Euro Touring Series

January 16, 2013

ETS returns to Czech Republic with record entry

The Yokomo Euro Touring Series returns to the Czech Republic this weekend (January 18-20) after a year out with the second round of the 2012/13 series attracting a record 319 entries on the world famous electric touring car championship’s third visit to the town of Hrotovice. Having opted out of last season’s ETS calendar after it was awarded the date for the opening round of the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series, the return to the Sport-V-Hotel facility has proved hugely popular with competitors from 25 different countries set to make the trip to the 29th ETS race.

Heading the entry will be back to back defending champion Ronald Volker who got season No.6 off to the perfect start in October when he took victory in Germany ahead of Team Associated’s Juho Levanen and his own Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prümper. A two time ETS race winner Levanen will benefit this weekend from the return of his AE team-mate Keven Hebert to the series. The Canadian ace has raced in the ETS on two previous occasions but the Czech Republic will be the front running US Onroad racer’s first outing on carpet in the series.

Having missed out on a podium finish for the second race in succession at the season opener after previously enjoying a run of 26 consecutive Top 3 results in the top class of the ETS, Tamiya will be looking for an improved performance from both Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck this weekend. Tamiya have a smaller team in 2013 with Elliot Harper moving to Team Durango. The talented British racer is set to race a Yokomo in the Czech Republic as he waits on Durango’s first ever touring car creation which is expected to debut mid season.

In addition to racing in the Ride Modified class, Rheinard will also race in the Speed Passion Formula class this weekend. Only added to ETS program last season, the Formula 1 cars have enjoyed strong growth and the addition of the 3-time World Champion should generate a lot of interest as he goes up against the classes regulars including Round 1 winner Jan Asmer who is in for a busy weekend, the German is also contesting both touring car classes.

Impressing on his return to Team Xray at the opening race of the series, Adrian Bernsten will be one to watch this weekend. The rapid Norwegian showed great speed at Round 1 and last weekend secured his first international win with victory at the DHI Cup ahead of Volker and Serpent’s Marc Fischer. The defending champions of the Pro Stock class, which saw HB’s Oliver Franke take the first win of the 2012/13 season, Xray will be looking to get their title defense back on track in the series’ biggest class which this weekend will have a line-up of 155 drivers. Unable to attend Round 1, Zdenko Kunak makes his first ETS outing as champion and comes into the event having just added the DHI Cup title to his CV.

Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series gets underway with practice on Friday and culminates with triple mains for all drivers on Sunday. All the action from Hrotovice can be followed on RedRC where regular updates will published throughout the weekend.

October 14, 2012

Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 3

October 14, 2012

Levänen & Prümper complete ETS Rd1 podium

Juho Levänen and Yannic Prümper completed the podium at the opening round of the 2012/13 Yokomo Euro Touring Series after finishing 1st and 3rd respectively in the third A-Main at Mülheim-Kärlich watched on by overall winner Ronald Volker who after winning the first two legs of the final was able to sit out the closing race. A former two time ETS race winner, today’s runner-up finish is a complete reversal of form for Levanen who last year failed to qualify for an A-Main.

Three drivers had a chance to claim the runners-up spot in Leg 3 but on lap 9 rapid Norwegian Adrian Berntsen bowed out, rolling his Xray on lap 9 of 25 while in a battle for second with Marc Rheinard and Yannic Prumper. Having just rejoined Xray after a year away from the Slovakian manufacturer, the 19-year-old’s performance this weekend has marked him out as one to watch with the former European Junior Champion well at home running side by side with the ETS’ more established stars. Ending up 7th in the Leg, Berntsen would finish the event as the best placed Xray driver in fifth overall just ahead of the team’s 2011/12 title contender Alexander Hagberg.

Pulling a stunning pass on Rheinard only to give back the position moments later when he flipped his Thunder Power equipped Yokomo, third in Leg 3 behind the 3-time World Champion was enough for Prumper to claim the final step on the podium. For Rheinard second was only good enough for fourth making this the second ETS race in succession that the German has failed to make the podium as well as being only the second time in the series’ 28 race history that no Tamiya driver has finished in the Top 3.

In Pro stock the 3rd A-Main was also about declaring who would finish runner up, Oliver Franke having bagged the overall win in Leg 2 with his second tone to tone victory of the day. With the winning HB absent from the pole it was the Awesomatix of Dominic Vogl that lead away the pack. Setting the fastest lap of the 5-minute encounter the Austrian took the win ahead of Jan Asmer’s Serpent, a result that would see the pair join Franke on the podium in that order.

The only one of the 3 classes that make up the ETS race programme to go down to the wire the Speed Passion Formula class third A-Main produced one of the best races of the day. With four lead changes during the race the most important one happened on the last lap. Looking like he had done enough for the win, three corners from the finish Roman Pichler got out of shape allowing Top Qualifier Jan Asmer to slip down his inside to take the win in a drag down the straight. In the end the class debutant took the Leg by 12/100th giving him the overall victory with Pichler and Leg 1 winner Alexander Roeleveld joining him on the podium.

Ride Modified A-Main Overall Result
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 2 pts
2. Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 3
3. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo – 6
4. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 7
5. Adrian Berntsen (NO) – Xray – 7
6. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 11
7. Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 11
8. David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 13
9. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 13
10.Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 19

Ride Modified A-Main Leg 3
1.(2) Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 25/5:08.440
2.(3) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 25/5:08.901
3.(5) Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo – 25/5:09.450
4.(8) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 24/5:01.291
5.(9) David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 24/5:02.840
6.(10)Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 24/5:03.314
7.(4) Adrian Berntsen (NO) – Xray – 24/5:03.389
8.(6) Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 24/5:03.847
9.(7) Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 24/5:04.325
10.(1)Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – DNS

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Overall Result
1. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 2 pts
2. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 3
3. Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 4
4. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 6
5. Max Mächler (DE) – Awesomatix – 8
6. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 9
7. Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 11
8. Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 13
9. Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 16
10.Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 16

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 3
1.(2) Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 23/5:02.292
2.(4) Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 23/5:03.534
3.(3) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 23/5:04.186
4.(9) Max Mächler (DE) – Awesomatix – 23/5:08.598
5.(5) Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 23/5:09.532
6.(7) Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 23/5:11.739
7.(8) Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 22/5:00.085
8.(10)Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 11/2:21.618
9.(6) Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 11/2:21.802
10.(1)Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – DNS

View the complete event results here.

View our event gallery here. / Videos to follow on Monday.

October 14, 2012

Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 2

October 14, 2012

Volker completes perfect start to ETS campaign

In search a third consecutive Yokomo Euro Touring Series title Ronald Volker completed the perfect start to season No.6 of the world famous electric touring car series in Germany today when he backed up his leg 1 win with another dominant win in leg 2 to wrap up the overall win. Having already secured the bonus point for taking the TQ honours in qualifying, the German ace will head to the round 2 of the series in Czech Republic with a 3 point lead over the runner-up at the Muelheim-Kaerlich event with that driver to be decided in this evening’s third and final leg. That battle for second overall set to be fought out between Associated’s Juho Levänen, Yokomo’s Yannic Prümper and Team Xray’s Adrian Bernsten.

Winning the second leg by 3.3 seconds from Levanen, Volker was delighted to kick start his campaign in the best possible way. Having won last week’s IIC in Las Vegas with Yokomo’s new BD7, he said today’s win was a lot more significant as the competition in the ETS is world class and it was also the first time the Yukijiro Umino designed chassis has gone up against more of the other manufacturers latest offerings such as Xray’s new T4. Delighted that on carpet they still have a distinct advantage he said he is already looking forward to round 2 which is also a carpet event. Wishing to thank everyone at Yokomo for their support, in particular his mechanic Umino, the defending champion added that he is interested to see how the BD7 compares, in particular to the Tamiya, on asphalt having struggled somewhat last season with the as BD5 but with team-mate Yannic Prumper having shown they made progress towards the end of last season with his win in Austria he thinks they are definitely up for making it three ETS titles in a row and matching Tamiya as the most winning manufacturer.

While Volker checked out, the main battle of the race was for second between Levanen, Marc Rheinard and Bernsten. Rheinard tried a move on Levanen but tagging the Associated had to wait which allowed Bernsten through to 3rd. Running nose to tail Rheinard tried an over ambitious move on Bernsten on the final lap putting the Xray on its roof. Although he waited the move cost both drivers position as Prümper managed to dive pass into third. Rheinard, who was only 4th in Leg 1, also got passed by Freddy Sudhoff following the incident to end the race sixth meaning he wont get to repeat his 2nd overall at last year’s event. Last season’s most consistent podium finisher it looks like a podium this evening is going to be a tall order.

In the Xray sponsored Pro Stock class in which a massive 172 drivers competed HB supported driver Oliver Franke was just too fast for his rivals. Although Dominic Vogl looked like he might be able to challenge for the Leg 2 win and push the decision to be decided in the third A-Main it did not happen and Franke held on for a narrow win. Collecting maximum championship points the TQ & win is a big boost for Franke’s title aspirations after having come so close last season when he lost the title to Zdenko Kunak on a tie break.

Making its first appearance at the Muelheim-Kaerlich event, the Speed Passion Formula class will go down to the third Main. Fourth in Leg 1, Top Qualifier Jan Amser took the win second time of asking but securing his debut ETS win is far from decided with a number of drivers still in the hunt for the win.

Ride Modified A-Main Leg 2
1.(1) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 25/5:05.975
2.(2) Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 25/5:09.305
3.(5) Yannic Prümper (DE ) – Yokomo – 25/5:10.488
4.(4) Adrian Bernsten (NO) – Xray – 25/5:12.435
5.(6) Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 25/5:12.986
6.(3) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 25/5:14.374
7.(8) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 24/5:00.184
8.(10)Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 24/5:00.396
9.(9) David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 24/5:05.264
10.(7)Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 23/4:56.162

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 2
1.(1) Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 23/5:01.303
2.(2) Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 23/5:01.473
3.(3) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 23/5:05.370
4.(9) Max Mächler (DE) – Awesomatix – 23/5:08.793
5.(6) Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 23/5:09.905
6.(4) Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 23/5:10.232
7.(5) Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:00.430
8.(10)Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 22/5:00.532
9.(8) Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 22/5:00.762
10.(7)Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 19/4:16.242

View the complete event results here.

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October 14, 2012

Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 1

October 14, 2012

Volker cruises to Leg 1 victory

Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker cruised to a dominant victory in Leg 1 of the A-Main at the 2012/13 Yokomo Euro Touring Series season opener in Germany this morning, the defending champion winning convincingly over Team Associated’s Juho Levanen who was closely followed home by Xray’s Adrian Bernsten. Starting from pole, Volker was never threatened throughout the 5-minutes but did have a self inflicted moment when he hit a dot on his last lap sending his LRP powered BD7 into a roll but luckily it landed rubber side down. Such was the German ace’s gap the 1.5 seconds lost didn’t even allow the battling Levanen and Bernsten to get within sight and continuing on his way the he completed the final to take the win by a 2.7 second margin.

Setting the fastest lap of the race, Volker said his car was ‘very good’ after two laps he had enough of a margin over Levanen to control the race. With Levanen rolling on the 11th lap, the winner of the ETS season opener for the past two years said he was able to cruise although the lap chart shows differently as two laps later he ran a 12.479 lap, the fastest of the race. Really comfortable with the feeling of his car Volker said he plans on leaving everything as is and just focus on repeating his Leg 1 performance, less the roll.

Levanen said his Reedy powered TC6.1 felt good but with Volker a little faster he had to push hard and this led to his early mistake that meant it was ‘game over’ for challenging the win’. Allowing Bernsten to close in on his rear bumper, the Finn said he always felt in control of second spot with Bernsten never really a serious treat. Looking to keep his car on four wheels in the second A-Main, Levanen said he will make some small changes to the set-up as he feels he could benefit from a little more steering.

Starting 3rd but ending the encounter 5th, former World Champion Marc Rheinard clearly lacked race pace. The former 3-time World Champion said he just didn’t drive well but added his Tamiya TRF417 felt tweaked. Only able to set the 5th fastest lap of the race, the German will rebuild his shocks for Leg 2 and check that the car is straight. Runner-up to Volker here 12-months ago he said he may also run his second set of handout Ride tyres.

In the Xray Pro Stock class there was also a dominant performance by the Top Qualifier with Oliver Franke taking the win ahead of the no.4 starting Serpent of Jan Amser who benefited from mistakes by both Dominic Vogl and former champion Martin Hofer. Starting 2nd on the grid Vogl’s Awesomatix would finish third while Hofer’s Schumacher dropped back to 5th behind former race winner Ivan Laptev. In the Speed Passion Formula class starting from 5th on the grid Alexander Roeleveld took the win while Top Qualifier Jan Asmer never really recovered from an early incident and had to settle for 4th.

Ride Modified A-Main Leg 1
1.(1) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 25/5:07.096
2.(2) Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 25/5:09.783
3.(4) Adrian Bernsten (NO) – Xray – 25/5:10.210
4.(5) Yannic Prümper (DE ) – Yokomo – 25/5:10.885
5.(3) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 24/5:01.790
6.(6) Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 24/5:02.150
7.(10)Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 24/5:02.313
8.(9) David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 24/5:03.511
9.(8) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 24/5:05.447
10.(7)Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 24/5:07.558

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 1
1.(1) Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 23/5:01.494
2.(4) Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 23/5:03.813
3.(2) Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 23/5:05.788
4.(5) Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 23/5:06.638
5.(3) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 23/5:09.291
6.(6) Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 23/5:09.546
7.(7) Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 23/5:09.813
8.(10)Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 22/4:59.898
9.(8) Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 15/3:18.818
10.(9)Max Mächler (DE) – Awesomatix – 3/0:33.197

View the complete event results here.

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October 13, 2012

Volker is Top Qualifier in Germany

Defending Yokomo Euro Touring Series Ronald Volker will start his title defense from the perfect position tomorrow in Germany after he secured the overall TQ honours with the fastest qualifying run of the weekend in the final round of qualifying ahead of Marc Rheinard and Juho Levanen, the latter set to line up second on the grid having failed to make an A-Main cut last season.

Having dominated this event last year, wrapping up the overall win in the second of three A-Mains, Volker is chasing his third consecutive win of the ETS season opener and on current form looks to have an advantage over his rivals but having had 8 previous ETS TQ spots and only converting 5 of them the German ace is taking nothing for granted. Levanen who has turned his performance around full circle this weekend is determined to push Volker for the win. Having taken a new direction with his set-up recently, the Finn is getting his confidence back with the TC6.1. Finding the track conditions ‘sticky’, the former European Champion increased the boost on his LRP speedo for the final qualifier but didn’t like the feeling it gave. Still looking for more power he plans to switch from a 5T to 4.5T Reedy motor for tomorrow which should give him the chance to at least run with Volker although he admits making a clean pass is going to be difficult due to the curbs.

Having been very vocal about his Tamiya team’s lack of pace on carpet last year, Rheinard said the gap is much closer this time round but added Volker still has the edge and without mistakes he is going to be hard to beat. With only two of this season’s six ETS rounds on carpet, Rheinard said a podium finish would be a good result here as the advantage should turn to them at the four asphalt races. TRF team-mate Viktor Wilck missed out on the A-Main ending qualifying a disappointing 13th but he will be joined in the B-Main by a quality line up including BQ Andy Moore, who lost out on making the A-Main on a tie break with Magnus Vässmar, Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp and Serpent’s Marc Fisher.

Taking the honour of being the best placed Xray on the grid is 19-year-old Adrian Bernsten. Despite getting a Stop/Go penalty for contact with Freddy Sudhoff in the final qualifier the Norwegian still posted the fourth fastest time to secure fourth on the grid behind Rheinard and ahead of Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper. Xray are the best represented manufacturer on the grid with a total of four T4s, Tim Wahl, Alexander Hagberg and Magnus Vassmar securing 7th, 8th & 10th respectively. Making his first appearance for Serpent, long time ETS competitor David Erbhar got his new relationship off to a great start putting his S411 9th on the grid.

In the Xray Pro-Stock class former Champion Martin Hofer became the third driver to post a TQ run but having topped Q1 & 2 it is the HB of Oliver Franke that will start from pole position. An ultra close final qualifier with the Top 4 separated by 7/10ths, the result will see Hofer’s Schumacher line-up third on the grid behind the Awesomatix of Q3 pace setter Dominic Vogl. Having had great pace but short on luck, Viljami Kutvonen finally got a break and took his Awesomatix to the second fastest time a result that secured the rapid Finn the final spot on the grid for the A-Main. With defending Champion Zdenko Kunak unable to attend this weekend’s opening race Franke, who was his main rival in the title fight last season, will be hoping capitalise tomorrow and take full points having already secure the bonus point for the TQ.

Set for a tough race in Pro-Stock from where he will start fourth, Jan Asmer is making light work of the Speed Passion Formula class completing a clean sweep of all four qualifiers on his class debut. A winner last season Roman Pichler starts second while defending champion Herbert Weber lines up fourth.

Ride Modified Q4 times
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 24/5:03.838
2. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 24/5:05.748
3. Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 24/5:06.764
4. Adrian Bernsten (NO) – Xray – 24/5:08.967
5. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 24/5:09.893
6. Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 24/5:10.359
7. Marc Fisher (DE) – Serpent – 24/5:11.370
8. Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 24/5:11.453
9. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 24/5:11.881
10.Dionys Stadler (DE) – Awesomatix – 24/5:12.094

Ride Modified A-Main Grid
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 310
2. Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 308
3. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 306
4. Adrian Bernsten (NO) – Xray – 303
5. Yannic Prümper (DE ) – Yokomo – 302
6. Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 302
7. Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 301
8. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 300
9. David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 298
10.Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 279

Xray Pro Stock Q4 times
1. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 23/5:13.281
2. Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 23/5:13.556
3. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 23/5:13.610
4. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 23/5:13.983
5. Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 22/5:00.118
6. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 22/5:01.675
7. Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 22/5:01.790
8. Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 22/5:01.843
9. Bernhard Bopp (DE) – HB – 22/5:02.114
10.Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 22/5:02.457

Xray Pro Stock A-Main Grid
1. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 310 pts
2. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 308
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 307
4. Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 305
5. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 302
6. Bart Wubben (NL) – Xray – 299
7. Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 299
8. Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 298
9. Max Mächler (DE) – Awesomatix – 298
10.Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 297

View the complete event results here.

View our event gallery here.