Groskamp wins opening final
Top Qualifier Jilles Groskamp has won the opening leg of the Xenon Modified A-Main at the fifth round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Apeldoorn in a rather uneventful race. The Dutch ace took an easy victory leading from start to finish to win from TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard and Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper. As the race was reaching the midway distance things looked to be hotting up with Rheinard set to mount a challenge on the two time former ETS Champion but running high on the curb coming onto the straight his car got sideways catching the grass giving Groskamp the break he needed to cruise to the win.
Groskamp said he got lucky when Rheinard got on the grass but is confident that today’s hot conditions will suit his smooth driving and allow him to protect his tyres from over heating. Very happy with his TRF417 and that his Orion motor can match Rheinard’s Speed Passion, something he was not able to do last year at the similarly large MACH track, he is confident he can repeat his 2009 Apeldoorn victory this afternoon. Still seeking his first overall ETS win as Champion of the series, which has just one more event remaining after this weekend, Rheinard believes without his mistake he would have been able to take his team-mate and plans to stay off the curbs for the rest of the day.
Despite holding off the close attentions of Team Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp to claim third, Prumper was not happy with his BD5 which he said did not work well on fresh rubber. Having topped the third round of qualifying yesterday, the German teenager is confident that on used tyres he can be a lot more competive in the remaining two finals here in the Netherlands.
Having got the jump on his Yokomo team-mate Prumper, champion elect Ronald Volker looked on target to take a distant third until his car came to a halt on lap 15. Caused by the end cover coming off his LRP motor, the German appeared more concerned about his lack of pace compared with Groskamp and Rheinard saying he needs to find something big for Leg 2. The other retirement of the race was Freddy Sudhoff who went out with a broken rear gear diff in his Hot Bodies TCX.
In the first of the Xray Pro Stock A-Mains John Bruins also took an easy win after a messy first lap by the rest of the 10 car field. The Dutch Tamiya driver had a lucky start after which he was able to control the race but said with a clean start the second leg is going to be very different story. The driver expected to mount the biggest challenge was Martin Hofer but after two incidents on the opening lap he pulled up his Schumacher early so as to save his new tyres. Running the first final on used tyres, as Bruins did, last year’s Dutch ETS winner Oliver Franke took second from fourth on the grid. Having finally found a set-up for his Hot Bodies that he likes and with a fresh set of tyres for the second leg he is confident he can pull off another good result. Starting 8th on the grid Xray driver Steffen Leinburger survived the first lap incidents to take 3rd holding off strong pressure from the Tamiya of Swiss driver Sandro Kuriger.
Xray Modified A-Main Leg 1 results
1. Jilles Groskamp – 20 Laps in 5:13.788
2. Marc Rheinard – 20 Laps in 5:14.579
3. Yannic Prümper – 19 Laps in 5:03.527
4. Christopher Krapp – 19 Laps in 5:03.639
5. Cyril N’diaye – 19 Laps in 5:07.103
6. Steen Graversen – 19 Laps in 5:08.274
7. Viktor Wilck – 19 Laps in 5:12.178
8. Juho Levanen – 19 Laps in 5:13.529
9. Ronald Völker – 14 Laps in 3:41.183
10. Frederik Südhoff – 8 Laps in 2:15.147
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 1 results
1. John Bruins – 17 Laps in 5:05.257
2. Oliver Franke – 17 Laps in 5:07.782
3. Steffen Leinburger – 17 Laps in 5:08.709
4. Sandro Kuriger – 17 Laps in 5:08.928
5. Michael Spiering – 17 Laps in 5:13.330
6. Jens Kröger – 17 Laps in 5:18.003
7. Tony Streit – 16 Laps in 5:01.337
8. Ivan Laptev – 16 Laps in 5:02.715
9. Daniel Wohlgemuth – 4 Laps in 1:19.322
10. Martin Hofer – 4 Laps in 1:25.740
View complete event results here.
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