Euro Touring Series

June 8, 2014

Cerny wins thrilling Pro Stock at ETS Luxembourg

sun_cernyA3

Euro Touring Series Xray Pro Stock Champion Marek Cerny put himself back in contention to defend his title by taking the victory in Luxembourg after three thrilling A-Main encounters. The only one of the A-Mains at Round 5 of the championship to go to A3, the factory Xray driver again had a thrilling 5-minute battle with ARC’s Lars Hoppe for the overall. Having rubbed bodyshells a number of times, a mistake by the Top Qualifier would finally allow Hoppe, who set the fastest lap of the race and looked to have a slightly quicker car, to go to the front from were it looked like the German would claim both his & the R10’s first ETS win. Better known for his 1:8 Onroad exploits, him set to be a contender at next weekend ENS race in Hockeheim, it wasn’t to be as with 3-laps to go he hit the curbing at the hairpin which was all Cerny needed to move back to the front. Having pulled off a great pass on the downhill chicane to win A1, Hoppe would try the move again on the last lap but couldn’t pull it off. Ending up on the grass this would give Cerny the win and also allow former Champion Martin Hofer and local Gilles Choque to get passed. For Hofer the result would secure him the final step on the podium.

sun_marekwin

His second win of the season, Cerny said the race brought a lot of pressure but going into the deciding round he just focused on that single 5-minutes of racing rather than the overall result. Describing his T4 as ‘good’, the 19-year-old said he knew the car was there and it was ‘in his hands’ to take the win. Having seen in A1 & 2 that Hoppe had slightly better top speed he said he knew if he ‘just tried to do perfect lines every lap’ it would be hard for his rival to get passed but added that plan took a set back when he made a mistake on lap 11. Despite the pressure he said he never gave up and then when Hoppe got t wrong he was able to take back the lead. Thanking his team of Martin Hudy and Francesco Martini for their ‘valuable’ support over the weekend, he said he needed to start focusing already on the season finale when he will go head to head for the title with his Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky, the German having a difficult weekend finishing just 8th.

sun_sspod

Hoppe said he was both happy and at the same time a little disappointed, his disappointment being for that one mistake over the curbing that cost him the win. Only his second ETS outing on asphalt, having made his first earlier this year in Gran Canaria where he finished fourth, he said he was happy to claim his first podium in the championship. Describing his car as ‘perfect’, him easily able to make up time after using the grass twice to try and find a way passed Cerny adding he ‘really enjoyed the battle’ and the weekend in general at a very sunny Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”.

sun_modtop10

In the Ride Modifed class, Ronald Volker having sewn up his 4th Championship title in a row and the overall race win in A2, the closing race would decide who joined the Yokomo driver on the podium. Marc Rheinard would take a tone to tone win of the race which saw a Tamiya 1-2-3. Getting passed Lucas Urbain when the VBC Racing driver got out of shape, World Champion Jilles Groskamp made a sterling effort to try and get passed his team-mate but just couldn’t get it done. Wilck would also get passed Urbain but Rheinard & Groskamp would complete the overall Top 3 with the Frenchman having to settle for fourth at his home race.

Ride Modified Overall Result
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 2 pts
2. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 3
3. Jilles Groskamp – Tamiya – 5
4. Lucas Urbain – VBC Racing – 7
5. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 8
6. Loic Jasmin – Yokomo – 8
7. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 11
8. Elliott Harper – Team Durango – 13
9. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15
10.Leo Arnold – Team Magic – 17

Ride Modified A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(2) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 16/5:06.663
2.(4) Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Tamiya – 16/5:06.777
3.(5) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 16/5:08.004
4.(3) Lucas Urbain (FR) – VBC Racing – 16/5:09.614
5.(6) Loic Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo – 16/5:10.782
6.(8) Elliott Harper (GB) – Team Durango – 16/5:12.878
7.(10)Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 16/5:13.126
8.(9) Leo Arnold (FR) – Team Magic – 16/5:13.211
9.(7) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 12/3:53.034
10.(1)Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo – DNS

Xray Pro-Stock Overall Result
1. Marek Cerny – Xray – 2 pts
2. Lars Hoppe – ARC – 3
3. Martin Hofer – Schumacher – 5
4. Gilles Choque – Xray – 7
5. Mike Gosvig – Awesomatix – 9
6. Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 10
7. Joe Streff – Xray – 12
8. Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15
9. Max Machler – Awesomatix – 15
10.Julian Borowski – Serpent – 15

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(1) Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 14/5:08.018
2.(4) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 14/5:08.987
3.(6) Gilles Choque (LU) – Xray – 14/5:09.137
4.(2) Lars Hoppe (DE) – ARC – 14/5:09.139
5.(3) Mike Gosvig (DK) – Awesomatix – 14/5:10.816
6.(9) Max Machler (DE) – Awesomatix – 14/5:11.618
7.(10)Joe Streff (LU) – Xray – 14/5:11.735
8.(5) Julian Borowski (DE) – Serpent – 14/5:13.236
9.(7) Jan Ratheisky (DE) – Xray – 14/5:14.736
10.(8)Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 14/5:19.661

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

June 8, 2014

Video – Mod, Pro Stock & F1 A-main Leg 2

June 8, 2014

Volker claims 4th ETS title with victory in Luxembourg

volkerchampion

Ronald Volker has claimed his fourth consecutive Yokomo Euro Touring Series title securing the world famous championship’s top prize with victory at the penultimate round in Luxembourg. His 11th ETS race win, the Yokomo driver would back up his A1 win at the spectacular Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” track with another tone to tone win in the second encounter which started out looking like Marc Rheinard might take things to A3. Ultimately once the race passed a minute & a half however Volker would pull clear to wrap up his third win of Season #7. Behind Rheinard, Lucas Urbain would hold on to his starting position this time round to complete the Top 3.

sun_volkercar

‘Amazing’ was Volker’s reaction to his latest title. Having in the past struggled on asphalt and secured his titles thanks to his domination of the early part of the season on carpet, he said his team’s improvement on asphalt this season was key to the title. Widely regarded as currently being the best electric touring car driver in the world, the German suffered his worst finish on carpet this season, a 3rd at Round 2, but during the last two asphalt outings commanding victories eliminated one by one the number of rivals that could challenge him for the title. Xray’s Alexander Hagberg was the only driver left coming in the Luxembourg race who could have made the title go to the final race. Despite this being his 4th back to back title he said ‘Every year is alway hard work’ and even though he has achieved his goal he is no less motivated for the season finale at the Hudy Arena which he said is ‘in my opinion’ one of the best tracks in the world. A World Championship year, a title that has eluded him, he said they cannot afford to get complacent but added with Yukijiro Umino’s ‘passionate support’ and hunger to always improve that wasn’t going to happen. Thanking his engineer for his suppor he also praised his electronics sponsor LRP for ‘what we have now’. Commenting on A2, he described it as ‘exciting’ saying the pressure in the first minute felt similar to that which he faced in Austria also in A2 from his team-mate Yannic Prumper. A problem with one of the cups on his tyre warmer not working, which Umino decided against informing him about before the race, left him struggling for the first 6 to 7 laps particularly out of left hand corners as he struggled getting on power. Once the cold tyres came up to temperature he said he was then able to open up a gap and pace the rest of the race.

sun_markpres

‘I tried’ was how Rheinard’s summed up the race. The Tamiya driver almost got through on the main straight but ‘backed off so as not to crash’ continuning ‘had it been a minute to go rather than the first minute of the race (he) would for sure have been more aggressive’. Set to start A3 from the front as Volker will sit it out, he said his focus is to get the leg win & second overall as he looks to overhaul Hagberg for second in he championship standings. A frustrating season for the series most winning driver, he said this race was always more about testing for the World Championship as he was already out of the title chase. With Volker and Yokomo clear favourites for the World Championship he said this and the next ETS race are the best places for the defending World Champion team to gauge themselves against their rivals adding they have work to do. The entire Tamiya team will stay on in Luxembourg Monday & Tuesday for testing which he said he hopes will result in him being competitive enough to end the ETS season in Slovakia with a win. Should he fail to achieve that it would be his and Tamiya first ETS campaign without a single victory.

sun_urbain

Happy to maintain his position, Urbain said it was a difficult opening lap as he was ‘so slow’ and he ‘feel(s) a responsible for Jilles (Groskamp) and Viktor’s (Wilck) coming together’. Using tyre warmers for A2, he said his VBC was much better off the line than in A1 but his driving was not. Describing Groskamp as a ‘gentleman’ for not risking the move on him at the hairpin which cost the Dutchman any chance of a good result, he said once he got a few laps under himself he was able to cruise. Having adjusted the timing on his motor due to the hotter conditions of the second encounter he said he went a little too much and he was lacking a little speed as a result. Planning to put it back to the A1 setting for the closing, he said he hopes to put in a better opening lap and to be able to battle it out for a podium finish at his home race.

sun_jilles

Groskamp, who after suffering a body tuck when team-mate Wilck ran into the back of his TRF418 on the entry to the hairpin finished 6th, said afterwards that he was maybe a little too nice to Urbain. With a podium finish on the line at a track where he won his 2009 European Championship title he said he will be looking to get past the No.3 car as soon as possible this time round.

sun_cernyhoppe

Once again the Xray Pro Stock class provided the best of the A-Main action with Marek Cerny and Lars Hoppe going at it for a second time. A mistake by Top Qualifier Cerny at the end of lap 1 in the same downhill chicane where Hoppe snatched the A1 win allowed the German past the Champion’s Xray. On lap 6 however an error in the track Laguna Seca corner from the ARC driver allowed Cerny back to the front where he would stay to the end, setting the stage for a great A3 decider. In Formula Olivier Bultynck found a way past Top Qualifier David Ehrbar to take the win from Champion Jan Ratheisky and claim his first overall win of the season.

Ride Modified A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(1) Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo – 16/5:02.327
2.(2) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 16/5:02.722
3.(3) Lucas Urbain (FR) – VBC Racing – 16/5:06.836
4.(6) Loic Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo – 16/5:07.299
5.(7) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 16/5:09.437
6.(4) Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Tamiya – 16/5:11.757
7.(8) Elliott Harper (GB) – Team Durango – 16/5:16.048
8.(5) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 15/4:59.036
9.(9) Leo Arnold (FR) – Team Magic – 15/5:05.058
10.(10)Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 12/3:54.350

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(1) Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 14/5:02.428
2.(2) Lars Hoppe (DE) – ARC – 14/5:02.496
3.(4) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 14/5:06.314
4.(3) Mike Gosvig (DK) – Awesomatix – 14/5:07.533
5.(6) Gilles Choque (LU) – Xray – 14/5:07.670
6.(7) Jan Ratheisky (DE) – Xray – 14/5:08.792
7.(8) Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 14/5:11.209
8.(5) Julian Borowski (DE) – Serpent – 14/5:11.576
9.(9) Max Machler (DE) – Awesomatix – 14/5:12.348
10.(10)Joe Streff (LU) – Xray – 14/5:13.980

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

June 8, 2014

Euro Touring Series Rd5 – Sunday Action

For viewers in Germany using Firefox or Chrome browser you can install the browser addon ProxTube to allow you to view the live stream.

June 8, 2014

Video – Mod, Pro Stock & F1 A-main Leg 1

June 8, 2014

Volker cruises to A1 win in Luxembourg

sun_ronald

Ronald Volker cruised to an easy win in the opening A-Main at Round 5 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg this morning, the Yokomo driver leading from start to finish. While the first lap saw a passing attempt by Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard, Volker would go the rest of the race unchallenged to win by 0.823 of a second from the No.2 car with World Champion Jilles Groskamp making up one place to complete the Top 3.

sun_volker

A slightly delayed start to the race after it was noticed Volker’s transponder had not registered as the cars sat on the grid, when the race did get underway the Top Quailifier didn’t have the best of opening laps overshooting two corners. Allowing Rheinard’s all white TRF418 to get down the inside at the hairpin leading onto the front straight it looked like defending champion might be challenged for the first time of the weekend. Trying to outdrag the Yokomo out of the corner, Rheinard couldn’t make it happen and had to back out for the next corner. From this point on Volker reaffaired his domination on the event opening up a gap he would control to the finish. ‘Pretty close at the beginning’ was how Volker summed up the race. Starting from his 15th ETS TQ position, he said for the first half a lap he struggled with his tyres not coming in and ‘Marc almost got the chance to pass’ him. Finishing the first full lap he said from then on his LRP powered BD7 was perfect allowing him to set the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 and by the 1-minute he had broken clear from Rheinard. Running ‘safe’ for the second half of the race he said other than fit a new set of Ride tyres he will leave the car as is adding that the only thing he would like for A2 is to get a better first lap.

sun_marc

‘At least it was not 5-seconds anymore’, was Rheinard’s response to how the race had gone referring to Volker’s blistering qualifying pace. The 3-time World Champion said he tried to capitalise on Volker struggling on the first lap but the inside line at the hairpin was too dirty and he didn’t have the traction to get on full power and outdrag his rival to the fast downhill chicane. Describing his car as ‘feel(ing) better’ today, he said for the second encounter he would leave it as is and ‘just see how it goes’.

sun_groskamp

Changing the diff oil and roll centres on his Orion powered TRF418 along with switching to his practice Protoform LTC-R body which is mounted more forward on the car, which he got to try in las night’s ‘Dash for Cash’, Groskamp said he was now quite happy with his car. Much closer today in lap times to both Volker and team-mate Rheinard he said his biggest problem is he doesn’t have the consistency and that is something he will work on. Able to catch Rheinard until an error over the curbing he said he will try a smoother driving style in A2.

sun_lucasdriv

Getting completely out of shape off the starting line, VBC Racing’s Lucas Urbain would finish 4th having lost a position to Groskamp on lap 2. Having ran his impressive qualifiers using no tyre warmers, the French driver said possibly the delayed start was the reason he made his sideway start. Losing ground to Groskamp after a mistake he said this left him to focus his attentions on a hard charging Viktor Wilck who he said was ‘challenging like crazy’. After 2-minutes he said his Wildfire was ‘as good as before’ and he was able to see off the Swede. For A2 he will change his tyre prep and use tyre warmers adding ‘hopefully’ this will allow him to keep position.

sun_hoppe

The Xray Pro Stock class would provide the best race of the A-Mains with Lars Hoppe snatching the win from Top Qualifier Marek Cerny right on the line with a great move down through the final chicane. Having shadowed the defending champion for the entire race, the pair breaking clear early, Hoppe’s ARC would cross the finishline 3/10ths in front of the Xray. Some distance behind Henrik Heitsch would compete the Top 3 with his ARC. Formula also produced a good early race between Top Qualifier David Ehrbar and the No.2 starting Olivier Bultynck. In the end the Belgian would get past the German’s Serpent to take the win with Roman Pichler completing the Top 3

Ride Modified A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(1) Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo – 16/5:00.318
2.(2) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 16/5:01.141
3.(4) Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Tamiya – 16/5:03.539
4.(3) Lucas Urbain (FR) – VBC Racing – 16/5:06.873
5.(5) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 16/5:07.054
6.(7) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 16/5:07.567
7.(8) Elliott Harper (GB) – Team Durango – 16/5:08.409
8.(10)Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 16/5:09.611
9.(9) Leo Arnold (FR) – Team Magic – 16/5:09.855
10.(6)Loic Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo – 16/5:13.586

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(2) Lars Hoppe (DE) – ARC – 14/5:02.634
2.(1) Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 14/5:02.945
3.(8) Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 14/5:11.843
4.(6) Gilles Choque (LU) – Xray – 14/5:13.351
5.(10)Joe Streff (LU) – Xray – 14/5:14.261
6.(3) Mike Gosvig (DK) – Awesomatix – 14/5:14.514
7.(5) Julian Borowski (DE) – Serpent – 14/5:14.693
8.(4) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 14/5:15.990
9.(7) Jan Ratheisky (DE) – Xray – 14/5:16.132
10.(9)Max Machler (DE) – Awesomatix – 5/1:48.785

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

June 8, 2014

‘From Race Control’ – Day 3, Finals

sun_racectrl

The big day has arrived at Round 5 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series and it’s another beautiful sunny morning here at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”. Three rounds of Mains await the A-Main drivers while the lower mains, having run their opening legs yesterday, will run their remaining two over the day. In Modified and Pro Stock it is defending champions Ronald Volker and Marek Cerny who start from pole position while in Formula David Ehrbar will be looking to complete the perfect weekend on his debut in the class as he starts from the TQ position. All of today’s action can be watched live here.

June 7, 2014

Chassis Focus – Lucas Urbain

urbainCF

Chassis – VBC Racing Wildfire DO6
Motor – MuchMore 4.5
ESC – MuchMore
Batteries – Silverback
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Futaba
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R

Remarks – Very fast on what is to consider his home track, the French VBC driver is running an example of the DO6 that sports numerous development parts that he is not allowed to elaborate on. He is using a rear end that features an active toe-in system similar to the one presented during the week by Serpent, and Lucas said it has proved to be faster than the normal rear end since the first run. He is also using narrower front blocks as on this track he is looking for the maximum amount of steering possible.

Image Gallery