Euro Touring Series

November 4, 2009

Euro Touring Series – Round 2

ETS Round 2 - Budapest Hungary

After a successful opening round in Kastellaun, the next round of the Xenon Racing backed Euro Touring Series moves on to the beautiful city of Budapest in Hungary on November 27/28. Making its first appearance on the ETS calendar last season, the race produced one of champion elect Jilles Groskamp’s greatest passing maneuvers as he overtook Toni Rheinard on the last corner of the last lap of the third leg of the A-Main to secure the overall victory. Like the season opener, there will be a strong line-up of team drivers making the trip to the Dabas-Diego Sports Centre.

Heading that entry is championship leader Viktor Wilck who will be joined by his World Champion Tamiya team mate Marc Rheinard. Xray will be in attendance with Martin Hudy, who finished the event on the podium last year, and their young charger Elliot Harper. Associated will be armed with Juho Levanen who showed very strongly with his TC5R in Kastellaun, qualifying third on the grid with a TQ run in Q3. 2006 World Champion Andy Moore is also confirmed. The factory Hot Bodies driver had a tough opening race but is confident he’ll be back mixing it at the front in Budapest. For defending ETS Pro Stock Champion Balint Rajki, Budapest is his home event. The Hungarian driver was forced to miss the opening round in Germany as he became a father with the arrival of twins. Last year the Hot Bodies driver took the win from Czech driver Jakub Plechac and will be keen to repeat the success as he returns to the series.

For more information about the event and where it takes place go to the Series page on our site here.

Entry for round 2 can be placed here.

October 19, 2009

Modified & Pro Stock A-main 3 – Video

October 18, 2009

Wilck & Stocker rule ETS opener

It was a full house of wins for both Viktor Wilck and Alexander Stocker in Germany as the duo topped of the perfect weekend with victory in the third Leg of their respective A-Mains. Having already wrapped up overall victory for the opening round of the 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series with victory in legs 1 & 2 earlier in the day, the two Top Qualifiers didn’t back off for the closing race of the three day Kastellaun meeting, putting in yet another dominant performance.

Wilck & Stocker rule ETS opener

Wilck was handed an extra advantage, as if he needed it, just before the start of the third A-Main when Marc Rheinard’s car completely shut down on the warm up laps. Despite the best efforts of his brother Toni, the World Champion was forced to sit out the race with the problem which they still haven’t sourced. With Rheinard, the only driver expected to challenge Wilck, out the Top Qualifier was easily able to cruise to another win. Behind him the big battle was for second. Associated’s Juho Levanen held the position early on but made a mistake. This looked to have cost the Finnish ace an overall podium placing but later in the race his car would slow when his rear diff started to slip. In the end the 2007 Kastellaun winner finished fifth to claim 4th overall.

This left young Yannic Prumper and Ronald Volker to battle it out for second. Despite the best efforts of Volker, whose BD5 was transformed for Leg 2 & 3 following a switch to the standard chassis, the 16-year-old held on for second. Volker was delighted with third as it gave him second overall, something the soft spoken German never expected at the end of a very difficult qualifying. With no result in Leg 3 Rheinard’s second and third in the earlier Legs helped him claim the final step of the podium.

Pro Stock podium

While Wilck claimed his first ever ETS victory today, Stocker clocked up a very impressive third consecutive Kastellaun win with the Hot Bodies driver having been on the top step of the podium since the first ever Euro Touring Series race here in 2007. Second overall in Pro-Stock went to Yokomo’s Martin Hofer who was the only man to top Stocker in qualifying while ETS Vice Champion Daniel Wohlgemuth claimed the final spot on the podium despite a terrible 3rd A-Main.

So the 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series has gotten off to a very successful start with over 200 drivers from 17 countries enjoying the first round. Drivers have six weeks to prepare for the next encounter as Round 2 of the six race series takes drivers to the beautiful city of Budapest in Hungary where last year we experienced one of champion elect Jilles Groskamp’s greatest passing maneuver. A 2-day event, we can expect both Wilck and Stocker, who made winning look easy today, to have to work a little harder.

Modified top 10 results
1. Wilck Viktor – 3:1, 1:1 [2:1]
2. Völker Ronald – 2:2, 3:3 [1:4]
3. Rheinard Marc – 1:2, 2:3 [3:10]
4. Prümper Yannic – 3:2, 2:4 [1:5]
5. Levanen Juho – 1:3, 3:5 [2:5]
6. Hagberg Alexander – 3:4, 2:8 [1:8]
7. Leino Teemu – 3:6, 2:7 [1:10]
8. Harper Elliott – 1:6, 3:7 [2:9]
9. Wischnewski Dirk – 2:6, 1:9 [3:9]
10.Fleischmann Dominik – 1:7, 3:8 [2:10]

Pro Stock top 10 results
1. Stocker Alexander – 3:1, 2:1 [1:1]
2. Hofer Martin – 3:2, 1:2 [2:10]
3. Wohlgemuth Daniel – 2:2, 1:3 [3:6]
4. Lang Matthias – 3:3, 2:3 [1:5]
5. Treder Mike – 3:4, 2:5 [1:6]
6. Laptev Ivan – 1:4, 2:8 [3:8]
7. Kunák Zdenko – 3:5, 2:7 [1:8]
8. Bucher Fabian – 2:6, 3:7 [1:9]
9. Jansen Stefan – 2:4, 3:10 [1:10]
10.Bergfeldt Tommy – 1:7, 3:9 [2:9]

Full results can be found here.

View our image gallery here.

October 18, 2009

Modified & Pro Stock A-main 2 – Video

October 18, 2009

Wilck finally claims first Euro Touring Series win

He’s been a regular podium finisher but today Viktor Wilck finally claimed his first ETS win after claiming another victory in the second Leg of the A-Main here in Kastellaun, Germany. Having dominated the opening leg, the Top Qualifier once again made it look easy but the Swede did have a scare at the first corner. Starting the 2009/10 season opener from pole he got his Speedpassion powered Tamiya up on two wheels but once back on the ground he was able to pull clear when a mistake ended an early challenge from young team-mate Yannic Prumper.

Ronald Volker

Having finally found a good set-up for his Yokomo BD5 Ronald Volker was looking a lot happier after a great drive to second. Having endured a tough qualifying that resulted in him lining up 7th on the grid, the former European Champion now has good corner speed which has put him right on the pace of the Tamiya team. Laying down a new fastest lap for the finals the new found speed has come too late for the German to take the overall win but he has now set his sights firmly on a podium placing.

Forced to lift at the first corner to avoid hotting Wilck went he got up on two wheels, Rheinard’s race didnt go to planned. Dropping into the pack the 2008 Kastellaun winner suffered a crash when he contacted with another car causing the body to tuck under, sending his Tamiya careering off the track. Rejoining down the field and with his chassis tweaked following the heavy contact, the German worked his way back to third as others made mistakes. After his early stint at the front Prumper eventually took fourth ahead of Juho Levanen. Levanen was third in the opening leg but thought more steering would allow him to close the gap to the Tamiya’s, it was the wrong choice and the Associated driver had to battle with traction roll. Dirk Wischnewski completed the Top 6 with his Xray.

Alexander Stocker

In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker claimed his third consecutive Kastellaun victory with another great display of driving in A-Main Leg 2. The Hot Bodies driver finished a massive 6 seconds ahead of the Xray’s of Daniel Wohlgemuth and Matthias Lang. Interestingly for the second time current DHI Cup Champion Tommy Bergfeldt set the fastest lap with his Advanced Electronics equipped Hot Bodies Cyclone, but the Swede failed to finish.

View our image gallery here.

October 18, 2009

Modified & Pro Stock A-main 1 – Video

October 18, 2009

Wilck and Stocker cruise to Leg 1 victory

Top Qualifiers Viktor Wilck and Alexander Stocker both cruised to easy victories in Leg 1 of their respective A-Mains here in Germany at the opening round of the 2009/10 ETS. In Modified Wilck said the race was a little easier than expected as the challenge from Tamiya team-mate Marc Rheinard failed to materialise. The Swede said it was more difficult than it looked to the large crowd of onlookers and he expects Marc to be back to the pace he showed in Q5 for Leg 2. Both drivers ran the same set-up, however Rheinard said his TRF416X was just too slow. Only changing the rear diff since qualifying the German said the car lacked corner speed and he is unsure what to do as the diff feels good.

Juho Levanen

‘Driving for third place now’ was how Juho Levanen summed up the race after he held off the challenge of Ronald Volker to take third. The Finnish ace was unable to stick with the Tamiyas and a few mistake meant he fell back into the clutches of the chasing pack. The former two time European Champion feels his pace is in between the Tamiya team and the rest of the field and only mistakes by Wilck or Rheinard will allow him to finish higher. Volker was very pleased with 4th having started 7th but said he needs to find a better set-up on his LRP powered Yokomo BD5. Having started 4th, Yannic Prumper’s race got off to a terrible start as he tangled at the first corner and dropped to the back but the youngster made a good recovery to finish 5th.

Changes to the set-up on his new Xray T3 chassis got rid of the traction roll but left Elliot Harper with severe understeer. This meant the young Englishman, who was at one stage challenging for third, couldn’t race with the pack and he dropped back down the order to finish where he started in 6th spot. Alexander Hagberg was the fastest man on the track setting a lap time of 11.377 but he only managed a disappointing 8th. The only retirement of the race was Teemu Leino who went out with a broken front drive shaft.

Alexander Stocker

While Stocker headed off into the sunset with his Hot Bodies, the big battle in Pro Stock was for second with Martin Hofer coming out on top from Daniel Wohlgemuth. In what has to be one of the all time greatest excuses for his lack of pace compared with Stocker, Hofer blamed an ’empty stomach’. The Yokomo driver is currently tucking into a big lunch which means we should expect a closer Leg 2!

View our image gallery here.

October 18, 2009

Rheinard takes Q5, Wilck on pole

The final round of qualifying for the 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series saw current World Champion Marc Rheinard set a blistering pace as he took the round in a new fastest time of 26 laps in 5:02.773. Also setting a new outright fastest lap for the Kastellaun event with an 11.299, the factory Tamiya driver will line up second on the grid behind team-mate Viktor Wilck who secures his second consecutive ETS pole having started last season’s finale in Andernach from the front.

Marc Rheinard

Wilck predicts a close and difficult race as the high traction has made the cars hard to drive and avoiding mistakes is going to be key to taking the win. The Swedes’ thoughts are echoed by all the front runners who expect each leg to be action packed. Rheinard, the winner here last year, said passing will be extremely hard without flipping, while 2007 race winner Juho Levanen thinks there will be a lot of crashes. The factory Associated driver admits it will be difficult to challenge the Tamiya drivers who have found something that has given them edge over the rest of the field but due to the tricky conditions he hasn’t given up fully on taking the win. Levanen will have his hands full with the third member of the Tamiya team with Yannic Prumper who starts fourth. The 15-year-old took his first international win on carpet and won the opening qualifier here so he has the pace.

Rheinard takes Q5, Wilck on pole

Heading the Xray challenge are Alexander Hagberg and Elliot Harper who line-up 5th and 6th just ahead of Yokomo’s Ronald Volker while Dominik Fleischmann makes it 5 different brands of car in the final with his Hot Bodies Cyclone. The other players in the A-Main will be Teemu Leino who starts 8th after a strong Q5 lifted him into the Top 10. Completing the grid will be current Nitro Touring Car European Champion Dirk Wischnewski.

Modified A-Main Grid
1. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion 4.0
2. Marc Rheinard (D) – Tamiya/Speedpassion 4.5
3. Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated/LRP 5.0
4. Yannic Prümper (D) – Tamiya/Speedpassion 5.5
5. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/LRP 5.5
6. Elliott Harper (GB) – Xray/Nosram 5.5
7. Ronald Völker – Yokomo/LRP 5.5
8. Teemu Leino – Xray/Orion 4.5
9. Dominik Fleischmann – Hot Bodies/LRP 5.5
10.Dirk Wischnewski – Xray/LRP 5.5

Alexander Stocker

In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker gave the rest of the field a master class in how to drive a 13.5 turn electric Touring Car as he produced the fastest qualifier of the event to secure pole for the A-Main. The Hot Bodies driver, who is chasing his third consecutive Kastellaun ETS win, looks untouchable despite the quality grid line up which includes two 2008/09 ETS race winners. Lining up second on the grid, Stocker’s starting spot here last year, is Martin Hofer who was the only other driver to TQ a round in qualifying but the Yokomo team driver needs to stop making mistakes. Andernach race winner Matthias Lang starts third which should allow the Xray driver to challenge while Mike Treder makes it four different cars at the front of the grid having put in an impressive performance at the controls of his Tamiya.

Pro Stock A-Main Grid
1. Alexander Stocker (D) – Hot Bodies
2. Martin Hofer (D) – Yokomo
3. Matthias Lang (D) – Xray
4. Mike Treder (D) – Tamiya
5. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Tamiya
6. Daniel Wohlgemuth (D) – Xray
7. Tommy Bergfeldt (SE) – Hot Bodies
8. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray
9. Fabian Bucher (DE) – Xray
10.Stefan Jansen (NL) – Xray

View our image gallery here.