Rheinard again in Q2
Marc Rheinard backed up his performance in yesterday’s opening qualifier by kicking off Day 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Austria with another TQ, again the Tamiya driver topping the times from HB’s Andy Moore. However the big talking point among the drivers after Q2 was the pace of Yokomo driver Ronald Volker who despite running used tyres posted the third fastest time, the next fastest driver on tyres that completed a full five minutes in Q1 being Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who was 7th fastest.
While pleased to post another TQ albeit almost 2 seconds slower than Q1, Rheinard seemed more concerned about the tyre strategy that was going to be played out over the remaining three qualifiers. Having used his second set of allocated Ride tyres, the German said the pace of Volker on used tyres was a bit of a surprise as while he knew his rival had good pace on new tyres his pace, having not tested on used, was very impressive. Describing the traction in this morning’s qualifier as low, the Apeldoorn winner said the run was good but Andy, who moved to the front half way through the 5-minute run, forced him to push harder than he had planned on a track that doesn’t forgive errors. With three rounds to count and no new tyres left Rheinard said he has to be very clever about how he chooses to use and selects his tyres adding that sitting out a round is one option he needs to consider.
Moore, who set the fastest lap of the round, said he was reasonably happy with the result considering how close he came to a TQ run. Dropping off the lead pace after hitting some traffic, the former World Champion said his TCXX got a little loose after that with the traction in general feeling a ‘a lot less’ than yesterday’s Q1. Other than rebuilding his shocks, Moore plans on leaving his car as is for Q3 echoing the thoughts of Rheinard that its now down to tyre strategy and making the right call at the right time.
Having rolled out of a certain TQ run in Q1, Volker said they took a defensive approached to Q2 and ran on used tyres and considering the number of drivers on new tyres they managed to outpace he was very happy with how the run went. The defending ETS Champion said his LRP powered BD7 was still very easy to drive on used tyres and while he had more understeer it was something he was able to deal with. While the Yokomo team was giving away nothing in relation to when they will run their star driver on his second set of tyres the general feeling of his rivals is that he will use them in Q3. Also running used tyres in Q2, team-mate Yannic Prumper said his BD7 was not good and combined with the low traction he could not have gone any quicker than his 9th he got for the round.
Running new tyres on his T4, Martin Hudy was fastest of the Xray drivers posting 4th for the round but the Slovak driver said afterwards he expected more. The man responsible for designing the car, Hudy said on a track like Traiskirchen the car has a lot more potential and so he is a little disappointed by the result. The team’s lead driver Alexander Hagberg posted the 7th fastest time, which the Swede said considering being on used tyres and having to let some faster cars through was ‘not a bad result’.
Awesomatix team driver Freddy Sudhoff backed up his Q1 performance with another fifth fastest time but was a little disappointed with the run considering he was on new tyres. The German said his A700 felt different to yesterday with it having developed more understeer something he is putting down to the cooler conditions having a effect on the oil in diff.
After a tough day yesterday, Viktor Wilck posted the 6th fastest time describing the run as ‘safe’. The Swede who effectively had a new set of tyres after he crashed out on his opening lap in Q1, said he needs to repeat a similar run again in Q3, hinting that he will be using his second set of tyres, and then hope he can round it off with a third solid result on used tyres so as to make the A-Main. Struggling with ‘no balance’ in his TRF417, the Swede said he is also struggling with his driving as the track here does not suit his driving style.
Completing the Top 10 was Team Durango’s Elliot Harper. The British driver was pretty pleased with his run considering he was on used tyres. Availing of last nights opening testing after Q1, he said this allowed him to make the car smoother & easier to drive and this morning it felt ‘quite good’. With a fresh set of tyres at his disposal he said he needs to make a good call on when to use them but his focus for Q3 is to try a different front end geometry.
Ride Modified Q2 times
1. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 21/5:14.497
2. Andy Moore – HB – 20/5:01.246
3. Ronald Völker – Yokomo – 20/5:02.947
4. Martin Hudy – Xray – 20/5:03.235
5. Freddy Südhoff – Awesomatix – 20/5:03.270
6. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 20/5:04.228
7. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 20/5:05.728
8. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo – 20/5:07.448
9. Yannic Prümper – Yokomo – 20/5:07.514
10.Elliott Harper – Durango – 20/5:07.823
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