Euro Touring Series

May 30, 2009

Pruemper joins TQ list

Yannic Pruemper is the third different Top Qualifier in as many rounds here in Holland after the star of the Polish ETS race opted to use his second allocation of qualifying tyres in Round 3. Fresh rubber gave the emerging 15-year-old German talent a distinct advantage over the international field allowing him to join his senior Tamiya team-mates Groskamp and Rheinard on the list of Heat winners. Changing to harder wishbones on his TRF416, Pruemper’s improved car finished five seconds clear of Groskamp who was happy to take the runners-up time on old tyres. Rheinard made it a Tamiya 1-2-3 for the round despite a small mistake. Following consultation with his brother Toni, who is engineering Pruemper’s car, the World Champion will use the next heat to test the Protoform LTC-R bodyshell.

Martin Hofer once again showed the potential of the new Yokomo BD4 with fourth for the round ahead of Christopher Kraap’s Kyosho. Bart Wubben completed the Top 6 and was surprised at how well his Xray T2 ‘009 ran on used tyres. Having sat out the first heat, the Dutch racer was disappointed with his car on fresh rubber but now must make the call as to whether he will use his second set of qualifying tyres in an attempt to make it onto the A Main starting grid. Marc Fischer was only seventh after his diff broke during the run while Andy Moore finished a lowly 11 after he rolled his Hot Bodies.

In Pro Stock Rob Janssen repeated his earlier qualification run to again top the round being the only driver to break 18 laps. After two fifth place points from the earlier heats Daniel Wohlgemuth got his best run of the day to take second ahead of Dutchman Ronald Arts.

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May 30, 2009

Rheinard’s gamble pays off

Having sat out the first qualifier Marc Rheinard got the result he had hoped for as he took TQ honours for the second round of heats. The German ran a time of 19 laps in 5:04.16 to claim the round from Martin Hofer who is looking very strong at the controls of his Yokomo BD5. Rheinard appeared a little disappointed with the run, which was slower than his Tamiya/Speed Passion team-mate Jilles Groskamp’s Round 1 TQ time, describing it as only ‘OK’. The World Champion said he had to drive easy to ensure he made the full run time. Hofer was delighted with second run saying ‘doubt I ‘ll be using that second set of tyres before the Mains’. Hofer is full of praise for his new car and has it dialled in well for running on used tyres and needs just one more solid run to secure his place in the A Mains in which will be a strong candiate for a podium finish.

TOP driver John Bruins had a fantastic round taking third having opted to run his second set of permitted tyres. The Dutch driver also ran a harder rear spring and softer front shock oil which he said made his new Photon chassis more aggressive allowing him to knock 4 seconds off his opening run time. Fellow Corally driver Marc Fischer once again ran out of steam on the final lap and had to settle for fourth. The factory driver is unsure why he is having problems with run time but says he may have to adjust his driving style next time out. Factory Kyosho pairing Christopher Kraap and Steen Graversen completed the top 6 once again, this time the younger Kraap getting the better of his team-mate.

‘A stupid mistake’ was how Jilles Groskamp described his early exit from Round 2. Having TQ’d the opening round the Dutch ace put his Tamiya on the grass and was clearly annoyed with himself for the error. Andy Moore also had a non-finish for the round after he pulled up 4 minutes into the run after picking up a mysterious vibration in the steering.

In Pro Stock local driver Rob Janssen put his extensive Apeldoorn track knowledge to good use by TQ’ing the second round. The Corally driver benefited from fresh rubber having completed only a single lap in Round 1 to scrub in the tyres. Defending Champion Alexander Stocker who also had new tyres claimed P2, over 5 seconds adrift, but the German said he was pleased with the result given Janssen’s experience here. Vasco Christiaanse took third a result he was disappointed with. The Hot Bodies driver said his car felt good but lacked power. The Dutch driver is hoping that fitting a second cooling fan to his motor will help. Currently it is 24 degrees here with a track temperature of 46.

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May 30, 2009

‘Clever’ Groskamp TQ’s first Dutch qualifier

The opening qualifier for the fourth round of the Euro Touring series here at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands has been completed and it is first blood for defending champion Jilles Groskamp. Intially it was Corally team driver Marc Fischer who set the pace but the German dumped allowing Groskamp to pip him for TQ honours. The Tamiya/Speed Passion driver described his run as ‘clever’ saying he didn’t push hard at the start as practice had shown run time would be an issue especially with everyone running new tyres. Fischer, whose GM powered car is proving very fast in a straight line, put his dumping down to a brand new pack of cells which he said could have done with a few extra charge cycles.

Team Yokomo driver Martin Hofer is really excelling here with the new BD5. The German took third for the round and was ‘pretty satisfied’ with his pace so far on his first major event with the new car. Andy Moore suffered terrible understeer on his Hot Bodies and is at a loss as to exactly why. After practice the former World Champion made adjustments to his Cyclone TC that should have set the car up nicely for his fresh set of Sweep controlled tyres but the changes had the opposite effect. Moore will go back to the drawing board but wasn’t really sure what way to go with set-up for the second qualifier.

Making it 5 different manufacturers in the Top 5, Steen Graversen took his Kyosho Stallion to fifth just ahead of team-mate Christopher Kraap. Graversen said his car is ‘not too bad’ but he feels he could do with more speed and will play around with his gearing for the next outing. Fellow Team Orion powered diver Kraap will also play with gearing but for the young German his reasons are to try and get full run time having dumped on the last lap.

Marc Rheinard sat out the first heat in a gamble he hopes will pay off. Afterwards the World Champion was not so sure the decision was the right one however with most drivers looking to save their second permitted set of qualifying tyres for the finals it appears he should have a clear advantage for the next qualifier. Also sitting out the round was Xray driver Bart Wubben. The Dutch National Champion, who current sits second in the ETS standings, thinks he decision was a good one.

In Pro Stock Daniel Wohlgemuth was on a blistering pace but on his last lap he misheard the race announcer call Danny Essenstam as being finished and pulled into the pits. Realising his error Daniel rejoined but lost 8 seconds resulting in him dropping from a certain TQ run to fifth for the round. Taking advantage of this was Hot Bodies driver Thomas Musial. Musial who really likes the track here at Apeldoorn was delighted with the performance of his car and the German is confident he can repeat his performance in the next heat. Dutch driver Stefan Jansen took second admitting he pushed extra hard on the fresh set of Sweep tyres knowing a number of the top drivers would sit out the round. The Xray driver says he will now sit out the second qualifier as those drivers will now run fresh tyres. Dominik Reschke took third with his Corally while Serpent driver Nicolai Nielsen described his run to fourth as a ‘bit of a surprise’.

Defending Champion Alexander Stocker ended up sitting out the round but not intentionally. On his warm-up lap the German driver’s rear left wheel came off and he was forced to retire. ‘I would like to tell people it was part of my strategy but unfortunately that was not the plan. I am not really sure how it came loose because all the other wheels nuts are very tight’, he said afterwards. One driver who did intentionally sit out the opening qualifier was local ace Vasco Christiaanse.

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May 29, 2009

Tamiya team set early pace

Factory Tamiya team-mates Marc Rheinard and Jilles Groskamp are topping the lap times here in Apeldoorn with the pairing seperated by just 1/100th of a second. Debuting his new ‘Marc Rheinard’ outdoor tyre additive this weekend, Rheinard set a fastest lap time of 15.76 with Groskamp posting 15.77. Having run old tyres in the morning Groskamp ran new tyres this afternoon and says his TRF416 was ‘super good’. The Dutch driver has also found a good set-up which allows him to run good times on his second outing with the controlled Sweep tyre.

Marc Fischer has so far posted the third fastest lap time setting a 15.93 with his heavily modified Corally. The German switched from a Speed 6 to the LTC-R Protoform body and found this, along with some chassis adjustments, to his liking. Next up on lap times is Team Yokomo driver Martin Hofer. The German is running the new BD5 in standard kit format and is really happy with the handling allowing him to focus on trying different motor options from GM. Xray’s Steven Wiess and Czech Zdenek Hamak driving a Hot Bodies complete the Top 6.

Andy Moore had his first run on used tyres and while they did bring on understeer he is very happy with the overall balance of his HB Cyclone TC. The British driver says he isn’t suffering the same drop off in lap times as his rivals and is pleased with his runs so far. Next up with the eight fastest time is young Team Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp.

In Pro Stock Vasco Christiaanse is setting the pace with a best lap time of 17.05 from the Xray of Patrick Jongenelis. The Dutch driver will test different shock spring/oil combinations on his Hot Bodies Cyclone TC in this evening’s sessions as he tries to get more from the car on used tyres. In Pro Stock drivers are only permitted one set of tyres for the five qualifiers.

Drivers have two more practice session ahead of them this evening with one final opprtunity to get their cars dialled in with a free practice run in the morning ahead of the first qualifier.

An interesting addition to the regular ETS Modified and Pro Stock Touring Car classes here this weekend is the Pro 10 category. The 1:10 scale pan cars look very impressive around the Apeldoorn circuit and the AMCA Club say the comeback class is attracting strong interest in the Netherlands.

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May 29, 2009

ETS arrives in Apeldoorn

The Much More backed Euro Touring Series has arrived at its latest venue with the beautiful Apeldoorn facility in the east of the Netherlands hosting the fourth round of the 2008/2009 series. Glorious weather conditions have greeted the 100 strong entry for practice as the ETS switches from indoor to outdoor action for the final two races. Defending Champion Jilles Groskamp heads the world class entry but interestingly it has been 2 years since the Dutch Tamiya star has driven here competing in a nitro race on that occassion. His last electric touring car outing here goes back 5 years but as always we can expect Groskamp and his TRF416 to be at the sharp end of the time sheets from the off.

For current World Champion Marc Rheinard this is his second visited to the track but the German had never completed any laps here until this morning. His previous visit to the AMCA track was for the Tamiya Euro Cup for his sponsor Tamiya. Another of the top modified runners to have been here previously but not for racing is Kyosho factory driver Steen Graversen. The Danish ace was here in 2004 acting as manager for Danish team at the Tamiya Euro Cup.

Former World Champion Andy Moore was a late arrival but was nearly a non starter after he came very close to missing his flight from the UK this morning. The Hot Bodies driver is showing good form on tarmac at the moment taking a long over due win at the opening round of the British Nationals two weeks ago and can be expected to challenge for his first ETS win this weekend. Another on his first ever visit to Apeldoorn is Corally team leader Marc Fischer.

Heading the Xray challenge will be local ace Bart Wubben and German Steven Weiss. Weiss is just back from competing at the Reedy Race in the US and made a very brief 5 hour visit to his house before making his way to the Netherlands. No Jetlag yet for the former European Championship Top Qualifier but he expects it might kick in this evening!

Winner last time out when the ETS visited Poland, Yannic Pruemper will be a strong force here in Holland but school must come first for the 15-year-old and as a result the German is not expected to arrive here until sometime after 4pm. Mentor Toni Rheinard has the car ready for the emerging young talent and will take it out for one of the practice rounds to establish a base setting.

In Pro Stock the entry is headed by defending Champion Alex Stocker. The German has raced here before but that was 15 years ago at the Tamiya Euro Cup. Running his Hot Bodies he expects racing to be very close on the fast flowing track. One of his biggest challengers will be SMI Motorsport driver Meik Niemann who scored his first international win last time out in Poland.

Interestingly Team Orion technical front man Oscar Jansen got his bug for r/c racing here in Apeldoorn back in the late 70’s. The Dutch native, who now resides in Switzerland, was a multiple club champion here but this weekend Jansen is here providing support to the likes of Moore and Graversen.

March 8, 2009

A3 win gives Groskamp runner-up spot

In what can only be described as 5 minutes of pure entertainment, the final race of the day here at the 3rd round of the Much More backed Euro Touring Series was eventually won by Jilles Groskamp giving the Dutch Tamiya Factory driver the runners up spot in the overall result behind the star of the event Yannic Pruemper.

With the overall winner decided in Leg 2 the final A-Main would determine the overall order for the rest of Top 10 here in Warsaw. Intially it was 15-year-old star Pruemper who headed the field chased down by Groskamp but the Dutch driver found a way passed after a mistake by the leader. Groskamp then made a mistake himself causing a pile up coming on to the main straight but the Speed Passion driver held position as Steven Wiess came out of the mess in second with Paul Lemieux third. Again Groskamp got out of shape at the top corner handing Weiss the lead. The Xray driver was looking really good for the win but on the final run through the first chicane he rolled giving Groskamp back the lead and the race win. Weiss recovered to take second just ahead of Marc Rheinard. The result meant Groskamp snatched second on the all Tamiya podium from team-mate Rheinard. Fourth in the leg went to Teemu Leino with Austria’s Hupo Honigl taking his best finish with fifth while Andy Moore completed the Top 6. In the overall classification this left Leino fourth, Moore fifth and Weiss sixth.

Modified Overall results
1. Yannic Pruemper – 20pts ( 10 10 1 )
2. Jilles Groskamp – 18pts ( 8 8 10 )
3. Marc Rheinard – 18pts ( 9 9 8 )
4. Teemu Leino – 14pts ( 6 7 7 )
5. Andy Moore – 13pts ( 7 6 5 )
6. Steven Weiss – 11pts ( 1 2 9 )
7. Hubert Hönigl – 10pts ( 4 3 6 )
8 Paul Lemieux – 10pts ( 5 5 4 )
9. Bart Wubben – 7pts ( 3 4 2 )
10. Michal Bok – 5pts ( 2 1 3 )

In Pro Stock Miek Niemann completed the perfect weekend winning the third Leg but didn’t lead from start to finish like in the previous two legs. The pole sitter clashed with Daniel Wohlgemuth, the only driver able to take the challenge to him all weekend, on lap three dropping both drivers down the order. The Xray driver set about a great recovery setting the fastest lap of the race as he chased down and eventually passed long time race leader Dai Sakaguchi’s Tamiya. In the overall result it was Wohlgemuth who took second with ETS Pro Stock Round 2 winner Balint Rajki completing the podium.

Pro Stock Overall results
1. Meik Niemann – 2pts ( 1 1 1)
2. Daniel Wohlgemuth – 4pts ( 2 2 3)
3. Balint Rajki – 7pts ( 4 3 7)
4. Dai Sakaguchi – 8pts ( 7 6 2)
5. Oliver Näthe – 10pts ( 3 7 8)
6. Zdenko Kunák – 10pts ( 6 4 9)
7 Jakub Plechac – 10pts ( 5 5 5)
8. Dominik Reschke – 14pts ( 10 10 4)
9. Jan Gehrig – 14pts ( 8 9 6)
10. Jerome Meile – 17pts ( 9 8 10)

So the first international electric race meeting to be held in Poland has been a great success. The facilities provided by the OSM Club, which is part of the Polish Automobile Club who celebrate their 100th anniversary this year, are a credit to all involved. As always it takes a big team to put together such a top class event but one man who deserves a special mention is Niko Triandafilidis. It is because of his great work that we had so many young drivers among the 100 plus entry including four-year-old Maciek Kajko. The Polish race will be remember as a great event but also as the one where emerging star Yannic Pruemper took his first big win.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWxM5a9rUzU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYpWzQiv23w[/youtube]

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March 8, 2009

A star is born – Pruemper wins in Poland

In practice he impressed everyone with his super fast laps, in final qualifier he snatched TQ honours from some of the best in the sport and now in the Finals young Yannic Pruemper has completed the perfect weekend by claiming overall victory for Round 3 of the Euro Touring Series. Having won the opening Leg of the A Main, the rising German talent once again beat the quality field behind him for win No.2 and his first big international race success.

The 15-year-old resisted intense pressure from his senior Tamiya team-mates Jilles Groskamp and Marc Rheinard but both made mistakes in their quest to take the fight for overall victory to the third A Main. If the pressure of having all these World class drivers chasing him down wasn’t enough Pruemper had to contend with adrenalin pumping commentary of the legendary race announcer Scotty Ernst.

After the race Pruemper was clearly emotional with taking his first big race win over his idol Marc Rheinard. The German was short of words but was quick to thank his mentor and mechanic Toni Rheinard for his support and expert guidance.

Behind Pruemper and Rheinard the big battle was for third between Groskamp, Teemu Leino, Andy Moore and Paul Lemieux. Eventually it was Groskamp who took the spot from the leading Xray of Leino.

In Pro Stock we had an exciting second A-Main that kept the large crowd of spectators on their feet. An ETS podium finisher last year Miek Niemann was in search of his first win having won Leg 1. All looked to be going to plan when Daniel Wohlgemuth made a mistake giving Niemann the break he needed but his nerves appeared to kick in in the dying moments of the race and he rolled his Xray twice allowing Wohlgemuth to close right up the gap from almost 5 seconds to less than 2. Holding it together however Niemann took a popular win to also claim his first big race victory.

We have one more round of Finals to go here at the very well prepared OSM Club track in Warsaw where the lower podium placings are still up for grabs.

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

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5__B9lC8Ic[/youtube]

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March 8, 2009

Young Pruemper beats masters in first A Main

A pre race drama when his car needed a sensor cable change just as the first A-Main went to grid and the close attention of the only two time Touring Car World Champion didn’t phase young Yannic Pruemper as he converted his first international TQ into victory in A-Main No.1.

Having secured pole for the third round of the 2008/2009 Euro Touring Series here in Warsaw, the 15-year-old Tamiya driver took the pressure of Marc Rheinard, defending ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp and former World Champion Andy Moore in his stride. In the early part of the race it was Groskamp who pushed the promising young German but the Dutch ace rolled allowing Rheinard to mount the challenge on the driver who is the protege of his brother Toni Rheinard. Behind Moore held third from the recovering Groskamp.

Rheinard pushed Pruemper right to the finish and afterwards one of the sport’s greatest drivers was very complimentary of his fellow country man. ‘Yannic was very impressive. He was under a lot of pressure and didn’t make any mistakes.’

Pruemper was clearly delighted with his performance as was his mentor Toni Rheinard. The former top flight international racer said, ‘Yannic did a fantastic job. He had super pressure starting from his first TQ but then to keep it all together when Jilles and Marc were on his bumper was amazing.’

Making it an all Tamiya podium Groskamp managed to repass Moore for third after the British driver made a mistake at the chicane. The Xray pairing of Teemu Leino and Paul Lemieux, who started ninth, completed the top 6.

In Pro Stock it was Top Qualifier Meik Niemann who took the win but the SMI Motorsport/Xray driver was pushed hard by Daniel Wohlgemuth who posted the fastest lap of the race with his Tamiya. Both drivers made mistakes during the run but Niemann crossed the line first by just 7/10th of a second. Making a completely German Top 3 Oliver Nathe took his Tamiya to third just in front of the top Hungarian racer Balint Rajki.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCAabeIgBR4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBXS3zd2oU[/youtube]

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