Euro Touring Series

October 28, 2011

Volker tops timed practice

Ronald Volker has topped practice for the opening round of the 2011/12 Yokomo Euro Touring Series, the reigning champion improving on his earlier pace set in the second timed practice to be seeded no.1 for qualifying. The Yokomo driver improved his average for three consecutive laps by 1/10 of a second to end practice in Muelheim-Kaerlich over 2/10th faster than Xray’s Alexander Hagberg with Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard dropping a spot to third.

Naoto Matsukura

Not featuring at the sharp end of the time sheets after first timed practice Japanese ace Naoto Matsukura found a chunk of time to set the fourth fastest time ahead of his Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prümper who also improved. Suffering from oversteer in TP1 the back to back 1:12 World Champion changed his suspension set-up and oil for the final practice. While much better, the 18-year-old said his BD5 WXi went to having a little understeer and he was now working on a set-up that would give him steering somewhere inbetween.

Factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp completed the top 6 ahead of TRF driver Viktor Wilck. Although shown at the top of the timesheets due to short lap after he missed a section of track when he rolled his TRF417x in TP1, on manual correction of the lap he ends practice classified 7th ahead of France’s Loic Jasmin.

Zdenko Kunák

In the Xray Pro Stock class, Slovakian Zdenko Kunák set the pace for Xray when he was the only driver to record a 13 second lap average. Fastest in the first timed practice Oliver Franke improved on his time but ended up second just ahead of champion Martin Hofer and winner of the last season’s finale Ivan Laptev.

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October 28, 2011

Champion Volker heads practice at ETS season opener

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Defending champion Ronald Volker has set the pace in the opening timed practice at the season opener of the 2011/12 Yokomo Euro Touring Series, the Yokomo ace fastest over three laps from his great rival and last season’s runner-up Marc Rheinard with Xray’s Alexander Hagberg third fastest.

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The start of the fifth season of the ETS, the 6-round series has moved away from Kastellaun, it traditional opening event, to an all new and bigger venue in Muelheim-Kaerlich near Koblenz where almost three hundred racers from around the globe have descended for the weekend. Featuring a track designed by Spanish racer Toni Mateo, who will host the third round of the series in Gran Canary in March, the track looks like a permament track thanks to the use of black carpet. Featuring the main straight directly in front of the rostrum, the layout is coming in for a lot of praise from drivers.

LRFri-ErikDankel

As defending champions Yokomo have come to the opening race here in Germany with a huge presence including two interesting new signings. Joining Volker, Yannic Prumper, who came on strong in the second half of last season to finish third overall, and 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura, who took his first big international touring car win earlier this month at the IIC in Las Vegas are Eric Dankel and Adrian Bersten. Both former Xray drivers Dankel’s move comes following a difference of opinion with his former team and his disillusionment with the tyre additive issues that have dogged onroad nitro racing this year. One of nitro racing’s leading international drivers, the German said his focus is now on electric racing where he says the ETS has created a very fair and competitive environment in which to race. Fitting in the opening two rounds of last season’s ETS around his World Championship nitro commitments Dankel went on to dominate in Pro stock but is back this year for a full campaign of Modified. Having had just one previous outing with his LRP powered BD5 WXi, he is looking forward this weekend as it will be his first chance to work with the factory team who have Umino Yukijiro on hand for technical support. In the first timed practice Dankel set the 11th fastest time. Former European junior champion Bernsten has got his new deal with Yokomo off to a good start setting the 6th fastest time in early practice.

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In the middle of an intense few weeks of racing which started out with a race in Australia, followed by the IIC in Vegas then China last week and sees him head of to Hong Kong following this weekend, Volker said he is very confident about his ETS title defence. Happy with the feel of his car in practice which he heads by over a 1/10th of a second from Rheinard, the German gave the track layout a thumbs up. Asked about his set-up he said together with Umino they were just fine tuning the balance to get maximium steering without traction roll but he is very comfortable with the set-up they have already reached.

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Having enjoyed a strong finish to last season’s ETS when he won both asphalt rounds, World Champion Marc Rheinard said he was surprised at his pace as his Speed Passion powered Tamiya TRF417X felt a lot worse than was reflected in the times. Struggling with the car, which features a chassis plate that uses a differently constructed carbon fibre, he said he is lacking corner speed and suffering from understeer. The German will try running a softer shock oil for the final round of practice ahead of this evening’s opening round of qualifying. A regular visitor to the MotoGP paddock as a guest of the Ducati team, Rheinard ran a special bodyshell in practice to remember fallen rider Marco Simoncelli. A total of four of the bodyshells have been painted up to reflect the helmet colours of the highly talent Italian rider with three of the large Italian contigent here running the others. Throughout the busy pit area here at the Philipp-Heift Halle there are many tributes to the #58 rider. Posting the fifth fastest time Rheinard’s TRF team-mate Viktor Wilck reported his Thunder Power equipped TRF417x, in which he is running prototype double jointed Tamiya front drive shafts, has the same issues and will also try a softer shock oil.

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Heading the factory Xray team, Hagberg said his T3 2012 was a little difficult to drive but was fast. Describing the track as ‘very technical’ the Swede said he does not plan to make any set-up changes but will instead focus on tyre additive in an attempt to make the car a little easier to drive. This weekend marks the first event with new partner Ride being the controlled tires. Used by competitors at the final two asphalt events last season a softer tyre is being used here with drivers reporting very good durability and consistency.

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A driver to spring up a number of surprises last season Hot Bodies’ Dominik Fleischmann set the sixth fastest time. Describing his LRP powered TCX as ‘pretty much dialled’ the German said he was pretty satisfied with the start to his weekend as University commitments have meant he has had little time to prepare for the event. Factory Hot Bodies driver Andy Moore, who enjoyed victory in China last weekend which was attended by most of the top drivers in action here, set the 10th fastest time. The newly crowned British Champion said the mixture of high and low speed corners is making it hard for him to get a good balance. Happy with his TCX on the tight corners he said the open corners are a struggle.

One of only three drivers to enjoy victory in the top class of the ETS last season Team Associated’s Juho Levanen was 12th fastest. The Finn said he was able to run a couple of good laps but he just hasn’t been able to run three consecutively. Having started to try something new in terms of set-up he said it wasn’t the right direction to take and reverting back to his carpet set-up from last season for the first timed practice he said the car was much better.

In the Xray Pro Stock class, Hot Bodies driver Oliver Franke headed the first timed practice ahead of the Schumacher of defending champion Martin Hofer.

View the event image gallery here.

October 27, 2011

Xray support for 2011/2012 ETS

After a successful season in 2010/2011 Xray is proud to announce that the 2011/2012 Euro Touring Series will be again supported and sponsored by Xray. Both the ETS organisers and the Xray company have agreed to create a mutual cooperation that will see the Slovakian company as a primary sponsor of the world’s biggest r/c touring car championship. This is a great news for all Xray drivers as the Xray factory team will be available at all six rounds of the ETS to provide full support and service. Xray guarantees that their service team will also be available at every race with a complete range of all spare parts and will provide technical and set-up help to all Xray drivers. Just look for the familiar Xray tent.

Xray support for 2011/2012 ETS

To cap it all off, all Xray drivers at every race will receive a FREE promo package that includes Xray T-shirt, pit towel and stickers.

October 26, 2011

Yokomo extends Euro Touring Series sponsorship

With the 2011/12 Euro Touring Series set to get underway later this week in Germany the organisers of the world’s biggest r/c touring car championship are delighted to announce that Yokomo has extended their title sponsorship of the ETS for a second season. Coming onboard as title sponsor of the six round series in 2010, the Japanese company enjoyed a perfect first season as an ETS partner with their star driver Ronald Volker dominating the opening races en-route to beating the world class field of factory drivers to the overall championship title. In recognition of Yokomo’s extended support of the ETS the series will continue to be officially known as the ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’.

Along with the news of the extension of their relationship with Yokomo, ETS founders Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst also made the announcement of an all new partnership with Japanese company Ride who will be the official controlled tyre supplier for 2011/12. Probably best known for their sponsorship of former World Touring Car Champion and ETS race winner Atsushi Hara, the deal with Ride came about following very positive feedback from competitors who got to run their tires at last season’s finale in Andernach. Two other companies the ETS organisers are pleased to welcome onboard are new associated sponsors Team Orion and Thunder Power.

Kicking off its fifth season this weekend with an all new event in Muelheim-Kaerlich, Germany, the popularity of the ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’ looks set to continue to grow with the 22nd running of an ETS race having received a record 301 prepaid entries. Last season a total of 641 drivers registering championship points over the three classes that form the race program of the three day events.

Having started out in 2007 with just four dates, the Euro Touring Series has established itself now as a six round championship that combines both indoor and outdoor events. Starting at a new location near Koblenz in Germany, the series features a very different 2011/12 calendar featuring five new venues with Italy and the holiday Island of Gran Canaria two exciting additions.

September 3, 2011

Euro Touring Series announce 2011/2012 schedule

Having crowned the 2010/11 champions just weeks ago, the organisers of the Euro Touring Series have announced the schedule for season number 5. Coming off the back of a very successful fourth series, that saw over 630 drivers register points, the ETS will once again be run over six rounds and visit six different countries, two of which are new to the championship. The 2011/2012 season will kick off with the opening round in Mülheim-Kärlich near Koblenz, Germany, before going to Italy and Gran Canaria for rounds 2 and 3. A new location in Warsaw, Poland followed by racer favourite Apeldoorn in the Netherlands will host rounds 4 and 5 while the season finale will now be in Traiskirchen, Austria. Created by Scotty Ernst and Uwe Rheinard, the Euro Touring Series will kick off in Germany on October 28-30.

UPDATE: The location for round 4 in Poland has been moved from Warsaw to Poznan as the series race will now be part of Poland’s largest Motor show.

2011/2012 Euro Touring Series Calendar
Round 1 – 28-30 October 2011 – Koblenz, Germany
Round 2 – 20-22 January 2012 – Scandiano, Italy
Round 3 – 02-04 March 2012 – Gran Canaria, Spain
Round 4 – 13-15 April 2012 – Poznan, Poland
Round 5 – 01-03 June 2012 – Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
Round 6 – 13-15 July 2012 – Traiskirchen, Austria

July 10, 2011

Video – Mod & Pro Stock A-main Leg 3

July 10, 2011

Volker & Hofer crowned ETS Champions

Ronald & Umino

Ronald Volker and Martin Hofer have been officially crowned champions of the 2010/11 Yokomo Euro Touring Series with the two Germans being presented with their winning trophies at a ceremony at the season finale at Andernach, Germany.

Slightly disappointed not to end his ultra successful campaign with win number 4, Volker had to be content with second overall for the sixth round behind Marc Rheinard but did get to close off the fourth season of the ETS with a Yokomo 1-2, a result that would secure third in the overall standings for team-mate Yannic Prumper. Winning three of the six events on the calendar, four of which he started from pole, Volker was delighted with the outcome of his first full ETS campaign saying it always felt good to beat his great rival Rheinard, the man from whom he takes away the title. Summing up his campaign the reigning European Champion paid tribute to the support and efforts of his Japanese Yokomo team in particular his engineer Umino. Dominating the indoor races Volker said this was key to securing the overall title which ends Tamiya’s reign of the premiere class since the creation of the ETS back in 2007.

Modified Top 3

Able to sit out the third A-Main having secured his second win of the season earlier in the day, Rheinard said it was good to end the season with back to back wins as it showed the Tamiya team had made good progress with the TRF417. Runner-up in the ETS standings, the World Champion said they still have work to do in getting the car right on carpet but is already realising the challenge of going head to head with Volker and Yokomo in the 2011/12 series.

Martin Hofer

Although he endured one of his toughest races of the season in Andernach, finishing up 7th overall, new Pro Stock Champion Hofer said he had achieved his overall goal. Joining Schumacher from the second round of the series, which he duly TQ’d and won, he said it was great to repay the British company and his long time sponsor GM Racing with the title. The first full season of running spec Speed Passion speedos and motors, Hofer endorsed the move by the ETS organisers saying it had made for really close racing and he thoroughly enjoyed his campaign.

Pro Stock

For Ivan Laptev today’s racing will be moment he is going to remember for a long time as he secured his biggest ever victory. Winning the third leg of the Xray Pro Stock A-main the Russian driver secured his first ETS win and the first international success for the unique Awesomatix chassis. The result helped Laptev to finish runner-up in the championship and having finished third last season he said next year his aim must be the title. Having come close to winning in Poland, the win here was made all the more special by the fact his father, a popular figure in the pits, was on hand to see his son win as was the designer of the A700 Oleg Babich for whom this was a very special moment for the small new company.

Hobby Series Top 10

The smaller of the three classes that make up the ETS, but a very important one especially for the nurturing of the future Volkers and Hofers of the sport, the Hobby Class also crowned a deserving champion today with Oliver Günther making it a great year for Germany. The force of touring car racing in Europe winning all three titles.

ETS Team

The 2010/11 Euro Touring Series has come to a close with a record entry of 251 drivers from 28 countries around the World being part of the season finale. Now 21 races old, the fourth season further endorses the ETS’ status as the world largest touring car championship with a total of 644 drivers taking part this season. The creators of the series, Scotty Ernst and Uwe Rheinard, have asked us to thank all the drivers and their families who have been a part of making the ETS as big as it is. They wanted to also thank all the clubs who hosted races this season and the sponsors in particular Yokomo, Xray, Xenon, Speed Passion and Hudy, who showed faith in their vision for the series.

Xenon Modified A-main Leg 3 result
1. Ronald Völker – Yokomo – 18L 5:10.067
2. Yannic Prümper – Yokomo – 18L 5:11.099
3. Jilles Groskamp – Tamiya – 18L 5:12.994
4. Atsushi Hara – Hot Bodies – 18L – 5:14.117
5. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 18L 5:17.120
6. Andy Moore – Hot Bodies – 17L 5:00.254
7. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 17L 5:00.379
8. Steen Graversen – Awesomatix – 17L 5:02.859
9. Eric Dankel – Xray – 17L 5:04.720
10.Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – DNS

Xray Pro Stock A-main Leg 3 result
1. Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix – 17L 5:14.941
2. Tony Streit – Xray – 17L 5:18.254
3. René Klöckner – Tamiya – 16L 5:00.291
4. Martin Hofer – Schumacher – 16L 5:02.876
5. Daniel Wohlgemuth – Tamiya – 16L 5:03.497
6. Michael Spiering – TOP – 16L 5:03.497
7. Michael Kiesewetter – Xray – 16L 5:04.814
8. John Bruins – Tamiya – 16L 5:05.056
9. Andre Schäfer – Serpent – 16L 5:12.349
10.Steffen Leinburger – Xray – 12L 3:50.137

Xenon Modified Overall result
1.(1) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 2 pts
2.(2) Ronald Völker – Yokomo – 3
3.(4) Yannic Prümper – Yokomo – 4
4.(5) Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 7
5.(3) Jilles Groskamp – Tamiya – 8
6.(6) Andy Moore – Hot Bodies – 10
7.(7) Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 12
8.(8) Steen Graversen – Awesomatix – 13
9.(9) Atsushi Hara – Hot Bodies – 14
10.(10)Eric Dankel – Xray – 15

Xray Pro Stock Overall result
1.(1) Ivan Laptev – Awesomatix – 2 pts
2.(2) Tony Streit – Xray – 3
3.(6) René Klöckner – Tamiya – 6
4.(8) John Bruins – Tamiya – 8
5.(9) Steffen Leinburger – Xray – 9
6.(4) Daniel Wohlgemuth – Tamiya – 11
7.(7) Martin Hofer – Schumacher – 12
8.(3) Michael Spiering – TOP – 12
9.(5) Michael Kiesewetter – Xray – 14
10.(10)Andre Schäfer – Serpent – 16

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

July 10, 2011