Euro Touring Series

May 10, 2014

Yokomo 1-2 in second qualifier at fahr(T)raum

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Ronald Volker backed up his opening qualifying performance by leading a Team Yokomo 1-2 in the second round of qualifying this morning at Round 4 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series at the fahr(T)raum Museum in Mattsee, Austria. The only driver to run 24-laps of the track in last night’s Q1, Volker improved on that time by 2.3 seconds with team-mate Yannic Prumper and Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck joining him on 24-laps to complete the Top 3 for the round.

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Pleased to pick up where he finished Day 1 of the event, Volker said the run was going perfect for the first 3-minutes but then the radio of Marc Rheinard start to impede his view a little resulting in a break of concentration as he tried to reposition himself on the podium. Making a ‘big mistake in the fast section’ resulting in his car hitting the boards twice, he said the impact tweaked his carbon chassis’d BD7. Leader of the championship standings, he said luckily he built up enough of a gap in those first three minutes, when he posted the fastest lap, to allow him to still manage to top the round.

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Prumper summed up his run as ‘better than yesterday’ and was happy to have been able to snatch second from former team-mate Wilck on the last lap. Changing from an aluminium to a carbon chassis for Q2, he said his car was a little easier to drive but with understeer still being a slight issue early in the run he will make a number of changes for Q3. Mechanic Toni Rheinard said with ‘two OK runs’ they can try a few things. Running a harder rear shock oil, for the penultimate qualifier they will change to the same oil both front & rear along with going to a lighter rear diff to try and get better rotation.

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Admitting to throwing away a Top 2 finish due to a crash on his penultimate lap which then lead to a ‘bad last lap’, Wilck said his TRF418 was better than yesterday and he can only put that down to a change of tyres. Following his crash the Swede is grinding down his axle stubs in order to make sure they don’t get caught in the track boards. For Q3 he will also fit a fresh set of C-Hubs to the car.

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While Wilck felt his Q2 tyres were better, for his German team-mate Marc Rheinard a change of tyres had the opposite effect. A very competitive second fastest in Q1, Rheinard clearly struggled from the start in Q2 having to let a faster Wilck by early on. Ending the qualifier only 7th fastest the 3-time World Champion will revert to his Q1 set of tyres which he hopes will allow him to get a second competitive run in.

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Serpent’s Marc Fischer posted the 4th fastest time. The German said his S411 ERYX 3.0 ‘felt better’ than yesterday but catching Hagberg he ended up hitting a pipe which cost him a few 1/10ths. He said he was putting blame on the Swede as he was running his own qualifier but catching the Xray driver a second time he moved over to let him passed. Feeling the conditions are changing, being a warm sunny day in Mattsee today, he will change to a harder rear diff in the hope it will give him more on-power steering.

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Posting the 5th fastest time, Hagberg said he didn’t make any mistakes but ultimately he was too slow. Lacking corner speed, the Round 2 race winner said they need to work on the set-up of his T4.

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Having only arrived Thursday night and missed out on the day of free practice his rivals got, factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp said things are getting better today. Struggling in timed practice yesterday, the former ETS race winner being seeded in the second fastest heat, he described Q2 as a ‘decent run’. Working to cure his TF6 of understeer he said every run things get better, a combination of both the cars set-up improving and his own driving improving – the latter being the bigger factor. While he said right now he doesn’t have Top 5 pace he said his main aim for the remaining two qualifiers is to do enough to make the A-Main.

Behind Rheinard in 7th, HB’s Andy Moore posted the 8th fastest time ahead of the Awesomatix of Freddy Sudhoff. The Top 10 was completed by Team Xray’s Magnus Vassmar who was half a second faster than his car’s designer Martin Hudy who was 11th.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class defending Champion Marek Cerny TQ’d the second qualifier. The factory Xray driver was on target for the first 22-laps run but on his last lap his T4 would shutdown leaving him with 21-laps in 4:59.229. Running a time of 21/5:00.172, former Champion Martin Hofer took his factory Schumacher ride to the second fastest time with Q1 pace setter Jan Ratheisky completing the Top 3. In Formula Ratheisky took the second TQ run of the weekend ahead of the Speed Passion of Austrian Thomas Pumpler with Xray’s Francesco Martini completing the Top 3.

Ride Modified Round 2 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Ronald Volker – Team Yokomo – 24/5:09.817
2. Yannic Prumper – Team Yokomo – 24/5:11.639
3. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya Racing Factory – 24/5:11.924
4. Marc Fischer – Team Serpent – 23/5:01.080
5. Alexander Hagberg – Team Xray – 23/5:02.278
6. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 23/5:03.323
7. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya Racing Factory – 23/5:03.478
8. Andy Moore – HB – 23/5:04.224
9. Freddy Sudhoff – Awesomatix – 23/5:04.426
10.Magnus Vassmar – Team Xray – 23/5:05.746

View the complete event results here.

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May 10, 2014

‘From Race Control’ – Day 2, Qualifying/Lower Finals

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Day 2 of the inaugural fahr(T)raum hosted fourth round of the ETS has 3 rounds of qualifying on the schedule. With two of the four rounds counting, for some drivers today will also see them run the first of their three finals with lower Mains planned for later in the day. The second day of action will conclude with the ‘Dash for Cash’ which on the US boards style track is sure to provide plenty of action. Red RC will again broadcast all of today’s action live on the Youtube channel which can be viewed here

May 9, 2014

Euro Touring Series Rd4 – Friday Action

May 9, 2014

Volker TQs opening ETS qualifier in Austria

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Ronald Volker has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the fourth round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Mattsee, Austria. Having set the pace in practice at the fahr(T)raum event to lead away the top heat of qualifying, the Team Yokomo star was the only driver to do 24 laps of the unforgiving US style track but the defending champion faced a stern challenge from Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard. Setting the TQ pace for a time Rheinard would post the second fastest time, just missing out on 24-laps, with TRF team-mate Viktor Wilck third. Fading light made for challenging conditions for the top modified drivers, Volker’s Yokomo team-mate Dominik Fleischmann who was fastest in the final practice particularly struggling in the difficult light.

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‘An interesting Q1’ was how Volker summed up the first of the weekend’s four scheduled qualifiers. The German said due to the conditions, the tent covering the track compounding the low light levels, he struggled over the first minute of the run. Eventually able to find his rhythm he said he worked on catching Rheinard and once ahead set his focus on keeping the run clean, a lot of drivers falling fowl of the boards. Very happy with his BD7, having done little to the car over the opening day, he said it was nice to end Day 1 with a TQ run already in the bag and he is looking forward to racing the remaining qualifiers in better lighting. An early finish to qualifying planned for tomorrow.

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Rheinard was pleased to show his TRF418 is competitive but at the same time was slightly frustrated at having been so close to a TQ run. Only 6th fastest in practice, the 3-time World Champion had to start Q1 in that position which he said was enough to put him out of his rhythm a few times over the run. Describing it as ‘not a bad start’, the ETS’ most winning driver said he knows the pace is there and this is a big confidence boost for tomorrow. The result will also mean he starts second right behind his arch rival Volker for Q2.

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Wilck said he was ‘happy enough with (his) pace’ adding that his TRF418 was ‘for sure better on used tyres’. A few small mistakes at the start of the run meant he had to let his team-mate Rheinard by adding to the lost time but looking to tomorrow the Swede said he should be in good shaped helped too by a better starting position.

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Setting the fourth fastest time Yannic Prumper said his Much More powered Yokomo had some under steer at the start but it improved over the run. Admitting to struggling with low light, he had one crash while lapping traffic adding all things considered 4th was an ‘OK’ start to qualifying. Asked if he would change the car due to the understeer suffered he said for Q2 he would most likely stay as is as it wasn’t anything to major.

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‘Had a chance of a top 3 but messed it up’ was Alexander Hagberg’s summary of his qualifier. Ending up 5th after a crash of his own doing, the Round 2 race winner who currently sits second in the championship standings, said he improved his ORCA powered T4 from practice and all that needs working on for tomorrow is his driving.

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Completing the Top 6, Marc Fischer also felt he was on target for ‘an easy Top 3’. Switching to a softer rear diff and lighter shock oil on his S411 ERYX 3.0, the factory Serpent driver said the changes made the ‘car really good’. Feeling the conditions were already too dark he said for sure it was his own mistake that cost him a good opening qualifier.

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Andy Moore had trouble seeing too but just the top right corner due to Fischer’s stance on the drivers stand. Finding this a distraction to getting into a good rhythm, Fischer leaning slightly forward as he drives, he said his TCXX was better than final practice and said he hopes tomorrow he can continue to keep making steps in the right direction.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class, championship leader Jan Ratheisky TQ’d the opening qualifier ahead of Tobias Seidl with practice pace setter Marek Cerny third. It was the perfect first day for Ratheisky, the Team Xray driver also TQing Q1 of Formula ahead of VBC Racing’s Olivier Bultynck.

Ride Modified Round 1 Qualifying – Top 10
1. Ronald Volker – Team Yokomo – 24/5:12.113
2. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya Racing Factory – 23/5:00.351
3. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya Racing Factory – 23/5:03.099
4. Yannic Prumper – Team Yokomo – 23/5:03.685
5. Alexander Hagberg – Team Xray – 23/5:04.531
6. Marc Fischer – Team Serpent – 23/5:04.578
7. Andy Moore – HB – 23/5:07.922
8. Magnus Vassmar – Team Xray – 23/5:08.752
9. Freddy Sudhoff – Awesomatix – 23/5:09.104
10.Takayuki Kono – Tamiya Racing Factory – 23/5:10.201

View the complete event results here.

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May 9, 2014

Fleischmann fastest in final ETS practice, Volker is top seed

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Dominik Fleischmann pulled a surprise fastest 3-consecutive laps in the final practice at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series but thanks to a faster time in the first timed practice it is Ronald Volker who is the top seed for qualifying, the first of the four scheduled qualifiers taking place tonight at the fahr(T)raum hosted event in Mattsee, Austria. Pulling off to save tyres for qualifying, Volker was third fastest for the second practice behind Serpent’s Marc Fischer.

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‘Perfect’ was how Fleischmann described his run as he improved by half a second on his earlier time to get within just 0.121 of Volker’s pace. The Yokomo driver said a combination of getting more used to and confident with the boards together with ‘trying to copy Ronald (Volker’s) driving style gave him the improved time. Having changed nothing on his BD7, he said he has no plans to touch it for Q1 saying hopefully it will again be as good as it was in the final practice.

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Volker said he used TP2 to scrub in his tyres for the opening qualifier and that was the reason for him pulling off after two & a half minutes. The defending champion said everything felt good leaving him feeling pretty confident going into qualifying and he will run his LRP powered BD7 as is. Team-mate Yannic Prumper also used the run to scrub in new tyres pulling off after 3-minutes. While the German ended up dropping back to 7th in the ranking having been 3rd after the first practice, he said his MuchMore powered BD7 felt good and for qualifying he believes he is in pretty good shape as the full 5-minutes start to count.

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Ending up 3rd fastest in the qualifying seeding, improving on his first time, Fischer said it was the track rather than his car that was the reason for the better time. Suffering from a little understeer in TP1, he said changes made to cure this had actually made the problem worse and for Q1 he will just revert to his earlier setup for a safe run.

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The biggest improvement of the final practice came from Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who posted the 4th fastest time. The Round 2 race winner said changes in addition to reverting back to his free practice roll centre set-up had improved his ORCA powered T4, one of the key changes being a switch to progressive shock springs. Pleased to have improved the car the Swede said it still needs work with him looking to try and get the car to rotate better through the corners.

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In the Tamiya camp, Viktor Wilck and Marc Rheinard both again used the timed practice to scrub in another set of the controlled Ride tyres. Both improving on their earlier times to improve one position each to 5th & 6th fastest respectively, they seemed relatively coy about their performance, Wilck adding that they would ‘see where we’re at in qualifying’.

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For Awesomatix’s Freddy Sudhoff it was a very short second practice as he crashed heavily at the end of the straight on his first lap. The German said initially he thought the crash was due to a radio glitch but on looking at the A700 back in the pits it appears a clip that connects the front shaft to the gear that drives the diff came out causing the shaft to come out. Leaving the car two wheel drive under breaking the car spun out crashing heavily backwards into the track boards. While a number of parts broke in the crash Sudhoff said it doesn’t appear that the car got tweaked but he said having made a number of set-up changes he could really have done with the track time to see how they effected the car.

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Ending practice 9th fastest, HB’s Andy Moore said he hoped the run was the start of them going in the right direction. Struggling in earlier practice runs he said TP2 was a culmination of set-up changes they tried over the day and it seems to have improved things. Although he has HB team manager Hiroyuki Kasuya on hand which he said is a huge help, the former World Champion said having no team-mate is a real disadvantage as its difficult to build up data when you have no one to help with trying out potential set-up ideas. Moore has also been trying a number of new parts they have developed since the World’s Warm-up last month.

View the complete event results here.

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May 9, 2014

Volker tops 1st timed practice at ETS Mattsee

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Following a 2-month break, in the first practice of the four round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series defending champion Ronald Volker made his intentions clear setting the fastest time from Serpent’s Marc Fisher. An all new event on the ETS calendar, the Yokomo driver looks to have got to grips rather quickly with the unique track in Mattsee, Austria, being over 1/2 a second faster than his rivals over 3-consecutive laps. Volker’s team-mate Yannic Prumper completed the Top 3 around the US boards style track that thankfully it was decided on Tuesday to cover with a very large marquee meaning the many heavy rain showers today have not interrupted proceedings.

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Describing the track as ‘totally different to anything’ he has raced on before in the ETS, Volker said its an interesting challenge and he is really enjoying it. With the ‘driver stand position, asphalt and racing in a tent all new experiences’, the German said the layout of the track, which was created by rivals Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck, is good to drive. Pleased with the performance of his LRP powered BD7, the 9-time ETS winner who hasn’t had a win since the season opener on carpet said he will run his car as is for the final timed practice. With his ‘car working good’, he said his focus will instead be on just completing a full error free run adding that even the smallest of contacts with the boards can easily lead to a broken car.

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Driving his Viper powered S411 ERYX 3.0, Fischer said his pace was ok despite the car suffering from a little understeer. Commenting the track the German said while it is a bit on the small side it is fun to drive adding that ‘the tent was a good idea’. Today’s rain showers, had the track not been covered, would most certainly have meant little or no track action. Looking for more steering and traction, for TP2 he plans to stand up the front shocks as well as switch to a heavy rear gear diff to see if this improves his outright pace adding that right now the car should be ‘ok’ over 5-minutes as it is quite safe.

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Having ran two cars back to back in each of the free practice runs, for the first timed practice Prumper opted to run his aluminium chassis BD7. While the carbon chassis car was outright faster, together with his mechanic Toni Rheinard they have opted for the ‘really comfortable’ feeling of the aluminium chassis which for 5-minutes around the boards track is a better option. Trying a softer shock oil for TP1 like that used by team-mate Volker, he felt it didn’t suit his driving style and so for the final practice he will revert to a heavier oil.

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Setting the fourth fastest time, Dominik Fleischmann described his run as ‘quite good’. His first time racing on a boards track the German Yokomo driver said he really likes it and he was ‘pretty satisfied’ with his car and his performance. Finding the rostrum a little low, he said ‘they made the most of the space’ and for the next run his focus is on consistency rather than speed feeling a flawless 5-minute run between the boards for qualifying is going to be challenging.

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‘So far so good’ was how Freddy Sudhoff summed up his 5th fastest time. The factory Awesomatix driver said they ‘continue to make big improvements on asphalt’ adding the latest changes have really been a step forward. Very competitive on carpet, to get the car better on asphalt this weekend they are running new hubs which help make the car narrower. Also testing carbon versus aluminium chassis plates he said so far he is favouring the latter. Giving the car more steering he said it also gave him a more consistent car over the duration of the run. Only his second time to race on a boards track he said the layout seems easy but ‘when you try to get a super fast time it’s in fact very challenging’.

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Having been responsible for putting down the track layout, Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck was pleased with his work but said the gap to Volker was ‘crazy’. Running in a new set of the championship’s Ride tyres in the first timed practice he said hopefully on the second run, his intentions being to use them in Q1 later tonight, they will give him some of the speed he is lacking, his gap to second fastest Fisher being less than 2/10ths. For the final practice he will again use the track time to scrub in another set of tyres for qualifying. Overall he said he was pretty happy with where his TRF417 is at. Marc Rheinard who was seventh fastest just behind his team-mate reported a similar situation. Having not been to an ETS race for some time, the cars designer Kiyo Suzuki has made the trip over from Japan to Mattsee to support his TRF squad this weekend, Japanese team driver Takayuki Kono also making the trip.

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Better known for his 1:8 Onroad nitro exploits, Italy’s Nicola Marrone posted the 8th fastest time. Owner of Hot Race tyres, the company that will provide the tyres for the World Championships later this year, he said he was happy with his run and his Yokomo chassis. Running new tyres for TP2 he will try a used set to compare the difference so as to decide his tyre options for qualifying.

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Unfortunately university commitments meant Round 3 winner Adrian Berntsen has not made the trip to Austria this weekend but Xray’s Round 2 winner Alexander Hagberg has. The Swede posted the 9th fastest time ahead of fellow countryman Magnus Vassmar saying he is ‘struggling a little with understeer’. Happy with his T4 in free practice he said a change to the roll centres and rear diff for the first timed run didn’t suit the track but planning to revert back for the last practice he said it should be good again. Describing the track as ‘very unforgiving’ he said its very easy to tweak the car so he prefers corner dots but with it being the same for everyone he said he has just got to deal with it.

View the complete event results here.

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May 9, 2014

Track Focus – fahr(T)raum

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Track Name – fahr(T)raum
Country – Austria
Location – Mattsee
Host – fahr(T)raum
Surface – Asphalt
Direction – Anti-clockwise
No. of ETS Races hosted – 0

Round 4 of the Euro Touring Series is not the typical type of event that the electric touring championship has become world famous for. This weekend drivers find themselves racing in the small market town of Mattsee in Austria on a temporary parking lot track but the coming about of the event was itself not a typical process. Situated on the grounds of fahr(T)raum, a museum that pays homage to Porsche car company founder Ferdinand Porsche, the race came about following a request from Porsche’s grandson Ernst Piech. A keen modeller himself, Piech wanted to bring a modelling event to the museum he set-up to tell the story of his grand father, putting the idea to Michael Klausner who owns the MK Racing model shop in nearby Salzburg. Klausner immediately suggested applying for a round of the ETS and now today over 250 drivers from around the world have descended on the museum for three days of world class racing.

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A week ago one would have been forgiven for doubting any kind of racing would be possible other than offroad as the asphalt on which the separate level track and pits now stand was not even laid. Originally planned to be an outdoor event, a question by Piech to ETS organiser Uwe Rheinard as to what would happen if it was to rain for the event meant that despite it being a wet day drivers are still running. With Rheinard answering that rain would result in drivers sitting around rather than racing, Piech didn’t want to have such a scenario and so on checking the weather forecast for the event earlier in the week on Tuesday the 50 X 15 meter track was housed inside a huge marquee mirroring the one that had been erected for the pit area.

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While many racers were skeptical of how the freshly laid asphalt would work drivers have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly the grip levels have come up with most drivers admitting to enjoying driving the track. Having originally planned a fast flowing track layout, during the construction it was decided to change it to a more US styled boards track layout. Involved in the building of the track, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard said that while its ‘maybe a little narrow for racing its really good to drive on’. Xray’s Alexander Hagberg had similar views describing the track as ‘different but interesting to drive on’. Standing for Scotty Ernst to announce this weekend’s action, making the trip over the United States to attend his first ever ETS, Charlie Suangka said the track is very similar in layout to the big carpet indoor tracks he attends in the US but he said while the layout is technical it has a good flow to it and he is looking forward to the weekend ahead.

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May 7, 2014

ETS resumes at Porsche Museum

The Yokomo Euro Touring Series resumes this weekend (9-11 May) following a 2-month break with the fahr(T)raum Museum, a homage to Austrian automotive pioneer Ferdinand Porsche, playing host to the start of the second half of what has been the most competitive start to the championship in its 7-seasons of existence. Situated in the Austrian town of Mattsee, the museum is home to unique automobiles from the 1900s and provides insights into the earliest days of automobile construction but this weekend it welcomes for the very first time some of the best drivers from the high tech r/c world of electric touring car racing for Round 4 of the World famous championship. With the opening three rounds, all run on venues familiar to ETS regulars, producing three different winners, the asphalt event is all new territory for the 270 plus entries.

The previous round of the championship saw Norway’s Adrian Berntsen join the ETS’ elusive list of race winners as he took his biggest international race win to date continuing what has been a very strong 2014 ETS campaign for Team Xray. Having just one previous win in the championship’s premiere class, the reigning back to back Pro-Stock class champions, have already notched up two wins this season with Alexander Hagberg winning round 2 and backing that up by joining Berntsen on the Gran Canaria podium. Sitting second in the championship standings, Hagberg will be looking to maintain his form while after a difficult start to the championship failing to make the A-Main at the opening two rounds Berntsen will be looking to continue where he left off in Round 3.

Winner of the season opener, 3-time consecutive defending champion Ronald Volker has had his least winning start to an ETS campaign but having not finished off the podium in 10 races, the Yokomo driver travels to the championship’s 37th race top of the points standings. The German was the Top Qualifier at the first asphalt race of the season in Gran Canaria but couldn’t keep Berntsen at bay, something he will be looking to rectify this weekend as he looks to take his winning tally into double digits. The driver with the most TQ’s in the series, with 13, with 9 wins he is just two off equalling the most winning driver Marc Rheinard. Starting the season with a podium Rheinard’s season has gone slightly downhill since and the Tamiya driver & former Champion really needs to turn things around this weekend if he is to have any chance of a second ETS title.

Missing Round 3 of the championship, Matsee will see the return of Round 1 podium finisher Freddy Sudhoff and Round 2 runner-up Yannic Prumper. Awesomatix team-leader Sudhoff is probably the most likely driver to become only the championship’s 11th Modified class race winner getting closer & closer to a much overdue first win for both himself and his Russian designed car. One of the championship’s consistently fastest drivers, Prumper has gone 9 races without a win and will be looking to come out from the shadow of his Yokomo team-mate and put that right this weekend.

Notching up his second Xray Pro-Stock win of the season at Round 3, Jan Ratheisky heads to Austria with a 2-point lead over Xray team-mate & defending champion who secured his maiden ETS victory on the first visit to Gran Canaria, reigning Xray Pro Stock Champion Marek Cerny. Equaling the status of most TQs in Pro-Stock in Gran Canaria, Cerny will be hoping to also equal Alexander Stocker’s record of 6 wins this weekend but Ratheisky is proving a real challenger for the Czech driver this season. Having won the opening three rounds of the Formula class a win this weekend by Ratheisky would see the German successfully defend his title in the growing category.