Video – Qualifying Rd1 action
Volker stamps authority on opening day
Determined to put the drama that befell him and his Yokomo team in Gran Canaria last month, defending Euro Touring Series Champion Ronald Volker sent out a clear message to his rivals on the opening day of the fourth round of the series when he stamped his authority on proceedings with a TQ run in the opening round of qualifying. The German took the first of the five scheduled qualifiers by 2.9 second from surprise man of the day Magnus Vässmar, the Xray driver carrying his impressive practice pace through to qualifying.
Very happy with his opening qualifier and the margin he had over his rivals, Volker said while his car felt like it had a lot of understeer it was obviously not as bad as that experienced by others. With the result from Round 3, where he was classified 10th, set to be one of his dropped scores he said this weekend is an important one for getting his title defense back on target and today was a perfect first step to getting that done this weekend. Admitting that in terms of individual lap times he was not the fastest, he said his car was more importantly easy to drive for the 5-minutes. Planning to try get a little more steering for tomorrow morning’s second qualifier Volker said he will discuss tonight what changes he will make with his engineer Umino but said it will be in the set-up rather than a change to his tyre prep.
Having been modest about his pace in practice 25-year-old Vässmar managed to a crack a smile after his Q1 performance saying he was very happy with his day and at being able to keep it together for the opening heat. Making only his second ETS appearance of the season having finished sixth in the B-Main at Round 2 in Italy, the Swede said he will think about making a few small tweaks to his set-up but not before sleeping on it tonight.
Despite losing around 1.5 seconds when he missed his braking and spun in front of Andy Moore who had nowhere to go and flipped the German, Freddy Sudhoff still managed to open his qualifying with the third fastest time. Making his first ETS appearance since signing for Awesomatix, the former podium finisher said his A700 was difficult at the start of the run but once the tyres came up to temperature it was ‘super good’ as highlighted by his 12.876 sec fastest lap of the day which he set on lap 13 of 23. ‘Fast Freddy’ said he will try a different tyre prep for Q2 to try and get the tyres to come in earlier in the run.
Having struggled in timed practice as a result of which he is running in the second fastest qualifying group, Viktor Wilck ended his day on a positive taking his Tamiya to the fourth fastest time just under a tenth of a second behind Sudhoff. Happy with the result the factory Tamiya driver said his car wasn’t good to drive. Pushing at the beginning of the run by the end it was very loose possibly as a result of his tyres overheating. Unsure what changes are required to cure the problem the Swede said the only thing he knows for sure right now is that he needs to try something different tomorrow. TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard was clearly not happy with his run to the fifth fastest time. The former series Champion, who needs a win this weekend if he wants to have any chance of challenging for this season’s title, is adamant that a bad set of tyres are responsible for his drop off in pace since the morning’s practice runs.
Completing the Top 6 was Alexander Hagberg. The Swede who made two mistakes over the run but said it ‘could have been worse’. Describing his ORCA powered T3 2012 as being still too sensitive to drive he said they need to work on finding a set-up for tomorrow that gives him confidence again with the car. Team-mate Zdenko Kunák was on a potential 2nd fastest time until he rolled his car three laps from the finish. Losing 3 seconds the mistake cost the talented Slovakian 5 places as he ended the round 7th.
While he missed out on a top run in Modified Kunák drove a faultless opening Pro-Stock qualifier to top the times by 2.1 seconds from the HB of Steffen Leinburger, the man who beat the Round 1 winner at the second race of the season in Italy to secure his first ever ETS win. Tony Streit completed the Top 3 ahead of joint standings leader Ivan Laptev. Defending Champion Martin Hofer had a terrible Q1 after he rolled his Schumacher resulting in only 22nd for the Round while early practice pace setter Oliver Franke didn’t get off to a good start either ending up down in 29th. In the Speed Passion Formula class Germany’s Dai Sakaguchi took the opening qualifier ahead of Austrian Hebert Weber.
Ride Modified Qualifying Round 1
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 23/5:00.845
2. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 23/5:03.759
3. Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 23/5:04.942
4. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 23/5:05.037
5. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 23/5:05.041
6. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 23/5:05.801
7. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray – 23/5:06.107
8. Eric Dankel (DE) – Yokomo – 23/5:07.017
9. Marco Kaufmann (DE) – Xray – 23/5:07.500
10.Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 23/5:08.284
Xray Pro-Stock Qualifying Round 1
1. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray – 22/5:08.593
2. Steffen Leinburger (DE) – HB – 22/5:10.714
3. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 22/5:11.939
4. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:12.134
5. Denis Zuykov (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:12.793
6. Felix Wiessmann (DE) – Yokomo – 22/5:13.040
7. Marek Cerny (CZ) – Yokomo – 22/5:13.061
8. Daniel Wohlgemuth (DE) – HB – 22/5:13.224
9. Matej Rehak (CZ) – Xray – 22/5:14.536
10.Carsten Madsen (DK) – Awesomatix – 21/5:00.458
View the complete results here.
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Business as usual as Volker tops practice in Poland
Practice for the fourth round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series is complete and it is so far business as usual at the carpet event for Ronald Volker as he took his Yokomo to the three fastest consecutive laps in the fourth & final practice in Poland to become the No.1 seed for the opening qualifier that will bring Day 1 of proceedings to a close. The reigning champion set the pace ahead of Xray’s Magnus Vässmar and his Yokomo team-mate Eric Dankel while Marc Rheinard, who was Volker’s closest challenger in the first timed practice, failed to improve his time. Despite a simpler chicane for the final practice the World Champion was one of the few drivers not to improve their times something the German blamed on the new set of controlled tyre he ran in preparation for qualifying which left his Tamiya with a lack of steering.
Volker was surprised at the lack of difference the changes to the chicane made as the entry was still key to posting a quick lap time. Using the run to scrub in his qualifying tyres, the German said his BD5 felt pretty good but added it should be even better for Q1 and have more steering as the tyres come in. Dankel said his Yokomo was difficult to drive for the first half of the 5-minutes due to running on fresh tyres and while it started to come good by the end, allowing him to post the third fastest time, he was going to give the car a full check over as it felt as if it was slightly tweaked.
Changing the roll centres and tyre prep on his Xray, Vässmar said this had made it both faster and easier to drive. Planning to continue with that set-up for Q1, the Swede said the car is safe and his focus is now on keeping his driving together with the full five minutes rather than three consecutive laps that are going to count in qualifying. Team-mates Zdenko Kunák and Alexander Hagberg were also able to improve their times and position ending up 4th and 5th fastest. Kunák was happy with changes to his T3 2012 but still feels the front is a little soft under breaking. Having made a better job of his driving in the final practice Hagberg said it was still not good enough but planning to adjust the flex in his car so as to make it a little more comfortable to drive he is hopeful of further improving it in the final run of the day.
Completing the top 6 was former World Champion Andy Moore. The factory HB driver, who last week signed a major sponsorship deal with Hobby Wing to use their speedos in this a World Championship year, was pleased with changes made to his TCX for the final practice. Changing to a lighter shock oil and adding more camber he said it gave him more overall traction and better stability in the long sweeper. Although the changes cost him a little steering the British Champion said he should be able to rectify that for Q1.
Elsewhere in the Ride Modified class, standings leader Christopher Krapp improved his time to 11th just shy of 10th fastest Martin Hudy. The Round 3 winner said his Kyosho was smooth to drive but ultimately too slow. Although the times over 5 minutes should be better than 11th fastest he will try a different shock set-up on his Orion powered TF6-SP for the opening qualifier. After tweaking his Tamiya in the first timed practice, TRF’s Viktor Wilck tried a different set-up for his second run but said it made his Thunder Power backed TRF417 ‘way too loose’ resulting in a slower time despite the track’s new, faster, layout. The Swede will revert back to his earlier set-up for Q1.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Kunák will be the top seed for qualifying ahead of Oliver Franke. Fastest in the first timed practice the Hot Bodies driver had a problem with his speedo second time round but with a new replacement speedo fitted he is confident he should be ok for the first qualifier. Former race winner Daniel Wohlgemuth ended practice third fastest ahead of Gran Canaria winner Marek Cerny and the Schumacher of defending champion Martin Hofer.
View the complete results here.
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Volker sets early pace in Poznan
Defending Champion Ronald Volker is the early pace setter at the fourth round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Poznan, Poland, with the German topping the time sheets ahead of Marc Rheinard in the first timed round of practice while championship leader Christopher Krapp hit problems ending up only 21st fastest. Running as part of the Motorshow Poznan, which is set to attract almost 50,000 visitors when it officially opens its doors to the public tomorrow morning, the host club have made full use of Hall 6 at the international exhibition venue to create a huge indoor track for the final carpet race of the 2011/12 season of ETS.
Volker said his Yokomo BD5 lacked a little steering but otherwise felt good and was easy to drive in particular through the triple chicane where he felt he was able to make up most of his time advantage over his rivals. Unfortunately for the European Champion a large number of crashes through the challenging section has forced race director Scotty Ernst to change the layout to a double chicane due to concerns of damage being caused to the carpet. With many drivers struggling to make the chicane, the body posts of the overturned cars sliding across the carpet has result already in some rips and so as to protect it from any further damage the chicane was modified after the penultimate practice giving all the drivers one practice run to adjust to the change ahead of this evening’s opening qualifier. Volker said making the chicane less challenging would close things up at the front but he understood and backed the decision to make the change.
Rheinard was surprisingly upbeat about the early performance of his Tamiya ending up just 2/10th off Volker over their fastest three consecutive laps. He said while his car felt ‘lazy’ to drive the lap times were OK and he will continue with the same set-up for the final practice and just fit one of his allocated sets of Ride race tyres to scrub them in for qualifying.
Causing a bit of a surprise on the time sheets was Swede Magnus Vässmar who took his Xray to the third fastest time. The 25-year-old who joined the Xray team at the end of last season was modest about his performance describing it as OK but added as the grip starts to come up on the fresh carpet his T3 2012 is starting to get a little twitchy to drive. Planning to change his tyre prep for the final practice he like many drivers is glad to see the chicane change saying it was very tricky to get right every time.
Having secured his best ever ETS finish at Round 3 in Gran Canaria, team-mate Alexander Hagberg is not enjoying a good start to his event finding himself 31st on the time sheets. Although he didn’t complete the full practice run due to losing a drive shaft pin, the Swede said his head just stopped working this morning and he hopes the track change might help him get it back into gear.
Christopher Krapp is another who hopes he can turn things around this evening in Poland. In the opening practice the German suffered with a broken sensor wire and missed out on the 5-minutes of valuable track time. Although he ran the second practice ok, in the first timed practice his Kyosho struggled on fresh tyres resulting in a crash through the chicane with resulted in a broken rear arm. Asked about his goal this weekend, the 19-year-old said racing back indoors he needs to be realistic about his chances admitting a Top 3 finishing was going to be a tall order. Setting his goal on first securing himself a place in the A-Main he said that was the approach he took at Round 1 in Koblenz and the end result was a podium finish.
A change of chassis helped Eric Dankel to find his rhythm in the first timed practice after he struggled in the morning’s two untimed practice rounds. Running a new chassis in the morning the Yokomo team driver could not get any feeling with the car and so reverted to a chassis he last ran at the Italian round of the ETS earlier this year where he made the A-Main. Describing it as ‘super easy’ to drive the former multiple ETS Pro Stock race winner said he will leave the set-up as is and concentrate on his driving and adapting to the track change. A fan of the first chicane he said it was better for everyone that they did decided to change it.
Completing the Top 6 was Xray Pro-Stock title contender Zdenko Kunák and factory Awesomatix driver Freddy Südhoff. The Russian designed Awesomatix continues to grow in popularity with 16 of the A700 chassis competing here this weekend. Elsewhere Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper, one of the drivers expected to mount a challenge for a win here this weekend, has unfortunately fallen ill and has decided to return home to Germany.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class, HB driver Oliver Franke set the pace from Kunák and up & coming Polish talent Michal Orlowski. Franke said a shock rebuild for the first timed practice helped a lot with the car working a lot better when the shocks were full of oil rather than air. Also racing in the Ride Modified class, Franke said he does not believe the track change will effect the Pro-Stock cars as much as Modified and so is not too concerned it will change much at the top of the time sheets.
View the complete results here.
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ETS motors to Poland for second half of season
After a 6-week ‘mid term’ break, the second half of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series gets underway this weekend (13-15 April) with drivers traveling to Poland for the fourth race of six that make up the calendar for season number five of the world renowned electric touring car championship. While Poland has been a regular fixture on the annual ETS schedule, like the opening three races of the 2011/12 season another new venue awaits competitors with the country’s fifth largest city Poznan playing host to drivers from 22 different nations. Adding to the excitement of the Polish round is the race being a part of Motor Show Poznan, a full size car motor show which has previously attracted 46,000 visitors.
Following his hugely popular maiden ETS win in Gran Canaria Christopher Krapp is the man who sits at the top of the points standings in the premiere class ahead of current & former champions Ronald Volker and Marc Rheinard who are equal second, two points adrift of their fellow German. Also securing Kyosho’s first win in the series’ history, Krapp’s wrapping up of the overall win on the holiday Island in the second A-Main is already the most watched race of the season with 10,000 views. Starting out the season with a podium finish at Round 1 in Germany and then fourth in Italy, the 19-year-old now has that first win under his belt and will be looking to continue his form which has put him right in contention for the overall championship title.
Having dominated the opening two races of the season, Volker will be looking to put the finals day drama of Round 3 to the back of his mind this weekend and try get his title defense back on track. Having qualified third in Gran Canaria, the factory Yokomo driver was forced to withdraw from the asphalt event following the practice final after the last of his prototype speed controllers expired. Back to racing on carpet in Poland, the European Champion is widely recognised as the best carpet racer in the World currently and will be looking to capitalise on this the last carpet track of the season.
World Champion Rheinard knows that this weekend is a crucial one for him if he is to have any chance of lifting the ETS title for a second time. The Tamiya driver has struggled to be any match for his great rival Volker and even when the defending champion hit trouble at Round 3 he could not capitalise coming away with another 3rd, the same result as he achieved at the previous race in Italy.
Outside of the Top 3 in the championship standings, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper could spring a surprise in Poland. Hagberg was very fast at round 3 and took a well deserved second behind Krapp and the Swede is very hungry for that first ever ETS victory. Showing great form in Italy where he finished second to team-mate Volker, 18-year-old Prumper has a single ETS win to his credit and that came in Poland but that was three years ago. Forced to miss Round 4 due to school commitments, the German is back and more determined than ever to put an end to his winning drought.
In the biggest category of the ETS, the Xray Pro Stock class where 269 drivers have already registered championship points, the lead in the standings is shared between defending champion Martin Hofer and Ivan Laptev despite neither driver having won a race yet this season. Third in the standings, former Hobby Class Champion Michal Orlowski will be extra motivated to do well this weekend as he races in front of his home crowd and seeks his first ETS Pro-Stock win. Having missed Gran Canaria, Round 1 winner Zdenko Kunák is back this weekend as is Round 2 victor Steffen Leinburger. A surprise winner at Round 3 on his first ETS appearance of the season, Czech racer Marek Cerný will be hoping he can continue where he left off.
In the new Speed Passion Formula class young Polish racer Bartlomiej Zambrzycki, who is second in the standings, will be hoping he can show his more senior rivals the way round this weekend in front of the expected large crowds. Round 4 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 Poznan can be followed live throughout the weekend on RedRC.
Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 3
Hagberg wins A-Main 3 to finish Runner-up
Alexander Hagberg took an easy win in the final leg of the A-Main at the Yokomo Touring Series in Gran Canaria to secure his second ever podium finish of the series. With Top Qualifier Christopher Krapp sitting out the third A-Main having secured the overall win in Leg 2, this left a clear track in front of Team Xray’s touring car star which the Swede took full advantage of to win ahead of Andy Moore and Marc Rheinard, the World Champion completing the podium on the Spanish island.
Switching to tyres he used in qualifying, Hagberg said his ORCA powered T3 2012 was much better in the final race of the day, feeling like it did yesterday when he TQ’d two rounds of qualifying. A little too late to help him challenge for his first overall ETS win he said he was happy to be able to recover from the opening two legs of the final and secure 2nd overall, his best finish in the series. The Swede added that the weekend showed that his team have made progress with their car on asphalt and he is looking forward to racing again on asphalt, the next outdoor ETS race being Round 5 at the beautiful Apeldoorn track in the Netherlands. Hagberg almost didn’t make the start of the race after his Xray which was waiting to be gridded was collected by Rheinard’s Tamiya that was on a full speed warm-up lap. Knocking the servo horn off Hagberg’s car, which he mounts using Shu Goo, Race Director Scotty Ernst called a delayed start allowing Hagberg time to reglue it.
Finishing third overall Rheinard said it had been a tough weekend and he was particularly frustrated that he wasn’t able to take maximum championship points especially since his main title rival Ronald Volker was forced to sit out the finals due to speedo problems.
The Xray Pro Stock class saw defending champion Martin Hofer win the final Main ahead of Russian Ivan Laptev and Tony Streit. The result meant Hofer and Laptev joined overall winner Marek Cerný, who sat out the race, on the sun drenched podium. In the Formula class it was also the Top Qualifier that claimed the overall win, Italian driver Maurizio Taddei’s HPI taking victory over the Tamiyas of Germany’s Andreas Mundt and young Polish driver Bartlomiej Zambrzycki.
A very successful first visit to Gran Canaria for the Euro Touring Series already the feedback from drivers is that they want to return again next season having enjoyed the track, the weather and the hospitality of the local club. Moving back to mainland Europe where the weather will unfortunately be a lot colder, the ETS goes back indoors and on to a carpet track again when Poland plays host to Round 4 of the Yokomo sponsored series.
Ride Modified Leg 3 Result
1.(2) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/ORCA – 17/5:18.250
2.(5) Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/HPI Flux – 17/5:18.725
3.(7) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 16/5:01.536
4.(4) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 16/5:02.637
5.(8) Steen Graversen (DK) – Awesomatix/Thunder Power – 16/5:04.916
6.(6) Elliott Harper (GB) – Tamiya/Orion – 13/4:05.603
7.(9) Chris Grainger (GB) – Schumacher/GM – 13/5:17.295
8.(1) Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – DNS
9.(3) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – DNS
10.(10)Eric Dankel (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – DNS
Ride Modified Overall Result
1. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 2 pts
2. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/ORCA – 4
3. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 4
4. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 6
5. Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/HPI Flux – 7
6. Eric Dankel (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 13
7. Chris Grainger (GB) – Schumacher/GM – 13
8. Elliott Harper (GB) – Tamiya/Orion – 13
9. Steen Graversen (DK) – Awesomatix/Thunder Power – 14
10.Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 20
Xray Pro-Stock Leg 3 Result
1.(2) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 15/5:00.384
2.(7) Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 15/5:00.618
3.(6) Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 15/5:01.718
4.(3) Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 15/5:02.406
5.(9) Felix Wiessmann (DE) – Yokomo – 15/5:02.937
6.(8) Carsten Madsen (DK) – Awesomatix – 15/5:03.345
7.(10)Alvaro Fernandez (ES) – Tamiya – 15/5:04.766
8.(4) Javier Martinez (GC) – Hot Bodies – 15/5:06.344
9.(5) Toni Mateo (ES) – Tamiya – 4/1:08.532
10.(1)Marek Cerný (CZ) – Yokomo – DNS
Xray Pro-Stock Overall Result
1. Marek Cerný (CZ) – Yokomo – 2
2. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 3
3. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 4
4. Tony Streit (DE) – Xray – 6
5. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 8
6. Alvaro Fernandez (ES) – Tamiya – 11
7. Javier Martinez (GC) – Hot Bodies – 11
8. Carsten Madsen (DK) – Awesomatix – 11
9. Felix Wiessmann (DE) – Yokomo – 12
10.Toni Mateo (ES) – Tamiya – 17
View the complete results here.
View the event image gallery here.
Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 2
