Qualifying Heat 21 Round 4 – Video
Embedded above is a video showing all the action from the Heat 21 round 4 of qualifying in which Marc Rheinard ended up fastest in the heat, missing out to Viktor Wilck for the round TQ.
Wilck holds overnight TQ at ETS Opener
Day 2 of the opening round of the 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series has closed and it is Tamiya factory driver Viktor Wilck who holds the overnight Top Qualifier’s stop. The Swede took the penultimate qualifier adding to his TQ run for Q3 when he also pipped his TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard for maximum points. Leaving his Speedpassion powered car unchanged from Q3, Wilck came close but was unable to better his previous time however he declared himself as pretty happy with the run. Rheinard was not so happy just missing out a TQ run which he so badly needed. Scoring another second the current World Champion and winner here last year will not be repeating his number 1 starting spot this time round.
Ronald Volker managed the third fastest time for Q4 despite having not yet found a set-up that is to his liking. The Yokomo driver said his BD5 is suffering with understeer but he hopes overnight changes to the set-up will allow him to challenge for the fastest time in the morning. Juho Levanen, who together with European Junior Champion Yannick Prumper are the only drivers left in the hunt for pole in the A-Main, said he was pleased with his run but admitted the Tamiya team have found something that is going to make them hard to beat. Fastest in the opening qualifier Prumper was fifth fastest with another of the sport’s young guns Elliot Harper completing the Top 6 for Xray.
Kyosho team driver Christopher Krapp was seventh fastest but needs to finish higher in the final qualifying round if he is to avoid taking BQ honours as he sits 11th in the overnight ranking. The German National Champion said he had to drive his Orion powered Stallion very smoothly but hopes changes to the set up will allow him to push harder and get strong points in Q5.
In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker notched up his third TQ run for Hot Bodies ahead the only man that can deny him starting from pole, Martin Hofer. Hofer has the chance to snatch the overall TQ from Stocker in the final qualifier in the morning but he must beat his fellow German’s fastest time. Setting the third fastest time Tamiya driver Mike Treder once again surprised himself claiming his second Top 3 run of the day.
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Tamiya bounce back as Wilck takes Q3
The Tamiya team have bounced back in the third qualifier here in Kastellaun with Viktor Wilck heading Marc Rheinard at the top of the time sheets with a new TQ run. Having looked in real trouble in second qualifying, the team’s return to form was a result of some unusual outside assistance in the form of top Pro Stock racer Alexander Stocker. Stocker recommended a number of changes, getting stuck in himself by making the series of small adjustments on Rheinard’s TRF416X. Wilck, who is running the 416WE he used at the European Championship with most of the X modifications, did his own wrenching but both drivers were much happier with the changes that made the cars much easier to drive and back into contention for overall TQ honours.
Third fastest and retaining the provisional overall Top Qualifier spot, Juho Levanen was really pleased with his Associated but said he messed up the run driving too cautiously over the latter part of the 5-minute run. Top Xray for the round was Elliot Harper who recorded the fourth fastest time, but the British driver said his T3 was on the edge. Next up was Q1 pace setter Yannick Prumper with former full factory Associated driver Joel Myberg, who is now driving an Xray, completing the Top 6.
In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker notched up his second TQ run despite losing the front anti-roll bar out of his Hot Bodies. A good run by Russian Tamiya driver Ivan Laptev, who is making his ETS debut this weekend, saw him post the second fastest time ahead of Xray’s Matthias Lang.
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ETS Kastellaun – New in the Pits
German brand Orcan have given us an exclusive look at their new Audi A5 190mm touring car body. Based on the 200mm version that has proved so successful on the track, this new shell has been adapted to the electric chassis following many tests with the help of team driver Freddy Sudhoff. It will be EFRA homologated when released in the new year.
Seen in the Yokomo BD5 of front running Pro Stock racer Martin Hofer, the pre production GM Generation 2 is the follow up the Genius 120, which is expected to be released before the end of the year. Sporting the same case as the speedo it replaces, it has completely new internals and is optimised for use with LiPo packs, featuring a number of nice options to protect the motor if it starts to run too hot, as well as other features to make it easier to re wire and mount in the car.
Primary sponsor of the ETS, Xenon Racing not only have their new tires and wheels in use as the control tire in Kastellaun, they also have shown off the World’s largest pinion (70T) and the smallest spur gear (60T). Designed for use in oval racing chassis’ they can in theory fit any current touring car thanks to the spur’s new multi mounting hole system.
Speedpassion have shown off their new LiPo chassis for the Tamiya TRF416. Featuring a separate chassis and battery plate, the heavy steel plate has holes to accept hard cased LiPos with cell bumps and slots nicely into the chassis keeping the weight low down in the car. Currently only in prototype form there are no concrete plans for a release.
Also new from Speedpassion is the Competition 3.0 13.5 turn motor which has made a successful debut as the Pro Stock handout motor for the 2009/10 Euro Touring series. Based on the motor used by Jilles Groskamp to win the European Championship it too features the new can and sensor plate mounted plugs, and is part of the complete new range of turns available for this motor.
Xray are of course debuting their new T3 chassis and it has so far been performing very well. We don’t need to give you any more details on the new car from the Slovakian manufacturer, as we already have full information available on our website here.
Seen mounted to the chassis plate of Martin Hudy is their new Hudy cell slot weights that add weight without raising the LiPo pack significantly. These are in the final stages of production and are believed to be released soon.
Advanced Electronics are present from Sweden and they have their pre production speed controller in action here in the car of Tommy Bergfeldt and a few others. Having dominated the 1/12th stock classes at the IIC, this new speedo has been designed with new LiPo rules in mind and drivers who have used the speedo have seen big boosts in top speed. Expected to be released soon.
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Levanen goes top in German
Juho Levanen has moved into the provisional Top Qualifiers position in Kastellaun, German, after taking his Associated TC5 to a new fastest time in the second round of qualifying at Round 1 of the Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series. After a disappointing first heat, the two time European Champion recorded 26 laps in 5:06.491 to top the round from Xray pairing of Elliot Harper and Alexander Hagberg. The Finnish ace said he was much happier with the run but admitted his car is not the fastest but he is managing to keep the wheels on the ground while others are traction rolling.
16-year-old Harper said that grip levels continue to increase making it more and more difficult with each run to keep the car on four wheels. Suffering a roll himself during Q2, the British driver said he is not sure what to try next to cure a problem that is plaguing all the front runners. Hagberg is one driver who seems to have found something that works but the Swede’s second run was hampered by traffic.
Finishing fifth, behind Ronald Volker’s Yokomo, Viktor Wilck managed a new outright fastest lap of 11.404 despite his Tamiya suffering chronic traction roll. With team-mates Marc Rheinard and Q1 Top Qualifier Yannick Prumper both experiencing the same difficulty, the Tamiya team appear to be most affected by the super high grip. Wilck said they have some small ideas they will try for the third round of qualifying to try and get them back in the hunt for TQ honours. Former World Champion Andy Moore had such bad traction roll he pulled his Hot Bodies in after 3 minutes.
In Pro Stock Yokomo’s Martin Hofer set a new fastest time to top the second qualifier ahead of Q1 top qualifier Alexander Stocker. The German, who had a poor opening qualifier, lowered his BD5 and glued up the tyre walls resulting which he said transformed the car allowing him to record 25 laps in 5:06.454. Hofer also switched to a new preproduction GM Racing speedo which he said gave him better top speed. Delighted to set a very impressive new fastest lap for Pro Stock with a 11.755, Stocker wasn’t so happy with himself in the run saying, ‘Car was pretty good, driver was pretty bad. Setting the third fastest time was Daniel Wohlgemuth. Runner up in last season’s ETS, the German described the run as good but said his Xray T2 ‘009 was on the edge. He will make changes to reduce the steering and also plans to run heavier shock oil.
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Prumper takes opening qualifier
Current European Junior Champion Yannic Prumper has gotten his 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series campaign off to a strong start by topping the opening round of qualifying here in Kastellaun, Germany. The young German TQ’d the first qualifier ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and Yokomo team driver Ronald Volker.
Copying the set-up used by his Tamiya/Speedpassion team-mate Marc Rheinard to record the fastest lap time of yesterday’s practice, Prumper said his modified TRF416 was on the limit in terms of traction rolling but steady driving allowed him to keep the car rubber side down to clock at 26 laps in 5:10.227. The 16-year-old will not make any set-up adjustment for the second of the five qualifiers but with the best two to count he may run his second set of new tyres next time out to try secure early his place in the A-Main.
Opening his account with second spot, Hagberg said his car had the potential to take the TQ for the round and it was his own driving that cost him the top spot. With the track grip levels increasing this morning, the Swede started off the run very cautiously but once he pushed he found his new T3 was not as on edge as he was expecting.
Volker said his LRP powered BD5 had understeer, but this made the car very easy to drive in the high traction conditions. Describing his run to the third fastest time, he said the trick now is to find a comprise set-up between a very easy to drive car and one which wants to traction roll. The former European Champion will now concentrate on making changes to the front end of his car.
World Champion Rheinard took the fourth fastest time after his Tamiya traction rolled a number of times. The winner here last year, the German said new tyres might help things but the biggest improvement will be found in changing his driving style. Looking at the time sheets fifth fastest man Juho Levanen said ‘that sucks’. Having changed the set-up on his TC5 from yesterday, the factory Associated driver got caught out by the extra traction this morning resulting in his Reedy powered car spending a lot of time on two wheels. The Finn will revert to yesterday’s set-up for his next outing. Young British star Elliot Harper completed the Top 6 followed by European 200mm Champion Dirk Wischnewski.
In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker TQ’d the round by the narrowist of margins. Heading home yesterday’s pace setter Matthias Lang, the German pair were seperated by just .027 of a second. Stocker said he had to drive with extreme care and couldn’t push at all or his Hot Bodies would flip. Aiming for a hat trick of Kastellaun wins, the former ETS Champion will change the steering ackerman and glue the walls of the control Xenon tyre for Q2. Lang, who lost two seconds as a result of a driver error, said his Xray T3 was really on the edge and plans to try a different tyre additive and moving the shock positions. Having qualified 36th at this event last year, Tamiya driver Mike Treder was very surprised to find himself third on the time sheets. The young German said he drove a steady run in the tricky condition and was delighted with the reward.
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Perfect day for new Xray at ETS opener
Xray couldn’t really have asked for more today as their new T3 topped the practice time sheets for the opening round of the 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series in both Modified and Pro Stock. In the final session of the day Alexander Hagberg and Matthias Lang each posted the fastest runs of the day in their respective classes.
Swede Hagberg just missed out on a 26-lap run stopping the clock at 5:00.943 but declared himself very happy with his day. Having only made one change to his new Xray all day, adjusting the position of the shocks, he said the car is very easy to drive and he is looking forward to getting down to the serious business of qualifying in the morning. Knocked off the top of the time sheets despite improving his time by 6 seconds (25/5:02.897) Juho Levanen said his Associated was close to traction rolling during the round. The Finn feels he is closer to Hagberg’s pace but a couple of incidents meant this was not reflected in the overall time. Making it three different makes of cars at the top of the time sheets Viktor Wilck was best of the Tamiya drivers. The Swede said changes to his TRF416WE had made little difference to the car and his best run of the day was down to him driving with extreme care although he did still traction roll once.
Although not featuring strongly on the overall time sheets Marc Rheinard and Ronald Volker are both happy with their pace. Rheinard laid down a new fastest lap with an 11.547 in the final session and is not too worried ahead of tomorrow’s heats. Volker has not been showing strongly on the time sheets because he was running two cars in each session so as he can try back to back set-up changes. The factory Yokomo driver said he is happy with his pace but did say his car is very near the edge in terms of traction rolling.
In Pro Stock, Andernach ETS winner Matthias Lang ends practice as the pace setter having knocked Alexander Stocker off the top of the time sheets with a 24-lap run in 5:04.121. The SMI Motorsport driver has been given a new Xray’s T3 chassis for the event and is very happy with his new drive describing it is a ‘big step forward’. The German said he has found a good set-up and plans to leave the car unchanged for the opening qualifier tomorrow morning. Having suffered ‘intense traction roll’ in the fourth practice session, Martin Hofer found a better set-up for his Yokomo in the final run to be classified third fastest just 3/100th ahead of Daniel Wohlgemuth.
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Levanen ups practice pace
Team Associated factory driver Juho Levanen has upped the pace here in Kastellaun taking his TC5 to top of the time sheets in practice. Recording 25 laps in 5:08.373, the Finn said a fresh set of tyres made the car more consistent to drive. Although slower on lap times, overall the result was better and he is hoping a second run on the same set of tyres will bring more speed. In terms of chassis set-up Levanen plans no changes as he feels he would only be chasing the changing conditions as it comes up to full traction levels.
Having set the pace after three rounds of practice Alexander Hagberg and team-mate Martin Hudy failed to improve their times. Both said their new T3 chassis continued to feel really good but Hagberg had his run ruined when the centre belt turn inside out. The Swede believes this was cause after contact without car caused the battery to move and hit the belt. Hudy described the round as messy as he made contact with a number of traction rolling cars one of which caused his bodyshell to tuck under.
Big movers for the round where Czech driver Michal Bok and young gun Yannic Prumper. Bok found the new speed by gluing up the walls on the control Xenon Racing tyres while harder front & rear roll bars gave Prumper a less aggressive car. Bok will now try the same roll bar as Prumper for the final practice while Toni Rheinard’s protege will change shock oil on the Tamiya to try make it more stable over the corner dots.
In Pro Stock, Hot Bodies driver Alexander Stocker improved on his pace to stay top of the pack. Despite improving his time by almost 2 seconds, his gap over his rivals has been narrowed significantly with Daniel Wohlgemuth closing to within a second, following a strong fourth session. Last season’s Euro Touring Series runner up, the Xray T2 009 driver said going from 450 to 500 shock oil had improved the car and now he plans to increase the weight to 550 for the final round.
Sweden’s Tommy Bergfeldt, who is sporting a new look, managed the third fastest time after making big changes to the set-up on his Hot Bodies. The reiging DHI Cup Champion, who says he much prefers this year’s track layout to the one used in 2008, is making his debut with new sponsor Advanced Electronics and described the new speedo from the Swedish company as ‘awesome’.
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