Video – Mod, Pro Stock & Formula A-main Leg 3
Berntsen wins ETS Gran Canaria
Xray’s Adrian Berntsen claimed the biggest win of his career today at the third round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series when he became only the 10th race winner in the world famous electric touring car championship. Winning the opening A-main at the Gran Canaria event, which he backed up with a second in A2, the Norwegian drove a calculated final leg to finish second behind defending champion Ronald Volker and more importantly ahead of Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg to take the overall win at the ETS’ 36th race. Having TQ’d the event, Volker would finish second overall on tie break with Hagberg to claim his 10th consecutive podium finish. Like at Round 2 where Hagberg took the win it was once again an all Xray affair with team driver Jan Ratheisky taking the win in both Pro Stock and Formula on the holiday island.
Delighted to take the momentous win, that brought his father Trygve close to tears of emotion, Berntsen said in the last A-Main his focus was ‘only to stay infront of Alex’. Again clearly quicker that Volker, he ‘didn’t want to take any risks’, the pair having come together in A2, and he was ‘just happy to sit behind Ronald’ to the finish. Having shown great pace at many previous ETS encounters but been unable to pull it all together, the win is an important breakthrough for Berntsen. Describing today as a great way to start the outdoor season, as the second half of the ETS season takes place on asphalt tracks, the 20-year-old said he is already look forward to Round 4 in Austria.
Volker said considering how ‘A1 & 2 went’ 2nd wasn’t a bad result but added he was ‘still a little disappointed he could not get the job done’. Taking the bonus point for the TQ he said the result was not bad for the championship as he chases a fourth consecutive title in the Ride Modified class. Commenting on A3, Volker said ‘Adrian was a little faster’ as he still didn’t have the feeling he had yesterday when he topped 4 of the 5 qualifiers but just sticking to his lines he knew he could keep Berntsen at bay as he didn’t need to make a ‘magic pass’. A race that two years ago saw Volker forced to withdraw from the Mains due to speedo issues, on achieving his best finish in the island today he said he wanted to in particular thank LRP for making a ‘big step forward’ and he is looking forward to the remaining asphalt rounds. Also being competitive on asphalt this weekend taking his 13th ETS TQ, a surface on which he & his team have traditionally been weak, he said he also wanted to thank Yokomo for improvements they have made recently.
The only driver who could deny Berntsen his first win, Hagberg said he defended his 3rd place starting position from Naoto Matsukura and that was all he and his car could do in A3. Happy to get 3rd overall describing it as a ‘good result for me’, he said he was more happy for his Xray team that they had two cars competitively on the podium. Having taken both his ETS race wins on carpet, he said the result was a confidence boost for the rest of the outdoor races on the ETS calendar.
Outside of the podium 2012 winner Christopher Krapp took his Kyosho to fourth ahead of Matsukura, his 3rd in A1 giving him the tie break with the Japanese ace. The Top 6 was completed by the HB’s of Andy Moore, the former World Champion unable to repeat his A1 second place finish. Having enjoyed victory here last year with Viktor Wilck, it was a weekend to forget for the Tamiya team with Marc Rheinard finishing 8th overall and Wilck 10th. With a 6-week break before the championship resumes with a new event to the calendar in Austria hopefully the series’ most winning manufacturer will find something that brings them back to competitive form.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, Ratheisky found a way passed Top Qualifier & A2 winner Marek Cerny in the third A-Main with three laps to go to claim his second win of Season #7. A 1-2 for Team Xray, defending champion Cerny getting second overall, the podium was completed by local hero Toni Mateo. Driving a Yokomo, Toni is one of the large Mateo family who have made the ETS’ visit to Gran Canaria possible for the last three years. Having become the first ever driver to win two class on the same weekend in the ETS at the season opener, Ratheisky pulled off the feat once again today as he took his 4th consecutive Formula win. The podium in Formula was completed by the VBC of Top Qualifier Olivier Bultynck and Speed Passion of Thomas Pumpler.
Hosted by Club La Nave, the organisers of the event have asked us to thank the sponsors & people without whom the event on the island of just over 800,000 population would not be possible – Ayuntamiento de telde, Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Audiovisuales Canarias.com, Movistar.es, ETS Family, Tonisport, all the racers, and all the members of the Club.
Ride Modified Overall Result
1. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 3 pts
2. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 4
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 4
4. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 8
5. Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 8
6. Andy Moore – HB – 9
7. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 12
8. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 13
9. Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 14
10.Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15
Ride Modified A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(1) Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 16/5:15.404
2.(2) Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 16/5:15.781
3.(3) Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 16/5:16.659
4.(4) Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 16/5:17.426
5.(6) Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:00.081
6.(10)Marc Fischer – Serpent – 15/5:00.349
7.(9) Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:01.012
8.(8) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:01.593
9.(5) Andy Moore – HB – 15/5:01.777
10.(7)Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:02.243
Xray Pro Stock Overall Result
1. Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 2 pts
2. Marek Cerny – Xray – 3
3. Toni Mateo – Yokomo – 8
4. Lars Hoppe – ARC – 8
5. Eugenio Antimo Valiente – VBC – 8
6. Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 11
7. Michael Kiesewetter – VBC – 11
8. David Nemcek – Xray – 14
9. Beni Stutz – Tamiya – 15
10.Pawel Staszewski – Tamiya – 18
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(3) Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15/5:14.394
2.(1) Marek Cerny – Xray – 15/5:17.109
3.(5) Toni Mateo – Yokomo – 15/5:17.801
4.(6) Eugenio Antimo Valiente – VBC – 15/5:18.475
5.(8) Michael Kiesewetter – VBC – 15/5:20.693
6.(2) Lars Hoppe – ARC – 15/5:23.092
7.(10)Beni Stutz – Tamiya – 15/5:23.740
8.(4) Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 14/5:01.444
9.(7) David Nemcek – Xray – 14/5:02.728
10.(9)Pawel Staszewski – Tamiya – 14/5:03.379
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Video – Mod, Pro Stock & Formula A-main Leg 2
Hagberg wins second A-Main at ETS
Alexander Hagberg has won the second A-Main at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria, the Team Xray driver benefiting from a coming together between Top Qualifier Ronald Volker and A1 winner Adrian Berntsen. After the disaster of the first main in which he spun at the start, Volker finished A2 third meaning the end of his challenge for a first win on the island. With second from the leg, Berntsen looks poised to take his first ever ETS win with only team-mate Hagberg in with a chance of denying him in the third A-Main.
A much better start from Volker saw the German lead the field for first half of the 5-minute encounter before a much faster Berntsen made contact with the all white Yokomo. While Berntsen waited on the defending champion to retake the lead, a much improved Hagberg passed them both to take a lead he would not relinquish. Having had a bad opening Main when contact from Naoto Matsukura ended his challenge early in the race, Hagberg said A2 ‘definitely turn out better’. Changing the set-up on his Xray T4, having suffered understeer in A1, he said his car was much better particularly in the second half of the run and admitting he got lucky when the two in front of him came together it puts him in to a good position to fight for the overall win in A3.
In a really strong position to take the win and become only the 10th different winner in the ETS’ 36-race history, Berntsen was quick to express his regret for making contact with Volker. Clearly faster than then the 9-time ETS race winner, the 20-year-old said he trying to make a clean pass but unfortunuately they touched ending Volker’s chance of a first win at the Gran Canaria round. Running used tyres Bernsten said his Xray T4 ’14 was much better and for A3 he will leave it as is focusing instead on just driving his own race and see what comes of it.
‘At least the start was better’ said third placed Volker. The winner of the season opener and current leader of the championship standings, he said he struggled for rear traction and he doesn’t know why as everything was the same as yesterday when he took 4 of the 5 qualifiers. Admitting Bernsten was ‘pretty fast’, he did point blame on the Xray driver for the contact saying it was ‘race incident that can happen when fighting so close’. Despite not being happy with the handling of his LRP powered BD7, Volker still managed the fastest lap of the race but for A3 plans to adapt his tyre prep to give him a car he is more confident with.
Behind the Top 3, Matsukura finished fourth followed by the two Marc’s, Tamiya’s Rheinard claiming a distant 5th from 8th on the grid and Serpent’s Fischer taking 6th after starting at the back of the grid. Having had good luck in A1 finishing 2nd and 3rd, HB’s Andy Moore and Kyosho Christopher Krapp had a tough race finishing 7th and 9th respectively.
In A2 of Xray Pro Stock Jan Ratheisky made a very good pass on team-mate & Top Qualifier Marek Cerny to take the win. With a win each the Xray duo will go head to head in A3 for the win, each driver having one win a piece already this season. In Formula Ratheisky claim his fourth straight win in the class by backing up his A1 win with another win in A2 this time over the Speed Passion chassis of Austria Thomas Pumpler.
Ride Modified A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(3) Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 16/5:19.759
2.(2) Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 15/5:00.275
3.(1) Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:01.109
4.(4) Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 15/5:03.079
5.(8) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:03.744
6.(10)Marc Fischer – Serpent – 15/5:04.293
7.(5) Andy Moore – HB – 15/5:06.344
8.(9) Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:07.938
9.(6) Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:08.799
10.(7)Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:10.293
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(3) Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15/5:16.377
2.(1) Marek Cerny – Xray – 15/5:16.443
3.(2) Lars Hoppe – ARC – 15/5:19.575
4.(6) Eugenio Antimo Valiente – VBC – 15/5:19.762
5.(5) Toni Mateo – Yokomo – 15/5:21.810
6.(8) Michael Kiesewetter – VBC – 15/5:21.983
7.(7) David Nemcek – Xray – 14/5:02.570
8.(9) Pawel Staszewski – Tamiya – 14/5:03.892
9.(10)Beni Stutz – Tamiya – 14/5:04.030
10.(4)Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 8/2:52.628
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Video – Mod, Pro Stock & Formula A-main Leg 1
Berntsen takes A1 in Gran Canaria
Team Xray’s Adrian Berntsen has won the opening A-Main of the Ride Modified class this morning in Gran Canaria. Qualifying second for the third round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series, the Norwegian had the lead at the start of the race as Top Qualifier Ronald Volker spun out as the cars left the grid and once in front the 20 year-old would controlled the race from start to finish. Behind Berntsen, HB’s Andy Moore would finish second but only after Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp, who passed the former World Champion coming into the straight on the last lap, went into the final corner too hard knocking the battery from his car just before the loop. Lucky for Krapp only the top three cars crossed the loop a lap earlier just ahead of the 5-minutes so he was able to come away with third. Volker would only finish 10th.
‘Pretty lucky’ was how Berntsen summed up his race adding that the race was made easier by Volker spinning out and his Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg and Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura, who started directly behind him, coming together early in the opening lap. Able to pull out a gap over Moore he said once he had a good distance between him and the British driver he just controlled his pace to the finish. Following overnight rain and with all drivers running a new set of Ride tyres, Berntsen said the traction was low but for A2 he expects things to improve. Happy with how is Muchmore powered T4 ’14 ran he said he will not make any changes to his set-up as the second run on the tyres should improve things alot.
‘I lost the race immediately at the start’, was Volker’s response to what happened. Team Yokomo’s lead driver said he ‘turned to hard while still accelerating off the start line’ and there was nothing he could do to stop his LRP powered BD7 from spinning out. Chasing his first win on the island he said the race was over once he spun. While he tried to recover adding that his car had good pace he said the conditions made it impossible to recover. Happy with his car he said his focus for A2 has to be to ‘make a better start’.
‘Not too bad cause I finished second’ was how Moore summed up his race. Admitting he got lucky at the start he said he couldn’t do anything about Berntsen so he ‘cruised around’ as he knew if he ran clean lines it would be impossible for Krapp to pass. ‘Unfortunately in the second last corner I had a brain fart and Christopher got through but luckily he got it wrong at the next one allowing me to take back second’. Having ‘had my fair share of shit finals I’ll happily take it’.
Enjoying his race with Moore, Krapp said on hearing the time was finished and wanting to make sure the HB driver didn’t try to retake the position in the last corner and he ‘just went for it’. Coming into the corner way too hot he hit the fencing with the car bouncing back out onto the track. Not able to get the car across the loop he said his first concern was that he had destroyed the car and it was a relief to find out it was just the battery that had disconnected. Very happy with the pace of his Orion powered TF6 and admitting he got lucky at the start, the 2012 Gran Canaria winner joked hopefully the guys in front will make a similar start again in A2.
Coming from 7th on the grid Magnus Vässmar would finish 4th just ahead of Matsukura. Setting the fastest lap of the race, Matsukura tagged Hagberg at the start and waiting on the Swede said he said this cost him any chance of a good result. Hagberg who started third would finish 6, the ETS Round 2 winner saying after the hit from Matsukura there was ‘no way back’. ‘Struggling a lot with understeer’ he said for A2 he will try a different set-up on his ORCA powered T4 ’14.
In the Xray Pro Stock class defending champion Marek Cerny is now just one race away from continuing as the only driver to win in the class on the island. Starting from pole, the Czech driver dominated A1 to take the win by almost 4-seconds from team-mate Jan Ratheisky and the ARC of Henrik Heitsch. In Formula Ratheisky took the win after getting by the VBC of Top Qualifier Olivier Bultynck after an error by the Belgian on lap 6 of 14. Dropping to third following a subsequent roll Bultynck would recover to take second back on the last lap from Thomas Pumpler.
Ride Modified A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(2) Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 16/5:18.969
2.(5) Andy Moore – HB – 16/5:20.415
3.(6) Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/4:59.764
4.(7) Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:00.428
5.(4) Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 15/5:00.741
6.(3) Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 15/5:01.398
7.(10)Marc Fischer – Serpent – 15/5:02.010
8.(9) Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:02.462
9.(8) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:02.913
10.(1)Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:03.386
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(1) Marek Cerny – Xray – 15/5:15.703
2.(3) Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 15/5:19.540
3.(4) Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 15/5:21.983
4.(6) Eugenio Antimo Valiente – VBC – 14/5:00.474
5.(2) Lars Hoppe – ARC – 14/5:01.010
6.(5) Toni Mateo – Yokomo – 14/5:03.377
7.(10)Beni Stutz – Tamiya – 14/5:03.555
8.(7) David Nemcek – Xray – 14/5:09.278
9.(8) Michael Kiesewetter – VBC – 14/5:09.935
10.(9)Pawel Staszewski – Tamiya – 14/5:14.808
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‘From Race Control’ – Day 3 Finals
Its the final day of ETS Round 3 in Gran Canaria and its a slightly cold & overcast start to the day. Overnight rain meant the track required work this morning to clear off damp patches but racing was still able to start on time. Three rounds of Mains await all drivers with Top Qualifiers Ronald Volker going for his first Ride Modified win on the island, Marek Cerny chasing a hat trick at the event in Xray Pro Stock, and Olivier Bultynck going for his first Formula win.
Volker Top Qualifier in Gran Canaria
Ronald Volker is Top Qualifier for the third round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series taking place in Gran Canaria. The Team Yokomo driver’s 13th ETS TQ, Volker secured his first pole position on the island when he topped the time sheets for a fourth time in the fifth & final qualifier. The only driver who could challenge the defending series champion for the top spot on the grid, Adrian Berntsen was able to match the pace of the German finishing second 2-second off. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier, the Norwegian will start second on the grid his best starting position at the ETS. Winner of Round 2 of the championship and despite having a bad last qualifier, posting only the 6th fastest time, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg will start tomorrow’s finals from third.
The driver with the greatest tally of ETS TQs, Volker said ‘considering the tricky conditions this week’ he was ‘very pleased with how the day went’. Changing nothing on his LRP powered BD7 since the second qualifier, he said ‘as good as the car is now’ he hopes conditions are similar for tomorrow. Compared to Q1 & 2, he said they improved the car quite a bit and over the final three qualifiers he was able to increase the gap by which he outpaced his rivals. Saying ‘it is difficult to know what the track will do for tomorrow’, Volker said he doesn’t plan on making an changes to his car with his main focus being to try to make a clean start feeling if he can get a good opening lap he should be ‘ok’.
‘I tried as hard as I could but no chance, Ronald was too fast’, that was how Berntsen summed up his Q5 performance. Running a new set of Ride tyres for the qualifier, he said his first lap was ‘super slow’ with him loosing a second to Volker as be battled for traction. Although he posted the fastest qualifying time of the day in Q1 making the most of the day’s best conditions, Berntsen said he thinks taking the battle to Volker tomorrow is a tall order but he will discuss set-up with his father tonight to see if they think there is anything they can chance to get them somewhat closer to the 3-time champion.
Hagberg said Q5 ‘wasn’t very good for me’. Making a set-up change the Xray team leader said it resulted in his ORCA powered T4 ’14 lacking high speed steering. Planning to switch back to his Q4 set-up for tomorrow, he said he expects the finals to be difficult. Due to the low traction of the newly laid surface, the Swede said its hard to just drive on the racing line each lap so its going to be even harder to race adding that ‘no one is really in control of their car’.
Posting his best run in the final qualifier to snatch 4th on the grid on tie break from Andy Moore, Naoto Matsukura said a change to a set-up he ran yesterday in open practice gave him a much better car. Looking to tomorrow’s finals the Japanese ace said a win was impossible due to track conditions and his team-mate Volker’s pace. Hoping for a podium, he said that to was going to be hard work and probably require a mistake from the drivers starting ahead of him. The 1:12 World champion showed he has the speed as against the other nine A-Main finalists he won the ‘Dash for Cash’ that took place after qualifying pocketing himself €200.
Starting from 5th on the grid Moore said he was disappointed to loose out to Matsukura. The HB’s driver said he has ‘such a lack of traction at the start’ of the run but by the end it feels ‘ok’ andhe needs to find a way to balance it out over the 5-minutes. Aiming to push for a podium he said with the first corner so tight combined with the lack of traction anything is possible joking that if there is a messy start he probably be the one to come out of it worst.
Completing the Top 6 on the grid is 2012 event winner Christopher Krapp. The Kyosho driver used his second set of tyres in Q5 to set the 4th fastest time saying the gave his Orion powered TF6 more grip and traction. While he said the winner is pretty much locked up with the tricky conditions the ‘rest is up for grabs’ and he is confident he can ‘gain some positions’.
For the Tamiya team the event marks one of their worst events in the series with Marc Rheinard starting 8th behind the Xray of Magnus Vässmar and Viktor Wilck lining up ninth just ahead of Marc Fischer.
A-Main Grids/Qualifying times Q5
Ride Modified A-Main Grid
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 310 pts
2. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 308
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 305
4. Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 302
5. Andy Moore – HB – 302
6. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 301
7. Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 301
8. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 300
9. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 297
10.Marc Fischer – Serpent – 296
Ride Modified Q5 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:09.371
2. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 15/5:11.310
3. Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 15/5:12.409
4. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:13.574
5. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:13.781
6. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 15/5:13.885
7. Andy Moore – HB – 15/5:13.990
8. David Perez – 15/5:14.676
9. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 15/5:15.170
10.Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:15.170
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Grid
1. Marek Cerny – Xray – 310 pts
2. Lars Hoppe – ARC – 306
3. Jan Ratheisky – Xray – 306
4. Henrik Heitsch – ARC – 303
5. Toni Mateo – Yokomo – 303
6.Eugenio Antimo Valiente – VBC – 302
7. David Nemcek – Xray – 300
8.Michael Kiesewetter – VBC – 297
9.Pawel Staszewski – Tamiya – 293
10.Beni Stutz – Tamiya – 292
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