Euro Touring Series

June 17, 2017

2nd qualifier deferred to final day at ETS Slovakia

Despite efforts to get the track dry to allow for a second round of qualifying today at ETS Slovakia, the decision has been made to defer Q2 to the tomorrow’s final day at the penultimate round of the championship. Having just managed to get the first round of qualifying completed after a wet start to the day and Friday having been a washout, the rain returned to the Hudy Arena as Q2 got underway stopping the action once again. Starting as a light drizzle it worsened and while many drivers took to sweeping and drying the track once the rain stopped, the evening drop in temperature and lack of sunshine mean’t it never completely dried. Opened for free practice, cars struggling to get around, the decision was then made to call it a day. With Sunday’s forecast showing a nice dry day in Trencin, the organisers have set a 07:00 start time so as to get a second round of qualifying in ahead of running the finals. With just two rounds of qualifying, drivers will count their best round with the fastest time the tie breaker leaving overnight Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho in a strong position to take the overall TQ. Such an outcome would secure the Xray driver back to back ETS titles.

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June 17, 2017

New in the Pits – Team Magic

Making its debut here at the ETS in Slovakia, Team Magic are showing off their new E4 RS4 touring car. Featuring an all new 2.4mm chassis, the main bulkheads front and rear have been positioned closer to the centre of the car and feature wider spaced mounting points to eliminate flex in this area. A complex single piece central motor & spur gear mount replace what was previously 5 pieces and now give the option of different flex points for further adjusting the car’s balance. A central flex plate between the motor mount and all new servo mount is combined with a damper tube which helps control the forward flex in the car. Finally the car sports all new big bore shocks, with claims that they are shorter than those currently in use by the other cars on the market yet can accommodate up to 25mm springs. Still using non anodised parts for this event, the car only arriving in Europe on Monday, it is expected to be released in mid July.

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June 17, 2017

Coelho takes important Q1 from Matsukura at rain effected ETS Slovakia

With rain effectively wiping out yesterday’s action at the Hudy Arena, qualifying at Euro Touring Series finally got underway this afternoon with Bruno Coelho taking an important TQ run in the first of the 3 rescheduled qualifiers from a surprise Naoto Matsukura. With drivers getting only 3-minutes of running yesterday, they would again have to play the waiting game this morning as further rain delayed proceedings at the 5th round of the championship. Getting another 3-minute practice run once the track had dried after the morning downpour the expectation of further rain meant the stakes for Q1 were high. Having topped Thursday’s sun drenched free practice, it would be Marc Rheinard who led away the top heat but a minute in the Infinity driver would make a mistake. This left team-mate Matsukura to go to the top but a strong finish from Coelho, who had issues with his Xray being blown around the track by the wind, allowed the champion elect to TQ by 7/10ths from Matsukura with Alexander Hagberg getting third ahead of Rheinard. For Coelho’s only remaining title contender, Ronald Volker, the event is proving hugely challenging with the Yokomo driver describing his P6 as a ‘miracle’.

‘Super difficult’ was Coelho’s reaction afterwards. Looking to put to bed a back to back ETS titles with the overall TQ, he continued, ‘it was not the car but the conditions. The wind caused me to lose the car 3 times. When the car is not right you know where you can have problems but with the wind it surprises you. It even pushed me up onto the grass’. Going for his third win in a row at what is his Xray team’s home track, the said, ‘Fortunately while Matsukura got close to me I knew I was faster and he only caught me because of the wind. I tried to force to the end and I was able to get first’. The significance of Q1 was highlighted by the fact as the second round of qualifying got underway it started raining again, although one positive is that tomorrow is showing as good meaning the finals should run without interruption.

A very pleased Matsukura summed up his first competitive ETS showing for a long time with, ‘This feels good for me to have no mistakes and to be able to drive a controlled race. Before I was not able to battle at the front. I’m super happy’. Working the IF14’s designer Kotonori Fujiwara as his mechanic this weekend, the 2014 World Champion said this was also a big factor in his performance. Warming up for the event with a win at the most recent round of the CETC in China, in terms of his car he said, ‘my car was pretty good but after 3-minutes it started to get a little push and then Bruno could pull a gap. I will change the set-up for the next one to make it more consistent for the full run’.

Helping Xray to take a 1-2 here the last two years, Hagberg summed up the first qualifier as ‘pretty good’ but like his team-mate said the windy conditions made it unpredictable. Describing it as ‘a safe run’, the Swede said he took ‘no risks considering how unpredictable the weather is’ adding ‘3rd is a good result to have’. Pleased with the performance of his T4 he said, ‘I will leave it the same and just push more in the next one’.

Fastest in free practice, Rheinard said, ‘it didn’t feel as before, it felt loose so I didn’t have the right feeling to push the car’. Coming into the event on the back of his 6th Reedy Race of Champions win, he continued, ‘I made a mistake, without it I could have got third but that’s still not what it should have been. At least I got 4th I suppose’.

Posting the fifth fastest time, Freddy Sudhoff said, ‘that was pretty good, everything went fine’. He added, ‘actually since the first practice I have been confident with the set-up and the track’. The Awesomatix driver said, ‘I took it a little easy due to the weather so I did not have any hot laps but it was a good start’. Asked about the wind effecting his car the German replied, ‘a few laps in the car pushed a little more but it wasn’t a big problem for me’. For Q2, which looks now like being the only other qualifier they will fit in due to the latest rain, he will leave his kit standard A800 unchanged.

Finishing almost 5-seconds off Coelho’s pace, Volker didn’t hold back on his issues. The World Champion described his car as ‘horrible in the opening laps’ highlighting that the problem has been there since Thursday’s free practice. He continued, ‘there is absolutely no rear grip, its a miracle finishing P6’. Running last in the heat, the German said he had to use the time to know when it was the last lap so he could launch his car across the finish line, the 2/10th gained the only reason he got 6th as apposed to a P10. He concluded, ‘We are totally off the pace in the beginning and need to do big changes in order to get up there but thats going to be very tough’. Behind Volker, team-mate Christopher Krapp was the next fastest Yokomo with newly crowned Reedy Race Open Champion Jin Sawada taking his Destiny to 8th for the round.

In the Xray Pro Stock class it was the Tamiya of Christian Donath that took the first TQ. During the first attempt at qualifying yesterday, the rain arrived before all the Pro Stock heats were completed but getting the remaining three heats done today it was Donath who was fastest from the Yokomo of former Champion Martin Hofer with Xray’s Tom Krägefski completing the Top 3. Best of the winners so far this season would be ETS Italy winner Max Mächler who was fifth fastest. In the Scorpion Power Formula class Shepherd’s Olivier Bultynck took Q1 ahead of Jan Ratheisky and Tim Benson with Tonisport owner Toni Rheinard coming out of retirement to set an impressive P4 time ahead of double winner David Ehrbar.

View complete event results here.

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June 17, 2017

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd1

June 16, 2017

Rain hampers Day 1 at ETS Slovakia

After basking in the sunshine in free practice yesterday, drivers didn’t fair as well on the official opening day of ETS Round 5 in Slovakia as a number of rain showers effectively wrote off any meaningful running at the Hudy Arena. Waking to rain this morning in Trencin with further rain showers over the morning, a dry track finally appeared after lunch allowing a round of 3-minute practice to prepare the track for qualifying. With further rain forecast for the morning, the schedule was brought forward to run two rounds of qualifying over the rest of the day but 9 heats in to the 27 heats the heavens opened again bringing a stop to proceedings.

Consulting with Martin Hudy on how the track dries and how late it would be possible to run, the track not having flood lights, it was felt the track could be made ready to complete the first round of Xray Pro Stock qualifying as well as Q1 for the Scorpion Formula class. Running another round of practice, Modified having had the call made that their day was done, the track conditions however wouldn’t come up as expected and so the ETS made the decision to call time on the a frustrating day. Unfortunately showers are been forecast again for the morning but from lunch it looks like the event might be able to get going with Sunday showing clear of any chance of rain.

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June 16, 2017

Track Focus – Hudy Racing Arena

Name – Hudy Racing Arena
Country – Slovakia
Location – Trencin (120km NE from capital city of Bratislava)
Host – Hudy/Xray
Surface – Asphalt
Direction – Anti-clockwise
No. of ETS Races hosted – 4
Previous Winners –Bruno Coelho (2016 & 2015), Marc Rheinard (2014), Ronald Volker (2013)

The Hudy Racing Arena hosts the Euro Touring Series for a fifth time in 2017 but unlike the previous four visits this time it is not the season finale but instead round 5 of 6. First opening its doors to international racing when it welcomed the ETS in 2013, the facility which is also home to the Xray/Hudy factory has been a bucket-list topper for racers around the world ever since. With the ETS utilising the outdoor track, the EOS visiting earlier in the year & making use of the indoor track, there have been some tweaks to the 320 metre long asphalt circuit since the last visit. In the centre section of the track all of the original curbing has been taken out and replaced with new lower profile curbing with World Champion Ronald Volker declaring it as ‘much better’. Martin Hudy said while it was a lot of work to take out the old curbs, the new curbing has made the track ‘more fun’ to drive with it now possible to run on the curbing without the car flipping. The track works have also seen the addition of new concrete barriers at locations where the racing lanes run parallel, this improvement sure to prevent some of the spectacular crashes witnessed in the past when cars crashed into the path of oncoming cars, in particular on the main straight.

While not effecting the track in terms of the driving experience, another more visual change this year is the almost complete indoor dirt offroad track that is being added to the 25,000 square feet facility which in a previous life was a soccer stadium. Where previously a green area lay between the Arena and the factory, there is now an impressive new building. A steel frame when the ETS was last here it is now a fully inclosed building with just some final roof work needed to complete the exterior before they can get on with building the two (1:8 and 1:10 dirt) tracks inside. Its addition certainly adding to the status of the Hudy Arena being the worlds greatest RC facility.

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June 15, 2017

Coelho aiming to wrap it up at Hudy Arena

The Yokomo Euro Touring Series travels to rc racing’s bucket list topping Hudy Arena this weekend (16-18 June) but unlike previous visits to the home of Xray the event will not mark the traditional conclusion to the season for the world famous touring car championship. Now scheduled in as Round 5 of 6, the ETS’ fifth trip to Slovakia however looks likely to decide the Season #10 champion with Bruno Coelho already within hands reach of successfully defending his title. The only one who can attempt to deny Coelho form celebrating one of the sport’s most coveted titles on Sunday night is World Champion Ronald Volker. With Coelho having three wins from four races, Volker is the only other winner this season but the Yokomo driver needs to dominate on a track where he has only won once before when the ETS made its first visit in 2013. Coelho on the other hand has never failed to win at his ‘home track’ since making his championship debut and would love to wrap up the title with that record remaining intact.

While all the attention will be on seeing if Volker can force the title to be decided in his home country, Ettlingen in Germany the new location for the season finale, a number of drivers will be striving for their own personal success at the Hudy Arena. Having given Infinity its first international title when he won the Reedy Race of Champions last month, Marc Rheinard will be aiming to give the Japanese newcomer its first ETS win as a manufacturer. Missing out on the podium at Round 4 in Italy for the first time since joining Infinity, that result ended the German’s title hopes. Given the track’s ownership, winning at the Hudy Arena would now be the next best thing and it’s something he has done once before when he led a Tamiya 1-2 from Viktor Wilck there in 2014 albeit before the arrival of Coelho.

Claiming a surprise but very popular podium finish last time out behind Coelho and Volker, Elliott Harper will be looking to repeat that performance for the relatively small Schumacher team. The multiple World Championship finalist, put his second ever ETS podium down to progress made by the team finding a set-up for asphalt and after his confidence boosting performance he should be in the mix this weekend having made the final on his previous visit to the Hudy Arena.

Having made his first A-Main this season in Italy, Wilck would go on to be competitive at the Reedy Race of Champions eventually finishing on the podium. While a unique race format, the Serpent driver did have good speed and having made the A-Main every year at the Hudy Arena we might see the Swede back mixing it at the sharp end of the field. Fellow countryman Alexander Hagberg has contributed to an Xray 1-2 here the last two years and after his misfortunes in Italy the 1:12 European Champion will be looking to bounce back.

In Pro Stock, it is also the reigning champion who leads the way but Jan Ratheisky has yet to register a win. The season so far has seen three different winners with Ratheisky’s Xray team-mate Alexandre Duchet claiming two of those. Second in the standings, the French driver took a surprise win at the season opener and a win on the championship’s first visit to Madrid. Bringing the challenge to Xray is Awesomatix with Olivier Bultynck holding third in the standings with a win at Round 2 to his credit. The Russian manufacturer added a second win with team manager Max Mächler taking a very popular first ETS win in Italy. In the Scorpion Power Formula class, it is two wins a piece for champion Ratheisky and Serpent’s David Ehrbar with just a single point separating the two title contenders.

May 14, 2017

Volker & Harper complete podium in Riccione

Ronald Volker has kept the championship race for this year’s ETS title going by winning the third A-Main in Italy to finish 2nd overall. With reigning champion Bruno Coelho wrapping up his third win of the season in A2, the Portuguese driver was a more than usual interested spectator of A3 as the failure of Volker to finish second overall would mean he would be crowned Champion for a second year. Leading away the field Volker will get the result he needs with pursuer Elliott Harper not able to get by the Yokomo driver. Harper would in fact come under attack from Marc Rheinard until the Infinity driver ran onto the grass. An important result for Volker, if not the one he came to Riccione seeking, it was probably Harper however who was the happiest driver on the podium, his first podium finish in 6-years marking the first for Schumacher in the premiere Modified class.

Commenting on his second overall and clearly choosing his words carefully, Volker said, ‘A3 wasn’t easy because I was fighting with the balance (of the car) but I can’t be too unhappy to get P2. It was the max I could do for now’. The only other winner this year apart from Coelho, the World Champion said, ‘we are trying hard to catch up in car performance but it wasn’t on point so we couldn’t win’. Needing perfect results in the final two races of the season, he concluded, ‘we have to improve the car and that’s got to be our main focus from now to the next ETS’.

‘It nice to be back, we worked hard for this’, was how Harper summed up his impressive performance over the weekend. Having TQ’d a round of qualifying for the first time on Saturday, the multiple World’s Finalist continued, ‘we did a lot of learning and we had pretty good pace today and for the size of the team I think thats pretty impressive’. With former ETS Champion Jilles Groskamp one of the first to compliment the British driver on his performance, Harper said, ‘hopefully its the first of more to come’. On his A3 performance he said, ‘I tried to pressure Ronald. I would get closer some laps and then other laps he would pull away. When Marc went on the grass I could push a little over the limit but myself and Ronald were on exactly the same pace so I couldn’t challenge, but I tried’.

Finishing fourth, his first time to not make the podium since joining Infinity, Rheinard summed up the weekend as ‘disappointing’. With his title hopes over, he said, ‘the pace of the car was there for sure for a podium and I think also the potential was in the car to challenge Bruno but I messed it up in qualifying with my own driving mistakes’. Asked about A3, he replied, ‘I was stuck behind Elliott and then I ended up on the grass but somehow I kept going but I had no podium chance so it didn’t change the overall result’.

Unlike Modified and Formula, the overall Pro Stock winner would be decided in A3. Having lead both opening A-Mains, Top Qualifier Mattia Collina would finally go the full distance to win ahead of Max Mächler but winner of A2 that was enough for Mächler to take the overall win. Winner of A1, following the clash between Collina and Mächler, Lars Hoppe would get P5 in A3 but it would be enough to secure him 2nd overall with Olivier Bultynck completing the podium. With Jan Ratheisky wrapping up his second asphalt win of the season in A2, A3 would see Top Qualifier David Ehrbar win from Jitse Miedema which is how they would complete the podium presentation.

View the complete event results here.

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