Prumper wins, Volker retains title
Yannic Prumper finally ended his three year winning drought today at the season finale of the 2011/12 Yokomo Euro Touring Series when he won Leg 3 of the A-Main ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg to claim the overall win in Austria over the Swede with Yokomo team mate Ronald Volker completing the podium. For Volker the podium was enough for the season’s only double race winner to retain the prestigious Ride Modified title in what has been the world famous electric Touring car’s most competitive championship to date.
Becoming the fifth different winner of the 2011/12 ETS, 18-year-old Prumper was delighted at taking his first major race win since 2009 when he claimed the top step on the podium at the Polish ETS round that year. Joking that he has ‘been waiting a long time’ for this he said the timing of his win couldn’t d be better and it is a big boost for him with the World Championships just two weeks away. The win, Yokomo’s sixth in the 5-year history of the ETS, helped Prumper to claim fourth in the overall championship on a tie break with Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp.
Winning the second of the A-Mains, title contender Hagberg was pleased to claim his third podium of the season saying he gave it his best shot. Being the factory Xray driver’s first full ETS campaign, the winner of the fourth round of the series in Poland was happy with third in the overall ranking adding it was something to build on for next season. Describing each round of the ETS as being like a World or European Championship, Hagberg said the competition was very tough and admitted that today’s races felt like very long 5-minutes!
Delighted at retaining his title in what was an up and down season for the German, Volker was quick to pay tribute to the hard work and effort put in by his Yokomo team in particular his mechanic Yukijiro Umino who traveled from Japan to all six races. Having dominated the opening two rounds on carpet, he said on asphalt the competition was much closer. With his campaign taking a serious hit in Gran Canaria and again in Apeldoorn, both asphalt events, he said this weekend the team turned things around with Yannic securing his first win with the team and him making the podium, a result which was far better than they needed to retain the title.
Missing out on the podium for the first time this season, taking fourth, Marc Rheinard once again had to settle for the runners-up spot but the World Champion, who led the points coming into the season finale said after qualifying 7th any chance of retaking the title which he won in 2009/10 was going to be a miracle. A former team-mate of Prumper he said in the last A-Main he was more focused on how he was doing as had Hagberg won today it would have demoted him to third in the standings.
In the Xray Pro Stock class there was great celebrations for the Xray team in what can only be described as some seriously close results. In the third A-Main Oliver Franke took the win leaving Top Qualifier Tony Streit and Martin Hofer all equal on race points. With the fastest race time from his Leg 1 victory, Top Qualifier Tony Streit was declared the fifth different winner of the series’ biggest class ahead of out going champion Hofer and Franke. With Franke third this left him tied on points in the overall season standings with factory Xray driver Zdenko Kunak after he managed only 8th overall. Luckily for the 18-year-old Slovak his wins in Germany and Poland gave him the tie break to secure Xray its first ETS while Streit’s win today made it a championship 1-2. Admitting he didn’t make life easy for himself this weekend Kunak, whose father is a major character in the ETS paddock, was delighted at winning his first major international title. Streit, who also was Top Qualifier in Apeldoorn but failed to convert it into a win, was delighted to end his season on such a high and played a major part in helping Xray to secure a very important title victory.
Its first year on the ETS program, the inaugural Formula class title went to Herbert Weber. Claiming his first win of the season finally, the home victory was enough to give secure him the championship ahead of Swiss driver Roman Pichler, who had a tough day, with Dutch driver Alexander Roeleveld completing the overall top three. Growing every race the Formula class is sure to see further growth next season.
Ride Modified A-Main Overall Result
1. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokmo/Hobbywing – 2 pts
2. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/ORCA – 3
3. Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 4
4. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 7
5. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 7
6. Vitkor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 8
7. Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 11
8. Freddy Sudhoff (DE) – Awesomatix/LRP – 13
9. Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray/LRP – 14
10.Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray/Thunder Power – 14
Ride Modified A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(1) Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokmo/Hobbywing – 21/5:02.960
2.(2) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/ORCA – 21/5:04.220
3.(7) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 21/5:04.992
4.(4) Ronald Volker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 21/5:05.490
5.(5) Vitkor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 21/5:05.755
6.(6) Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 21/5:06.815
7.(3) Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 21/5:06.948
8.(8) Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray/Thunder Power – 21/5:09.935
9.(10)Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray/LRP – 21/5:13.994
10.(9)Freddy Sudhoff (DE) – Awesomatix/LRP – 21/5:14.954
Xray Pro-Stock A-Main Overall Result
1. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 3
2. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 3
3. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 3
4. Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 6
5. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 10
6. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 11
7. Bernhard Bopp (DE) – HB – 11
8. Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Xray – 12
9. Marek Cerny (CZ) – Yokomo – 13
10.Morten Iversen (DK) – Awesomatix – 16
Xray Pro-Stock A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(2) Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 20/5:14.688
2.(1) Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 20/5:14.877
3.(6) Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 19/5:00.461
4.(3) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 19/5:00.781
5.(7) Zdenko Kunak (SK) – Xray – 19/5:01.739
6.(9) Bernhard Bopp (DE) – HB – 19/5:02.392
7.(10)Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 19/5:03.401
8.(8) Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 19/5:03.825
9.(4) Morten Iversen (DK) – Awesomatix – 19/5:07.225
10.(5)Marek Cerny (CZ) – Yokomo – 18/4:53.036
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