Rheinard tops first Dutch qualifier
Championship leader Marc Rheinard has set the pace in the opening round of qualifytng here at the fifth round of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series in the Netherlands. The World Champion topped the hotly contested heat from European Champion Jilles Groskamp and current 1:8 Off Road World Champion Atsushi Hara with just over a second covering the trio after five minutes. Rheinard said his car was really good except for the opening lap when he had no traction. The German lost 7/10th compared with the fastest opening lap set by his Tamiya/Speed Passion team-mate Viktor Wilck something he believes was caused by taking his tyre warmers off too early.
Groskamp said his Tamiya felt good but lacked the power of his rivals. Running the same setting on his speedo as earlier in the day he said he should have taken advantage of the cooler conditions and up the power on his Nosram speedo. The Dutch driver who knows this track better than anyone was very impressed by Rheinard and Hara considering their lack of track knowledge and said they are both driving extremely well. Unfortunately for Groskamp his car suffered damage after he had completed the run when Zdenko Kunak’s Xray shut down and he hit him at full speed. Both drivers will now have a late evening as they fully rebuild their respective chassis.
‘Very close, one mistake and its over’ was how Hara described the opening heat. The Japanese driver said his new TCX chassis had a better feeling following the switch from a GM 4.5 to 5.5 turn motor but felt it lacked a little in outright speed. For the second qualifier tomorrow morning he plans to run a 5.0 turn.
Despite arriving late in the Netherlands this afternoon due to a school exam this morning in Germany, Yannic Prumper set a very impressive fourth fastest time despite only getting to do two of the days five practice runs. Behind the young German talent it was Andy Moore who was on a very similar pace to his Hot Bodies team-mate Hara until he caught a curb sending his Orion powered car into a 360 spin. Steen Graversen completed the top six with his Tamiya/Speed Passion combination followed by the Yokomo/GM of Martin Hofer, the German said his car was good but his driving on this occassion was below par.
In Pro Stock Vasco Christiaanse ensured the Dutch are very much on target for a hat trick of home ETS victories by taking his Kyosho TF6 around the MACH in the fastest time with a 16 lap run in 5:07.196. Behind the 2008 Top Qualifier was top international Russian driver Ivan Laptev who was less than 7/10th off with his Tamiya. Germany’s Oliver Franke completed the Top 3 at the controls of his Xray. In the Hobby Class young German driver Lucas Fischer topped the over night qualification rankings from standings leading Michal Orlowski of Poland.
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