheinard but planning a faster start next time around he is confident he can take the win. For factory Hot Bodies driver Moore, a motor failure ended a very strong run. The Englishman, who started 6th, was following his team-mate Hara up through the field but at the start of lap 9 his car came to a halt. The only plus side is that he will now have the advantage of fresher tyres for Leg 2. Another one to watch will be young German talent Yannic Prumper who crashed in the opening laps and pulled up to save his tyres.

Rob Janssen

In Pro Stock, Top Qualifier Vasco Christiaanse threw away a certain win when he went off the track loosing 5 seconds and allowing the Corally of Rob Janssen to cruise to an easy win. ‘No excuse, a stupid mistake. What else can I say’ was how the Kyosho driver summed up the race, but with his new TF6 working really well the Dutchman plans to rectify his error in Leg 2. Winner Janssen, who won the Dutch ETS encounter last year, said his PHi ’09 is working much better today and believes he can take the challenge to his fellow countryman having outpaced Christiaanse on lap times in the later part of the race. Making it an all local Top 3 Tjitte Miedema enjoyed a good drive, but the star of the opening Leg was Russia’s Ivan Laptev who finished 4th from 10th on the gird.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwUCIsg2H9g[/youtube]

Modified A-main Leg 1 results
1. Hara Ataushi – 20 Laps in 5:09.816
2. Rheinard Marc – 20 Laps in 5:10.306
3. Groskamp Jilles – 20 Laps in 5:12.206
4. Graversen Steen – 19 Laps in 5:05.990
5. Wubben Bart – 19 Laps in 5:07.684
6. N’diaye Cyril – 19 Laps in 5:11.203
7. Ehrbar David – 19 Laps in 5:11.627
8. Wilck Viktor – 12 Laps in 3:00.944
9. Moore Andy – 8 Laps in 1:59.038
10.Prümper Yannic – 3 Laps in 0:42.313

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwOLLFmuUc[/youtube]

Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 results
1. Janssen Rob – 17 Laps in 5:09.909
2. Christiaanse Vasco – 17 Laps in 5:15.678
3. Miedema Tjitte – 17 Laps in 5:18.997
4. Laptev Ivan – 16 Laps in 5:02.314
5. Madsen Carsten – 16 Laps in 5:03.956
6. Vekemans Geoffrey – 16 Laps in 5:05.398
7. Franke Oliver – 16 Laps in 5:06.189
8. Kunák Zdenko – 16 Laps in 5:06.426
9. Persijn Joffrey – 16 Laps in 5:11.322
10.Jongenelis Patrick – 16 Laps in 5:12.239

Full results can be found here.

View the event image gallery here.

May 22, 2010

Wilck on pole as Ehrbar TQs final Dutch qualifier

Viktor Wilck will start tomorrow’s Dutch ETS round from pole after David Ehrbar denied Marc Rheinard a TQ run in the final qualifier here at the MACH in the Netherlands. Benefiting from running new tyres, Czech Grand Prix winner Ehrbar outpaced the World Champion by 2.3 seconds to jump himself 4 places up the grid to fifth position and ahead former World Champion Andy Moore who was third fastest in the round.

David Ehrbar

Running an Xray T3 chassis, Ehrbar said he didn’t think the new tyres were giving him the advantage he was expecting until Scotty Ernst announced he was on for a TQ run. ‘Thanks Ehrbar’ was Wilck’s reaction to the result after the Swede struggled to match the pace of ETS standings leader Rheinard, ending up only fifth. If Rheinard had TQ’d the round he would have also taken pole thanks to his super fast TQ in yesterday opening heat. In terms of the championship, pole position, his second of the 2009/2010 season, gives Wilck a valuable bonus point keeping his Euro Touring Series title hopes alive.

Running a harder front spring on his soon to be released Hot Bodies TCX chassis, Andy Moore said the car was better and he is now confident of being able to challenge for at least a podium tomorrow. The British pro said it will be important to find a way passed Erhbar at the start as the German will start on used rubber and could hold him up. The general mood in the Hot Bodies squad this evening is very positive despite Hara messing up his final qualifier when he ended up on the grass. The Japanese driver is now running a 4.5 motor and is comfortable with the huge power from the GM electronics. Recording the fastest top speed for the round with 115 kph on the main straight, he said this will come in handy tomorrow as he works his way from fourth on the grid to the front.

Wilck on pole as Ehrbar TQs final Dutch qualifier

In Pro Stock, Vasco Christiaanse is enjoying a great debut with Kyosho giving their new TF6 its first International TQ honours. The Dutch driver was on pole last time the ETS visited the MACH track and will be hoping to convert that into victory this time round and expects his biggest challenger tomorrow will be fellow countryman Rob Janssen. The Corally driver, who won the Dutch ETS round at Apeldoorn last year, lines up second on the grid and feels the race is going to go down to final lap of the third leg. The final round of qualifying was TQ’d by Oliver Franke and the German Xray driver will be out to deny the locals a home victory.

In the Hobby Class Eric Mulder starts from pole as he looks to claim his first win of the season. The Dutch driver faces tough opposition on his local track from two emerging talents Lucas Fischer from Germany and Poland’s Michal Orlowski who currently leads the standings having won the last three rounds of the championship.

Modified top 10
1. Wilck Viktor (SE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion
2. Rheinard Marc (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion
3. Groskamp Jilles (NL) – Tamiya/Team Orion
4. Hara Atsushi (TH) – Hot Bodies/GM
5. Ehrbar David (DE) – Xray/Speedpassion
6. Moore Andy (GB) – Hot Bodies/Team Orion
7. Prümper Yannic (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion
8. Graversen Steen (DK) – Tamiya/Speedpassion
9. Wubben Bart (NL) – Xray/Speedpassion
10.N’diaye Cyril (FR) – Tamiya/LRP

Pro Stock top 10
1. Christiaanse Vasco (NL) – Kyosho
2. Janssen Rob (NL) – Corally
3. Franke Oliver (DE) – Xray
4. Kunák Zdenko (SK) – Xray
5. Madsen Carsten (DK) – Tamiya
6. Miedema Tjitte (NL) – TOP
7. Persijn Joffrey (NL) – Xray
8. Jongenelis Patrick (NL) – Xray
9. Vekemans Geoffrey (BE) – Schumacher
10.Laptev Ivan (RU) – Tamiya

Full results can be found here.

View the event image gallery here.

May 22, 2010

Another TQ run from Wilck at the MACH

Viktor Wilck produced another TQ run in the penultimate qualifier here in the Netherlands at the fifth round of the 2009/2010 Euro Touring Series moving a step closer to claiming pole for tomorrow’s finals. The Tamiya team driver took the round by 2/10th of a second from Hot Bodies’ Atsushi Hara with local ace Bart Wubben getting it together to complete the top 3 at the controls of his Xray T3.

Topping the run with a time that is some 12 seconds off the fastest qualifier set by team-mate Marc Rheinard yesterday, Wilck said his car is starting to feel really loose now due to the tyre wear. Drivers have two sets of tyres at their disposal but the front runners are saving them for the finals.

‘Getting better’ was Hara’s response to his run to the second fastest time. The former World Champion says his TCX is much better balanced now but the changes have resulted in reduced traction. Planning small changes to try combat this, the Japanese driver has his sights firmly on demoting Jilles Groskamp to fourth on the grid by TQ’ing the fifth & final qualifier.

Bart Wubben

Bart Wubben has had a limited race program this year but the local driver and former Dutch National Champion knows this track well and following diff problems in his Xray has jumped right into contention. Having fitted an old diff for the fourth qualifier he said the car finally felt like it had 4 wheel drive again. Setting a competitive third fastest time Wubben, who is running in the second fastest group, said he wished he had only pushed a little harder!

Andy Moore finally got a clean run together stopping the clocks in the fourth fastest time. Running a completely different set-up to Hara, the Englishman is using a different front shock tower on his TCX which allows him to run a longer shock. This made the car turn in better and gave it an overall better balance.

Marc Rheinard had his worst round of qualifying failing to record a Top 3 time for the first time. The German said he is really struggling on old tyres with the car very loose to drive. Interestingly the World Champion tried double link front drive shafts but said they made no noticeable difference and he will revert back to Tamiya’s standard kit drive shafts.

Cyril N'diaye

Recording his first 19 lap run and breaking into the Top 6 for the first time was top French touring car driver Cyril N’diaye. Running an LRP powered Tamiya he was pleased to feature near the front but said while the run was good, bad traffic had cost him time.

Elsewhere Yannic Prumper saw a possible TQ run get away from him when his Tamiya spun out with one minute to go and then again on the last lap due to a diff problem. Clearly frustrated by his lack of straight line speed Jilles Groskamp had an off on lap 5 and after rejoining decided to pull up four laps later.

Rob Janssen action

In Pro Stock Vasco Christiaanse was again fastest and it will be hard to see anyone denying the Dutch team Kyosho driver pole for tomorrow’s finals. Rob Janssen’s Corally was second fastest but last year’s Dutch winner really needs to find something special if he is to challenge his fellow countryman. Czech ETS race winner Daniel Wohlgemuth, who is racing a Yokomo this weekend which is actually Martin Hofer’s spare car, was on a good run but made a mistake that cost him four seconds. Currently 11th in the qualification ranking the German is under pressure to pull something out of the bag in the final heat if he wants to be on the grid for the all important A-Mains.

Full results can be found here.

View the event image gallery here.

May 22, 2010

Wilck heads Tamiya 1-2-3 in Q3

The third round of qualifying for the Dutch ETS encounter was very much a Tamiya affair with the TRF squad setting the Top 3 times with Viktor Wilck fastest from team-mates Marc Rheinard and Jilles Groskamp. Wilck’s winning time of 19 laps in 5:08.376 was the slowest of the three qualifiers to date as rising temperatures made for slower track conditions. Switching to a Protoform LTC-R body, the Swede said his TRF416 felt better and the problem with the car being loose on the opening lap has been cured by keeping the tyre warmers powered right until the car is placed on the grid. The only driver capable of challenging Rheinard for this season’s ETS title, Wilck said he needs to be quicker than the German in the remaining two heats so as to secure the bonus championship point for taking Top Qualifier honours. Rheinard’s opening TQ run is the fastest so far and will be hard to beat as it was run yesterday when conditons were cooler and the track was faster.

Wilck heads Tamiya 1-2-3 in Q3

For pre-event favourite Groskamp a lack of power is still a problem. Having reduced the power settings on his speedo after he blew a motor in Q2, the Dutch driver said he is having to push extra hard in the infield in order to make up for his lack of straightline speed. The reigning Euro Touring Series Champion is also concerned with the heat of the motor after the run and has little choice but to fit a heat sink and cooling fan for the next round. The Dutch driver has said its going to be hard at this stage to beat his Tamiya team-mates who have the edge right now on the rest of the field. Toni Sport driver Yannic Prumper once again finished fourth frustrated at not being able to break into the Top 3. The young German plans to try running the penultimate qualifier with no tyre additive. Top Danish driver Steen Graversen made it an all Tamiya Top 5.

Andy Moore

For the Hot Bodies team it was not a good round as both their star drivers made mistakes. Andy Moore had two spins while Atsushi Hara had a costly off which cost him 3 seconds. The fastest non Tamiya driver, Moore said his new TCX feels more on the pace now but would still like a little more steering along with a run free of driver errors. Finishing right behind his team-mate on the times sheets, Hara was also happier with his car saying it feels more consistent now.

In Pro Stock Kyosho’s Vasco Christiaanse claimed his second TQ run in style by taking the round by over 2 seconds from Xray’s young charger Zdenko Kunák who had his fastest run of the weekend. Dutch driver Tjitte Miedema completed the Top 3 by outpacing Q2 pace setter Rob Janssen who couldn’t repeat the feat ending up fourth.

Full results can be found here.

View the event image gallery here.

May 22, 2010

Wilck opens Day 2 with TQ run

Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying here on Day 2 of the Dutch ETS round setting the fastest time from team-mate Marc Rheinard who still retains the fastest time with his Q1 run yesterday evening at the MACH. Viktor, who failed to complete the opening round of qualifying, said his run was OK but he had expected it to be better with his 19 laps in 5:05.77 2-seconds off Rheinard’s opening TQ run. The Swede is struggling with his car over the opening lap something all the front running Tamiya drivers are reporting. Having run a Speed 6 body, the Kastellaun winner plans to try an LTC-R in the third of the 5 qualifiers. We may actually see two Wilck cars in the next round of qualifying as Rheinard is also keen to try the LTC-R but doesnt have one in his own colour and may have to borrow one of his team-mates.

Having taken his tyre warmer cups off at the very last minute to try keep heat in the tyres, Rheinard said his car is still really loose on the opening lap and is now charging up the battery in his Much More tyre warmer so as to bring the entire unit to the grid. Once the opening lap is done the German said his TRF416 feels good.

Atsushi Hara

Third fastest was Hot Bodies’ Atsushi Hara. ‘Shit’ was how the Japanese ace described the handling of his car after changing to a different tyre additive for the run. Having tried the additive in open practice this morning he thought his car felt better but over the full five minutes of the qualifier his TCX became difficult to drive. Reverting back to the additive he used all day yesterday, the former World Champion also plans to go for a softer set-up. Running a lower power setting on the GM speedo, which he is running first time this weekend, he hopes with some fine tuning of the car’s handling he can turn it back up.

Happy with fourth in the opening qualifier yesterday following his late arrival at the track, talented German teenager Yannic Prumper was not as happy with recording the same position in Heat 2. The Toni Sport driver had a very slow opening lap, losing 7/10th to Hara and Rheinard there alone, and also struggled on the high speed corners, something he is putting down to running the LTC-R body. For Q3 the only change he plans is to run a Speed 6 body.

Behind Prumper it was Steen Graversen. The Danish racer said small set-up changes to his Tamiya hadn’t worked and the real key to a good run was getting the tyres to work on the opening lap. For defending Euro Touring Series champion Jilles Groskamp saw a potential TQ run go up in smoke. Having upped the power setting on his speedo having been conservative yesterday it was too much. Setting the pace in the top heat and with less than a minute to go his motor cried enough. 2006 World Champion Andy Moore also hit trouble when his Hot Bodies mysteriously understeered off the track on the opening lap forcing the British ace to pull up.

Rob Janssen

In Pro Stock Corally team driver Rob Janssen TQ’d the second round from Kyosho backed Vasco Christiaanse. Having made a strategic decision to sit out yesterday’s opening qualifying leaving him with a fresh set of tyres for today it paid off for last year’s Dutch ETS winner. The Dutch driver said the Phi 09 felt very good and he plans no changes for Q3 when he admits he will get a true indication of his actually pace against his rivals. Christiaanse, who started on pole for the last ETS visit to the MACH, said his new TF6 had a little understeer this time round. Having only recieved the car last week he said he is still learning it, working at the moment from advice sent to him by factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp. Completing the Top 3 for the round was Danish Tamiya driver Carsten Madsen.

Full results can be found here.

View the event image gallery here.

May 21, 2010

Rheinard tops first Dutch qualifier

Championship leader Marc Rheinard has set the pace in the opening round of qualifytng here at the fifth round of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series in the Netherlands. The World Champion topped the hotly contested heat from European Champion Jilles Groskamp and current 1:8 Off Road World Champion Atsushi Hara with just over a second covering the trio after five minutes. Rheinard said his car was really good except for the opening lap when he had no traction. The German lost 7/10th compared with the fastest opening lap set by his Tamiya/Speed Passion team-mate Viktor Wilck something he believes was caused by taking his tyre warmers off too early.

Groskamp said his Tamiya felt good but lacked the power of his rivals. Running the same setting on his speedo as earlier in the day he said he should have taken advantage of the cooler conditions and up the power on his Nosram speedo. The Dutch driver who knows this track better than anyone was very impressed by Rheinard and Hara considering their lack of track knowledge and said they are both driving extremely well. Unfortunately for Groskamp his car suffered damage after he had completed the run when Zdenko Kunak’s Xray shut down and he hit him at full speed. Both drivers will now have a late evening as they fully rebuild their respective chassis.

‘Very close, one mistake and its over’ was how Hara described the opening heat. The Japanese driver said his new TCX chassis had a better feeling following the switch from a GM 4.5 to 5.5 turn motor but felt it lacked a little in outright speed. For the second qualifier tomorrow morning he plans to run a 5.0 turn.

Despite arriving late in the Netherlands this afternoon due to a school exam this morning in Germany, Yannic Prumper set a very impressive fourth fastest time despite only getting to do two of the days five practice runs. Behind the young German talent it was Andy Moore who was on a very similar pace to his Hot Bodies team-mate Hara until he caught a curb sending his Orion powered car into a 360 spin. Steen Graversen completed the top six with his Tamiya/Speed Passion combination followed by the Yokomo/GM of Martin Hofer, the German said his car was good but his driving on this occassion was below par.

Rheinard tops first Dutch qualifier

In Pro Stock Vasco Christiaanse ensured the Dutch are very much on target for a hat trick of home ETS victories by taking his Kyosho TF6 around the MACH in the fastest time with a 16 lap run in 5:07.196. Behind the 2008 Top Qualifier was top international Russian driver Ivan Laptev who was less than 7/10th off with his Tamiya. Germany’s Oliver Franke completed the Top 3 at the controls of his Xray. In the Hobby Class young German driver Lucas Fischer topped the over night qualification rankings from standings leading Michal Orlowski of Poland.

View the event image gallery here.

May 21, 2010

Groskamps heads Hara at the end of Practice

As predicted defending ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp is setting the pace at the MACH, the factory Tamiya driver topping the practice time sheets from former World Champion Atsushi Hara. Despite failing to improve on his time in the final round of practice Groskamp was the only driver to break below a 16 second average for three consecutive laps putting him top seed for qualifying here at his home track. Running a 3mm chassis plate on his TRF416 in the final practice the Dutch driver said that track conditions where slower but overall his car felt better with the thicker chassis and he plans to run it in the opening qualifier this evening. Commenting on the gap between him and his rivals the reigning European Champion said his track knowledge has a lot to do with it but tomorrow Hara & Co will close in as they perfect their racing lines.

Atsushi Hara

This is Hara’s first visit to MACH which he described as ‘crazy big’. Having parted company with Team Orion, the factory Hot Bodies driver is trying GM electrics this weekend which he said has ‘Huge power’. This is causing him to find it hard to get a good balance on his TCX chassis and having run a 4.5 turn motor he now plans to switch to a 5.5 for the first of five rounds of qualifying.

The biggest mover in the final practice round was Germany’s Martin Hofer. The Yokomo team driver, who is also running GM electrics, said switching to heavier shock oil and adding shims to the camber links had greatly improved the feeling of his BD5. Happy now with his set-up he plans to leave the car as is and focus instead on putting in a clean opening qualifier.

Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck

Fastest of this year’s ETS title contenders was Viktor Wilck in fourth. The Swede is struggling to find a good balance on his Tamiya and plans to build a fresh diff for the first heat. Finishing just behind his team-mate and standings leader Marc Rheinard, the World Champion said the nature of the large track causes you to get carried away with pulling full power and his focus for the first heat is to slow up earlier and run tighter, faster, lines.

Steen Graversen, Andy Moore, local driver John Bruins, Yannic Prumper and David Ehrbar complete the top 10.

Vasco Christiaanse

In Pro Stock 2008 Dutch ETS Top Qualifier Vasco Christiaanse was convincingly the fastest of the largest class taking his Kyosho TF6 to an 18.592 average. Young German Rene Klockner was second fastest on an 18.941 ahead of fellow countryman Patrick Jongenelis, Slovak ace Zdenko Kunak and early practice pace setter Geoffrey Vekemans who failed to improve in the final practice.

View the event image gallery here.

May 21, 2010

ETS drivers greeted by Dutch Summer

The timing of the weather for the first outdoor race of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series could not have been better with the Dutch Summer arriving at the same time as the World’s best touring car drivers arrive in the Netherlands. The sun has been shining since early morning on the MACH track which is located near the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.

Drivers started the day with three free practice sessions and have just completed their first of two controlled practice runs from which their best fastest three consecutive laps will count towards the reseed for the heats, the first of which takes place later this evening.

Jilles Groskamp

Heading the time sheets with an average lap time of 15.963 is defending Champion Jilles Groskamp who returns to the series for the first time this season. The Tamiya/Orion driver, who runs a Nosram speedo, is very happy with his lap times but believes getting the right power balance is going to be key to the racing this weekend. The Dutch ace said he can get more power from his car in which he is running a 4.0 turn motor, but to do so runs the risk of the car failing to run the full five minutes. In the morning Groskamp could run a higher power program due to the cooler conditions but as the temperature came up he switched back to the number 2 setting.

Atsushi Hara

Closest to Groskamp, the clear favourite this weekend, is former World Champion Atsushi Hara. Having spent the last few days staying in England with his Hot Bodies team-mate Andy Moore, the Japanese star has quickly made his mark since arriving in the Netherlands with his GM powered TCX chassis reaching a stunning 115kph down the main straight. Despite the blistering straight line speed Hara’s average lap is over 2/10th off that of Groskamp.

Third fastest is Viktor Wilck who managed a 16.207 with his speed Passion powered Tamiya. The Swede along with his TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard are both running Stock Spec software in their speedo which the World Champion & ETS standings leader said helps give the car more top speed at the end of the long straight. Rheinard came to a halt just before the mid point of the first controlled run due to overheating but the German still managed three decent laps to record a 16.232 average which classified him fourth fastest.

Despite preferring racing on carpet, Denmark’s Steen Graversen has got his weekend off to a strong start by setting the fifth fastest time ahead of Andy Moore. TOP Racing team driver John Bruins and the Xray of David Ehrbar complete the top 8. Unfortunately local Dutch chassis manufacturer Corally with not be officially represented here this weekend following the late withdrawal of their lead driver Marc Fisher.

Toni Rheinard of Speed Passion

In Pro stock the feedback on the new control Cirtix Stock Club Race speedo has been very positive. Czech ETS race winner Daniel Wohlgemuth said the speedo felt really nice to drive and although the top speed is lower he predicts very close racing. In terms of times Schumacher driver Geoffrey Vekemans leads the way with a 19.013 average. The current Belgian Champion, who last month raced for the first time at the MACH track, he said his Mi4LP is working well and this is reflected in his pace with the second fastest driver Ivan Laptev over 3/10th adrift. Oliver Franke completes the current Top 3. Top Qualifier the last time the ETS visited the MACH, Vasco Christiaanse who is running Kyosho’s new TF6 chassis has a bit of work to do as he currently sits 10th fastest. Championship leader Alexander Stocker is absent from the entry this weekend but the German has good grounds for missing the event as he has just become a father for the second time.

Drivers have one more round of controlled practice before the first round of qualifying for all three classes brings the opening day of the fifth round of the 2009/2010 Euro Touring Series to a close.

View the event image gallery here.