Video – Modified Qualifying Rd3
Another TQ run for Wilck at Hudy Arena
Viktor Wilck claimed a second TQ run at the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series, a result that means Tamiya is guaranteed to claim its first overall TQ honour of Season #7 at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia. Following a 3-hour delay to proceeding due to rain in Trencin, on the resumption of the Ride Modified class it was again new tyres that determined the top of the timing sheets with Wilck heading a Swedish 1-2 finishing 9/10ths ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg with Awesomatix’s Viljami Kutvonen third, with the best of those on used tyre being Marc Rheinard who ended up 4th quickest. Fastest in Q1 Rheinard, the last TRF driver to claim an ETS TQ & win over a season ago in Austria, is the only driver going into the fourth & final qualifier who can deny Wilck his 5th TQ.
Part of a team that is much rejuvenated this weekend, Wilck was very happy at being able to back up his Q2 run having seen off a strong challenge from in particular Atsushi Hara. The two time race winner said for the first lap of the 5-minute qualifier his Speed Passion powered TRF418 ‘felt really strange’ with one of the new tyres very unbalanced. Causing him to almost go off at the end of the straight as he struggled to get the car to turn in, he said from then on the problem seemed to sort itself and the rest of the run was ok. Running a new car this weekend, which features ‘a lot of chassis changes’ and a new rear gear diff design, he said the team have made a lot of progress and that is reflected in their new found pace.
Hagberg said the track ‘felt completely different after the rain’, and his second set of tyres were not as good as he expected. Overall pleased with second, the winner of Round 2 of this season’s championship said he drove to his maximum and the result was all he could do. Feeling they still don’t have the perfect set-up as he could do with just a little more traction, he believes that the final qualifier will be an interesting one as ‘we will get to see what everyone can do on used tyres’.
Winner of the Pro-Stock class at the Arena last year, Kutvonen said while he had the benefit of new tyres some changes to his A700 EVO transformed the car. Having been struggling with a lack of steering, a change to a harder diff and making the car overall stiffer gave him both good steering & speed. Encouraged by his Q3 run, the Finn said things looked good for a chance of making the A-Main line-up and he hoped with a few adjustments to his new set-up he can get some more traction for Q4.
‘All I can do on old tyres’ was how Rheinard summed up his 4th for the round. Hoping to be able to deny Wilck the TQ as he looks for the bonus championship point in his quest to beat Hagberg for the runners-up spot in the overall standings, he said it all depended on who had new tyres left. In a ‘used against used’ battle he said he has a good chance but he believes Hara could be a danger as his fellow former World Champion has one set of tyres that has only half a run on them.
Hara was on for his best run, moving to the top of the timing screens on lap 10 but three laps later he would roll his Yokomo in front of the drivers standing. Costing him 5 seconds, after a DNF in Q1 & 2 he had to continue eventually posting the 17th fastest time meaning he needs a TQ to make the A-Main. The Japanese ace said while his BD7 is getting better every run its steering is still a little too aggressive but ultimately the roll was his own mistake.
Choosing to run a matched set of fronts from his used sets of tyres due to earlier rain and hoping the final run will be dry, Yannic Prumper was very happy with his 5th. Only 1.1 seconds off Wilck’s new tyres pace, the Yokomo driver said this showed his BD7 was working ‘really good’ and he is very positive for Q4. Unfortunately for his team-mate Ronald Volker the round resulted in a DNF (his pace still leaving him classified 11th for the round). In contention to get a second from the round, with three laps to go he suffered a body tuck at the end of the straight which cost him 3/10ths but ultimately this would make little difference as on the final lap his motor suffered a magnet failure.
Completing the Top 6 was French Champion Loic Jasmin. Running on a new set of tyres, the Yokomo driver said his car felt ‘so so for the first minute’. Having matched his two sets of tyres by weight, he said this was the heavier set and this was most likely the reason for the slow start but after that he said his LRP powerd BD7 was ‘ok’. With an A-Main start secured, he said for the final qualifier he will make a shock oil change.
‘Again so close, 7/10ths of a second and I end up 7th’, that was World Champion Jilles Groskamp’s reaction to his Q3 run. Setting the early TQ pace, the Dutch ace said while his Orion powered Tamiya was good at the beginning his set-up was too aggressive resulting in it ‘eating the front tyres too much’ with his pace dropping off significantly towards the end of the 5-minutes. Saying the set-up was fine for the 3-laps practice format, it left the car pushing too much in the qualifiers. Knowing he had to get a good result from Q3, he said that pressure led to a couple of mistakes but he got the job done. For the final qualifier he will switch to a similar set-up to that being used by Rheinard. Having run a pretty standard car so far he will also run some prototype parts which he said Wilck & Rheinard have shown to improve the car.
Making it three out of three in the Xray Pro-Stock class, Marek Cerny successfully completed the first part of his weekend mission by claiming the overall TQ and more importantly earning the bonus championship point that goes with in. The factory Xray driver again topped the times from Slovakia’s David Nemcek with the ARC of Germany’s Kevin Homburg completing the Top 3. While it was a tough round for title challenge Jan Ratheisky, posting only the 9th fastest time, the German did have a good run in Formula TQing the round from David Ehrbar.
Ride Modified Round 3 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:14.908
2. Alexander Hagberg – Xray Racing Team – 17/5:15.822
3. Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix – 17/5:15.828
4. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:15.955
5. Yannic Prumper – Team Yokomo – 17/5:16.080
6. Loic Jasmin – Team Yokomo – 17/5:16.433
7. Jilles Groskamp – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:16.536
8. Marco Kaufmann – Xray Racing Team – 17/5:17.257
9. Meen Vejrak – Team Yokomo – 17/5:17.797
10.Andy Moore – HB – 17/5:18.783
Xray Pro-Stock Round 3 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Marek Cerny – Xray – 15/5:12.992
2. David Nemcek – Xray – 15/5:16.258
3. Kevin Homburg – ARC – 15/5:17.282
4. Philip Tschupp – Serpent – 15/5:17.480
5. Mike Gosvig – Awesomatix – 15/5:17.587
6. Kuba Simurda – Xray – 15/5:17.688
7. Tobias Vogel – Xray – 15/5:17.711
8. Nico Catelani – Yokomo – 15/5:18.796
9. Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15/5:19.059
10.Mateusz Ogonowski – Yokomo – 15/5:19.279
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Chassis Focus – Atsushi Hara
Chassis – Yokomo BD7 2014 Black Edition
Motor – Hobbywing Xerun 4.5
ESC – Hobbywing
Batteries – ProtekRC
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Futaba
Bodyshell – ProtoForm LTC-R
Remarks – Making his return to the ETS having taking part in Round 2 earlier in the year in Mulheim-Karlisch, the former World Champion is running a pretty stock example of the ETS championship winning car, the only options being the front double joint universal shafts, a full set of titanium screws and the rear lightweight aluminium dogbones.
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Chassis Focus – Ivan Buganè
Chassis – ItalianRC F1
Motor – Hobbywing Xerun 21.5 (Handout)
ESC – Hobbywing Justock Club Spec (Handout)
Batteries – Lipotech
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Bodyshell – Tamiya Jordan 191
Remarks – Under the perfect replica body of the Jordan 191 we found the ItalianRC formula that its designer is racing here at the Hudy Racing Arena. The conversion set is based off Team Associated’s 1:12 pan car and uses Tamiya front arms making it compatible with all other Tamiya formula front end parts. It also sports a Tamiya centre shock and the caster is adjustable via interchangeable carbon fiber decks.
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Rain stops qualifying
Rain has stopped qualifying at the ETS season finale in Slovakia. An overcast morning at the Hudy Arena, the rain arrived during the third round of qualifying as heat 21 of 25 took to the track. With the Xray Pro-Stock and Formula classes getting a dry third round in it was only the Ride Modified class that failed to complete the third of the four scheduled qualifiers. With the rain stopping and the track starting to dry, unfortunately it returned dumping even more water on the track. It is hoped that once the track dries and is opened to some free practice that the Modified drivers can complete a third run before the fourth and final round is completed. Due to the lost time, drivers from the lower mains, who would have run the first of their triple Main tonight, will now instead race only two Mains.
Wilck heads Tamiya 1-2 in Q2
Viktor Wilck headed a 1-2 for the Tamiya Racing Factory squad in the second round of qualifying at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series at the Hudy Racing Arena this morning, the Swede topping the times from team-mate and Q1 pace setter Marc Rheinard. In a round that was all about tyre strategy VBC Racing’s Olivier Bultynck completed the Top 3, with the best performer on used tyres being Yokomo’s Loic Jasmin who posted the 8th fastest time.
Having taken the gamble to pull off immediately after the start of last night’s opening qualifier in Slovakia to save tyres, Wilck’s gamble would pay off despite a less than perfect opening lap when he half spun his Speed Passion powered TRF418. Setting the fastest lap of the round, the pace being slower today with his best lap being an 18.210 compared to Meen Vejrak’s 17.794 Q1 time, the two time ETS race winner said once he got passed team-mate Akio Sobue he was able to find a good rhythm for the rest of the 5-minute heat. One of only a few top drivers now left with a second set of new tyres, drivers restricted to two sets for the four qualifiers, he said he has an advantage for one of the remaining qualifiers but added with the balance of the car different on each set of tyres he just hopes the second set works out.
‘Pretty good’ was how Rheinard summed up his second qualifier adding of all the people to finish second to, Wilck was the best option. The German said he had one ‘rough lap’ in the middle of the run due to the gusting wind but he ultimately threw away the TQ himself on the last lap when he hit the curbing and got his MuchMore powered TRF418 up on two wheels. In a fight with Alexander Hagberg for second overall in the championship, he said the TQ bonus point is very important in that battle so he hopes his 1 & 2 points will be enough for the overall TQ. With both his allocated sets of tyres now run, he said while his car works ‘fine’ on used tyres it is ‘nothing’ compared to a car on new tyres and the remaining rounds will be determined by when those with new tyres opt to run, his team-mates Wilck and Jilles Groskamp being two such drivers. Opting for used tyres, Groskamp said he went into Q2 more as a test session than a qualifier as he knew he would never be a match for those on new tyres. Aiming for a Top 10 for the round the World Champion said his Orion powered TRF418 had the pace and felt really well balanced but rolling the car once ruled that out.
5-time reigning Belgian National Champion Bultynck was delighted with his third for the round. Running new tyres, he said his LRP powered VBC D06, a car that featured strongly at Round 5 in the hands of team-mate Lucas Urbain, was way better also because of the cooler conditions. A pretty standard car other than being fitted with the optional softer chassis plate, which on the Arena track gives the car more steering, he will leave the car the same feeling the set-up should be fine for used tyres also.
Second fastest in the opening qualifier and very positive about his Yokomo, Yannic Prumper said they whole team struggled with their set-up this morning. Describing his MuchMore powered BD7 as very loose in the rear he said they have no choice but to make changes for Q3. Having used up both his sets of tyres, the 20-year-old said for Q3 he will most likely match up and run the rears from both his sets of tyres. Volker, who didn’t want to disclose his tyre choice, said today he had an overall lack of traction adding he almost lost his car twice on the opening lap. After spinning out ‘without touching anything’ the champion pulled off adding that they need to adjust something on the car to suit the conditions and catch up with the Tamiyas. Atsushi Hara would also pull off after a half spin, the former World Champion saying his car was really loose and a new set-up is required.
Best of the Xray’s at the team’s home track was 9-time Italian Champion Alessio Menicucci. Setting the fifth fastest time with his EZ Power equipped T4, he said he gambled on using his second set of tyres early as he needed the quali points. A ‘very clean run’, he said his car was both fast and easy to drive but now having to run the remaining two qualifiers on used rubber he added he is going to lose some steering. Asked if he planned to make any set-up changes to compensate for this he said he wouldn’t for Q3 but most likely would for the last round. Team-mate Hagberg was the second fastest Xray posting the 9th fastest time on used tyres, leaving the Swede in a strong position for one of the remaining two rounds.
Completing the Top 6 was Sobue, the 19-year-old happy with his run on fresh tyres. Describing his TRF418’s performance as good he will continue to run the same set-up for Q3.
Behind the Japanese driver Juho Levanen was slightly disappointed with managing only 7th. Like Wilck he pulled off at the start of Q1 to save tyres but changing his tyre prep for today the Team Associated driver said his TC6.2 was slower in the early part of the run. Still with a new set of tyres at his disposal he said he will revert to his previous tyre prep adding it is all about the ‘tyre game’ and choosing the right time to run them.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class Marek Cerny made it two from two as he topped Q2 by almost 2 seconds from fellow Xray driver David Nemcek with his title rival Jan Ratheisky completing the Top 3. In the Formula class Olivier Bultynck took the second qualifier by just 36/1000th of a second from the Serpent of Q1 pace setter David Ehrbar with former champion Herbert Weber third.
Ride Modified Round 2 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:15.493
2. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:15.723
3. Olivier Bultynck – VBC Racing – 17/5:18.273
4. Yannic Prumper – Team Yokomo – 17/5:18.647
5. Alessio Menicucci – Xray Racing Team – 16/5:00.703
6. Akio Sobue – Tamiya Racing Factory – 16/5:01.533
7. Juho Levanen – Team Associated – 16/5:02.337
8. Loic Jasmin – Team Yokomo – 16/5:02.492
9. Alexander Hagberg – Xray Racing Team – 16/5:02.516
10.Michal Orlowski – Team Durango – 16/5:02.756
Xray Pro-Stock Round 2 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Marek Cerny – Xray – 15/5:09.545
2. David Nemcek – Xray – 15/5:11.434
3. Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15/5:12.576
4. Tobias Seidl – Team C -15/5:14.154
5. Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 15/5:14.629
6. Johannes Sperr – Team C – 15/5:14.766
7. Valentin Hettrich – Xray – 15/5:15.465
8. Marco Siegenthaler – Serpent – 15/5:16.497
9. Philip Tschupp – Serpent – 15/5:16.660
10.Thorsten Zorn – Schumacher – 15/5:16.837
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‘From Race Control’ – Day 2, Qualifying/Lower Finals
An overcast morning in Trencin, Day 2 of the ETS season finale at the Hudy Racing Arena will see the continuation of qualifying with 3 rounds left to run. After the ranking has been determined, the finals up to & including the C-Main will run the first of their triple mains before the day concludes with the Dash for Cash. All of today’s action can be followed live here.
Rheinard TQs opening qualifier at ETS finale
Sporting the jersey of his home nation Germany and taking motivation from their 1-0 victory over France in the World Cup, Marc Rheinard TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series. Describing the first day’s action at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia as ‘a perfect day’, the Tamiya Racing Factory driver took Q1 by a very slender 19/1000ths of a second from Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper. One of three drivers to go top of the timing screens over the 5-minutes, Ronald Volker completed the Top 3 only 2/10ths shy of the his fellow country men.
Having struggled this year and so far failed for the first time to register a win in the championship he has twice been a champion, Rheinard was clearly pleased to finally open an ETS weekend with a TQ run, the recent increase in the efforts of the Tamiya Racing Factory look to be starting to pay dividends. With Rheinard ‘just driving the car this weekend’ and engineer Kiyo Suzuki doing all the work on the 3-time World Champion’s TRF418, he said at the beginning of the qualifier it was all very close but by mid way he knew his car was good enough and for the rest of the run he just focused on ‘keeping it on the track’. Rheinard said having ‘finally’ got a TQ run on merit, it was a good boost for his confidence and he looks forward to carrying that through to tomorrow.
‘Just so close’ was Prumper’s reaction to the first of the four scheduled qualifiers. Describing his Much More powered BD7 as ‘really good’, the 20-year-old said in the cooler conditions the car felt perfect and he planned to keep everything the same for Q2 in the morning.
Volker, while setting the fastest lap of the top heat, the fastest lap overall going to his team-mate Meen Vejrak, said his LRP powered BD7 had ‘too much understeer’. ‘Always on full lock’, the four time back to back champion said he couldn’t push any harder and overall that left him just a little too slow to challenge for a TQ run. Planning to change the car for Q2 he said what changes they make would all depend on the weather but having topped the final practice in hot conditions he added ‘if its hot all should be good’.
Xray’s Alexander Hagberg would post the fourth fastest time, the Swede not overly happy with his driving. Expecting his ORCA powered T4 to be a little more difficult in the cooler conditions he said at the start of the run it was loose leading him to ‘then drive like shit’. Unsure as to why the car was so loose at the beginning of the qualifier, he hopes, having shown he has good pace when the track is hot, for a better performance tomorrow.
Describing the run as ‘Super close’, Jilles Groskamp was pleased with his pace despite rolling his Tamiya late in the run. Having changed to a set-up for loose conditions, the World Champion said the track cooled more than he expected and his set-up was ‘just a little too safe’ but still over the opening laps the Dutch ace laid down the early TQ pace. Really happy that the Tamiya team are now so close to the pace, he said his team-mate’s TQ run was perfect.
‘Surprised’ was Loic Jasmin’s reaction to claiming 6th for the round. The French driver, who said he was still trying to digest France’s World Cup defeat, was much happier with his Yokomo after making a droop change for qualifying. Asked if he planned further changes for tomorrow, he replied with it hard to know how the track will be in the morning he will just continue with the car as is for Q2.
Only 20th fastest in practice Serpent’s Marc Fischer was pleased to post the 7th fastest time saying it was ‘way better than practice’ but the German is struggling to find a set-up. Having switched back and forth between graphite and alumininm chassis in practice he said no mater what they change his Viper powered S411 ERYX 3.0 is ‘super hard to drive’. At the beginning of the qualifier he said the rear of the car was loose and then after 2-minutes it ‘started to push big time’. Asked what he planned to try for tomorrow he said right now they were ‘planless’.
Elsewhere a number of driver played tyre strategy with both Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck and Team Associated’s Juho Levanen pulling off immediately after the start of their heats. Starting his qualifier but rolling after 5-laps Atsushi Hara opted to pull off to save his tyres. The Yokomo driver said he had ‘so much steering’ due to the colder conditions but he is confident his car will be good for the warmer qualifiers tomorrow.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class, which has this weekend attracted a field of 124 cars, defending champion Marek Cerny got his title hopes off to the best start possible as he took the opening qualifier. In a battle with Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky for the championship, Cerny needs the bonus point for the overall TQ if he is to go into the A-Main on Sunday with a chance of retaining his crown. Setting the fastest lap of the round as he recovered from a roll coming onto the straight on his first lap, Cerny would top Q1 by just 46/1000ths from practice pace setter and fellow Czech driver Kuba Simurda. Flying the local flag Slovak driver David Nemcek completed the Top 3 finishing 1.5 seconds clear of Ratheisky with Henrik Heitsck the best none Xray driver taking his ARC to the fifth fastest time.
Ride Modified Round 1 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:09.076
2. Yannic Prumper – Team Yokomo – 17/5:09.095
3. Ronald Volker – Team Yokomo – 17/5:09.316
4. Alexander Hagberg – Xray Racing Team – 17/5:11.531
5. Jilles Groskamp – Tamiya Racing Factory – 17/5:11.944
6. Loic Jasmin – Team Yokomo – 17/5:12.669
7. Mark Fischer – Team Serpent – 17/5:13.210
8. Magnus Vassmar – Xray Racing Team -17/5:13.585
9.Lucas Urbain – VBC Racing – 17/5:13.615
10.Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix – 17/5:13.645
Xray Pro-Stock Round 1 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Marek Cerny – Xray – 15/5:09.880
2. Kuba Simurda – Xray – 15/5:09.926
3. David Nemcek – Xray – 15/5:10.658
4. Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15/5:12.168
5. Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 15/5:14.052
6. Thorsten Zorn – Schumacher – 15/5:14.165
7. Barnabas Toth – Yokomo – 15/5:14.285
8. Mustafa Alp – VBC Racing- 15/5:14.735
9. Tobias Seidl – Team C – 15/5:14.911
10.Mike Gosvig – Awesomatix – 15/5:14.961
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