Video – Mod Qualifying Rd4
Q4 Update – Volker again but TQ not decided
Ronald Volker claimed his third TQ run of the day but the overall TQ honours will be decided in the fifth & final qualifier of the Gran Canaria event. Like in Q2 & 3, the Yokomo driver headed the two Xray’s of Alexander Hagberg and Adrian Berntsen in the penultimate qualifier, Hagberg finally outpacing his Norwegian team-mate to post a second for the round. Despite Volker’s string of TQ runs, Q5 will be a shoot out between him and Bernsten to see who starts the triple A-Main on pole tomorrow. With 2 of the 5 rounds counting and fastest time being the tie breaker, a TQ run by Berntsen will give him his first overall ETS TQ but if anyone else tops the time sheets it will secure Volker his 13th ETS pole.
Claiming Tamiya’s best performance of the day Viktor Wilck posted the fourth fastest time ahead of fellow Swede Magnus Vässmar. Wilck who having failed to start Q1 and was only 9th in Q2 & 3, said knowing he needed a good run to make the A-Main he just drove ‘super safe’ run and it actually worked out pretty well. Team-mate Marc Rheinard could only manage 6th for the round almost a full 6-seconds off Volker’s TQ pace.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, Marek Cerny continued his domination of the class making it four TQ runs from four rounds to secure his third overall TQ on the island. The defending champion looks perfectly poised to make it a hat trick of Gran Canaria wins and take over the lead of the championship standings from team-mate Jan Ratheisky.
Ride Modified Q4 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:10.321
2. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 15/5:13.039
3. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 15/5:14.757
4. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:15.310
5. Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:15.379
6. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:16.237
7. Marco Kaufmann – Xray – 15/5:17.642
8. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 15/5:17.817
9. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:17.890
10.Juho Levanen – Team Associated – 15/5:18.565
View the complete event results here.
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Volker TQ’s third qualifier at ETS
Ronald Volker claimed a second TQ run at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria when he again topped the time sheets in the third of the five scheduled qualifiers. Fastest in Q2, the Yokomo driver posted a similar pace in Q3 to once again take maximum points ahead of the Xray’s of Adrian Berntsen and Alexander Hagberg. Magnus Vässmar made it three Xray’s in the Top 4 as he found improvement to post the fourth fastest time.
Volker said while he was pleased to top the round, his main focus was to finish ahead of Berntsen as his rival is for now the main contender to become Top Qualifier. Feeling another TQ run by the Norwegian will make him impossible to beat, due to his faster Q1 time set in the morning’s cooler condition, for last two qualifiers tyre strategy is going to be key as both drivers still have a second fresh set of Ride tyres at their disposal. Planning to leave his car set-up as is he said even for the final qualifier he doesn’t think it will be cool enough to beat the Q1 pace.
Bernsten said in the warmer track conditions of the last two qualifiers his car felt ‘slow and more difficult’ to drive. Planning to work around the conditions rather than change his set-up and based on how loose the track feels he will leave it till the final qualifier to run his second set of tyres.
Hagberg said there wasn’t much to report about the latest run. Changing his set-up each round he said due to the track conditions it makes no real difference to how the car feels. Set to change his set-up again for Q4, the Swede said hopefully he will find a change that actually makes a noticeable difference and improves his car that fraction that allows him challenge Volker & Berntsen for a TQ run.
Starting out qualifying with a new set-up, Vässmar said for Q2 he reverted to the set-up he ran in practice yesterday. Posting the 7th fastest time he said his T4 was much better but the run had too many driver errors. A better drive in Q3, he was pleased to take fourth for the round and hopes to build on that for Q4. Describing the car as feeling ‘alright’, the Swede added that if you ‘drive it right for the conditions’ the balance is ok but he still plans to make a few small changes for his next qualifier.
Posting the fifth fastest time was Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp. The German said the pace of Volker & Berntsen was a little frustrating but between everyone else it is ‘super close’. Running in the second fastest heat, he said watching Volker as he marshalled their qualifier he maybe needs to adjust his driving as his fellow German is drifting while he is trying to be keep everything too much under control.
In the Tamiya pits the form is not good to say the least. Setting the 6th fastest time, Marc Rheinard said he had ‘no feeling’ between his car & the track and he was ‘just drifting everywhere’. Setting again the 9th fastest time team-mate Viktor Wilck said it was ‘unbelievable’ how low traction was adding there was ‘just no grip’.
Setting the 7th fastest time HB’s Andy Moore said he made a few changes for the round but it ‘didn’t really make any difference’. ‘Sliding around’ the former World Champion said he is missing a couple of seconds and for Q4 he ‘will make a big change and see what happens’.
Completing the Top 8, Volker’s team-mate Naoto Matsukura said he had ‘no traction and no good feeling with the car’. The 1:12 World Champion added he’s not sure what to try for the remaining two qualifiers.
Ride Modified Q3 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:11.523
2. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 15/5:13.594
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 15/5:14.616
4. Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:15.974
5. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:16.247
6. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:16.435
7. Andy Moore – HB – 15/5:16.556
8. Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 15/5:16.868
9. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:17.242
10.Kyle Branson – Capricorn – 15/5:17.935
View the complete event results here.
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Video – Mod Qualifying Rd2
Q2 Update – Volker fastest in slower conditions
With the sun coming out for the second round of qualifying, it was Ronald Volker who topped the times on a much slower track. The hotter conditions saw the Yokomo driver top the round from Adrian Bernsten but with a time that was over 4-seconds slower than the Xray drivers Q1 TQ pace. Once again Alexander Hagberg set the third fastest time again ahead of HB’s Andy Moore. Only ninth in opening round, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard improved to take 5th while his team-mate Viktor Wilck got his speedo issues, that resulted in a non start in Q1, sorted to open his qualifying with a 9th. Sixth fastest in the opening qualifier, Serpent’s Marc Fischer was a non-finisher after he suffered a servo failure.
In the Xray Pro Stock class defending champion Marek Cerny looks on target for three in a row on the island. Backing up his dominant Q1 TQ run over Henrik Heitsch the Czech driver posted another TQ run in Round 2 over team-mate Jan Ratheisky.
Ride Modified Q2 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:11.998
2. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 15/5:13.917
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 15/5:14.556
4. Andy Moore – HB – 15/5:15.590
5. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:15.831
6. Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 15/5:16.594
7. Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:17.532
8. Juho Levanen – Team Associated – 15/5:18.495
9. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 15/5:18.559
10.Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:18.926
View the complete event results here.
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Bernsten tops opening Gran Canaria qualifier
Team Xray’s Adrian Berntsen topped the opening round of qualifying at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria this morning, the Norwegian outpacing Ronald Volker by .283 with Round 2 winner Alexander Hagberg completing the Top 3. For last year’s winner Viktor Wilck another speedo issue resulted in him failing to start the qualifier.
‘Surprisingly good’ was how Berntsen summed up his 5-minute run. Reverting back to his own set-up having tried team-mate Hagberg’s set-up in yesterday’s controlled practice which was ‘difficult’, he said his Muchmore powered T4 ’14 was now ‘super easy to drive’. Despite a sprinkling of rain just before the start of the top heat, Bernsten said it didn’t appear to have any effect on the track. Setting his fastest lap of the weekend he said it felt pretty much the same as yesterday and he will leave his car as is for Q2.
Defending Champion Volker said it was an ‘interesting Q1’ with the rain before the start but added it resulted in ‘no disadvantage’. The Yokomo driver said a few mistakes early on due to him getting on the throttle ‘too early’ cost him a TQ run. Describing every lap as challenging he said overall the pace of his LRP powered BD7 is good, him setting the fastest lap of the round. Planning to make a set-up change for Q2 he said he doesn’t know yet what it will be adding it will be ‘nothing major’.
Hagberg described his run as ‘not too bad’. The Swede said while his ORCA powered T4 ’14 felt good it was just a little too slow. Setting a faster lap time than his team-mate Bernsten, he felt the car is lacking a little steering and plans to make some changes for Q2 to try and improve his overall pace, his time being 7/10ths off the TQ time.
A ‘decent start’ was the response from HB’s Andy Moore to his run to the fourth fastest time. The British ace said he needs to improve his Hobby Wing powered TCXX pace in the early laps of the run. Setting his fastest lap on his last lap, he said the difference between his early laps and closing laps was quite big. Planning some changes for the second run he said his main focus will be on tyre prep.
Running in the second fastest heat Naoto Matsukura posted the fifth fastest time. Suffering a similar sprinkling off rain but during their 5-minutes, the Japanese ace said conditions between the two top heats were different. With no mistakes to top the heat, the Yokomo driver said weather was the main reason for the 4-second difference between his time at the TQ pace. Describing his BD7 as ‘good’, he said he will leave it as is for Q2.
Completing the Top 6 was Serpent’s Marc Fischer. The German said his Viper powered S411 was difficult to drive adding it had ‘no rear traction, no steering’. Running an aluminium chassis plate he said he will stick with the car again for Q2 and change his tyre prep – opting for no additive and different heating. Should he still struggle with a lack of traction for Q3 he will switch to his second car which has the more conventional carbon chassis.
2012 Gran Canaria ETS winner Christopher Krapp said his run ‘felt ok’. The factory Kyosho driver who is running in the same heat as Matsukura said with the rain/sun effects on the track he had bad luck but the ever positive German said ‘thats racing’. Happy that the performance of his Orion powered TF6 is good he will leave it as is for Q2 and just focus on his driving adding that hopefully his luck with the weather will be better. Behind Krapp the Top 10 was completed by the Marco Kaufmann, Marc Rheinard and Magnus Vässmar.
Ride Modified Q1 times
1. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 15/5:07.583
2. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 15/5:07.866
3. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 15/5:08.279
4. Andy Moore – HB – 15/5:08.637
5. Naoto Matukura – Yokomo – 15/5:11.609
6. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 15/5:12.218
7. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 15/5:12.741
8. Marco Kaufmann – Xray – 15/5:13.097
9. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:13.157
10.Magnus Vässmar – Xray – 15/5:13.534
View the complete event results here.
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‘From Race Control’ – Day 2 Qualifying
An overcast start to Day 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Gran Canaria, today will see five rounds of qualifying for drivers of which the best 2 will count. With open practice available to drivers this morning, track conditions appear to continue to improve with the new surface, many believing this is due to a sugar watering of the track starting to wear off. Following qualifying, the day will close with a bit of fun on-track action with the Dash for Cash.
Video – Mod Controlled Practice Rd1
