Coelho from Volker in Q1
Bruno Coelho has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg. The championship leader topped the times by just 0.135 of a second from reigning champion Ronald Volker with this year’s other title contender Marc Rheinard completing the Top 3. For Rheinard it initially looked like his opening qualifier would amount to nothing as his transponder failed to register once the qualifier started but in a sporting gesture from his rivals in the top heat they agreed to allow a manual correction of the result to reflect his P3 position on the track when he crossed the finish line.
‘A perfect run’ was how Coelho summed up Q1. Able to wrap up his first ETS title this weekend if he can win on Sunday, he said ‘I pushed first few laps and then just managed my lead. In the end it was a bit short to Volker but we got the TQ so its good’. Commenting on his Hobbywing powered T4, he said ‘we made a change to the car which made it more stable and it was still fast. It was more comfortable to drive than in practice’. With a second qualifier scheduled for tonight due to rain forecast for the morning, Coelho plans to run everything as is despite the expected cooler conditions.
Reacting to the qualifier Volker said, ‘I shouldn’t be disappointed, but I am because it was .1 of a second and my need to TQ this weekend’. Needing a TQ to keep his title hopes alive, the Yokomo driver used his second car from yesterday for Q1 saying ‘it was more stable’. Making small changes in the direction of team-mate Hayato Matsuzaki’s set-up this made the ‘balance much better’. Unfortunately having ended up P4 in seeding Matsuzaki would roll his BD7 on the first lap as he came on to the straight leaving him with P21 for the round. ‘A clean run’ Volker feels there was ‘not much missing from getting the TQ’ and for Q2 they will make small changes to try get more steering from his LRP powered DB7.
‘Was pretty ok but the traction felt less’ was how Rheinard described Q1. Feeling he had ‘the same pace as Bruno at the beginning’ he said his transponder issue put him off a little. Not hearing his name being called in the running order, while he continued he would make a mistake that cost him around 1-second adding ‘otherwise it was pretty close’. Asked about the transponder issue he said, ‘A big thanks to the other drivers for showing great sportsmanship and allowing me to be given a result. The transponder registered in the warm-up and was blinking after the race but I will change it for Q2’.
Setting the fourth fastest time Jilles Groskamp felt he got caught out by two tyre related issues. Having taken his car directly from his pits to the track in practice he said having to go through scrutiny first for qualifying he got caught out by having no battery in his tyre warmers. The Team Infinity driver said he also discovered that his tyre cutter was damaged and this affected the tyre resulting in two slow opening laps with the tyre coming in very late. Once he got into his rhythm he said the consistency in the end was good adding ‘I’m happy with P4 as fourth in this field is a good start and to be 1.5 behind Bruno is not bad.’ Looking to Q2, the 2012 World Champion said ‘I’ll make sure I have a battery in my tyre warmer’.
‘I don’t know whether to be sad or happy’, was Lucas Urbain’s reaction after he posted the fifth fastest time. The VBC team driver continued, ‘I made a really good start, I was leading but then I had the classic chicane spin’. ‘There is a bump there but that is normally fine so I don’t know if I got nervous or just used too much throttle. Anyway for my own standard P5 is good’. One driver happy with the addition of Q2 to today’s schedule, the popular French racer has to work until lunchtime tomorrow having been unable to get the time off and with rain scheduled for the morning it could all work in his favour.
Completing the Top 6 Freddy Sudhoff said it was ‘a good start to the event’. With his team-mate Viljami Kutvonen suffering a shutdown before the end of his Q1 run, the Awesomatix the driver said in the end he messed up himself. Running wide twice the German said ‘they cost me two spots but overall P6 is good’. Describing his A800 as ‘a little too easy to drive’ he will make a roll centre change for Q2.
Piping his old team-mate Viktor Wilck to P7, new Capricorn signing Marc Fischer said the run ‘was ok but just not in the beginning’. Starting ahead of Sudhoff he said ‘over the first 4 to 5 laps Freddy was catching’ and while the car was ok after that he will make changes for Q2. Considering a softer swaybar he will also ‘try a softer rear spring for more bite at the start’.
In the Xray Pro Stock class it would also be the top seed who would take the opening qualifier as Lars Hoppe topped the times. The German ARC driver who finished on the podium here two years ago was fastest from Awesomatix’ Max Mächler with Olivier Bultynck completing the Top 3. In Formula Bultynck would get a P2 with David Ehrbar’s Serpent proving to be quickest.
View the complete event results here.
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Chassis Focus – Chris Grainger
Chassis – Team Associated TC7
Motor – Reedy Sonic Mach3 4.5T
ESC – Reedy 410R
Batteries – Reedy 5600mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Ko Propo
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Former multiple British National champion Chris Grainger is running a fairly standard version of the Associated TC7 mounted with some option parts. His car is equipped with front double joint driveshafts, titanium ball studs, centro shock springs and OTM Racing pressure rings, spacers that decrease the pressure applied to the shock bladder by the shock cap. He has mounted the floating steering posts to the chassis so as to increase steering and flex.
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Chassis Focus – Lucas Urbain
Chassis – VBC Wildfire D08
Motor – Muchmore Fleta ZX 4.5T
ESC –Muchmore Fleta Pro
Batteries – Silverback 63000mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Montech IS200
Remarks – VBC Factory driver Lucas Urbain is proving strong here in Luxembourg, running a Wildfire D08 with an updated chassis, top deck and motor mount. In order to increase the flex in the rear part of the chassis, the footprint of the motor mount is now shorter and wider.
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Final practice sees big improvement for Rheinard
There was a big improvement from Marc Rheinard in the final practice at ETS Luxembourg with the Tamiya driver improving from 10th the 2nd fastest as many drivers failed to better their opening timed practice times. Fastest for the second round, Rheinard got to within 4/10ths of Bruno Coelho’s earlier time, the Xray driver remaining the top seed for qualifying which gets underway this evening. With Rheinard demoting Jilles Groskamp who failed to better his time back to third, the third of the title contenders Ronald Volker would find himself demoted to P6 as his Yokomo team-mate Hayato Matsuzaki managed to get three laps together to go fourth fastest ahead of Lucas Urbain.
With 6 of the Top 10 failing to improve their earlier times, Rheinard said his Tamiya was ‘good again’ after ‘some shock changes’. Asked if his TRF419X was better, the German replied ‘its not as bad as before’ adding ‘it’s still hard to drive’. Describing it as ‘a little loose’ this made it ‘scary to drive’ but with a quick rain shower just after the final practice was completed he said, ‘now (he had) no idea what track will be like and for now I will stay the same’. In addition to Rheinard’s improvement it would also a positive round for his World Champion team-mate Naoto Matsukura. A driver who has lacked any consistent form since winning his Touring Car title 2-years ago, the Japanese driver managed a P8 time to put himself in the top heat for qualifying albeit being 1-second off Coelho.
Summing up his final practice, in which he was 1/2 a second slower, Coelho said, ‘we tried something different on the car and they were not good so we will go back’. The championship leader added, ‘also the track was slower and not so good now’. Asked if he felt he had a good car for qualifying, the Portuguese driver replied, ‘for sure it will be difficult, its not so easy to do 5-minutes on this track but you have to choose the fast or easy, slow, set-up. I will go with the fast option for now’.
3/10ths slower second time round Groskamp said, ‘I think the track is slower than before but for me its still ok’. While the Dutch ace said it could be due to a change in track conditions he feels it could also be to do with the hand out additive. Having used his own shop bought additive in the morning practice he said once he switch to the same brand additive on the sauce table the car feels slower’. The Team Infinity driver said while the Xray chassis he has opted for on his first ETS outing with the for now nitro focused team ‘feels a little loose at the beginning it is still consistent’. For tonight’s opening qualifier, he said he is ‘looking forward to Q1 to see how everyone’s 5-minute pace is’, adding ‘Volker looks to have a good pace over 5-minutes’.
Former 2WD Offroad World Champion Matsuzaki put his improvement down to the fact he was starting to finally drive his Yokomo like a touring car and not a drift car. Having spent the last 2-weeks in Europe attending the RC Drift World Championships, he said with all the teams trying different small changes each run the change he made for the final practice brought ‘good results’. Happy with is BD7 for qualifying he said he needs more practice for 5-minutes and to drive more consistent.
‘So so’ was how Urbain summed up his latest run. The French VBC driver said a spin on his second lap meaning his 3-laps were not good but added ‘my pace was no good anyway’. Describing his VBC as having ‘felt different’, he said he is not sure whether there were drops of rain during the run. Having made only ‘minor tweaks’ to his D08 for the round he said ‘I hope it was the track and not the car’. On his P5 he said it was ‘much better than usual but there is more in the car’. Starting the first qualifier directly in front of Volker, he said, ‘Its a shame I’m in front of Ronald as he will be on my tail’.
‘We didn’t improve the car at the beginning, it was worse, the car was too loose’, was Volker’s reaction after they tried a different tyre prep. The reigning champion continued, ‘mid run it was OK but I need better confidence in the car for the beginning’. Impressed by his team-mate’s improvement he said, ‘Hayato showed he is very quick and the car is good and we may follow in his set-up direction. Now we are running different set-ups’.
In the Xray Pro Stock class, outgoing champion Marek Cerny opting to race Modified this weekend and championship leader Jan Rathiesky unable to attend due to a shoulder injury, it was ARC’s Lars Hoppe who would top the times from local driver Dirk Rischard and Xray’s Mike Gosvig, the Dane also taking that position in Formula. In the Serpent Formula class Roche Jacques Libar was quickest ahead of Serpent’s David Ehrbar.
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Coelho leads way in 1st timed practice at ETS Luxembourg
Bruno Coelho has set the pace in the first of the two timed practices at the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg. Last year’s race winner posted the fastest 3-laps ahead of Jilles Groskamp stretching his advantage over the Dutch driver, the pair more evenly match in the morning’s untimed practice. Behind them it was local hero Lucas Urbain who would complete the Top 3 with a time 1/1000th of a second faster than defending champion Ronald Volker. A crucial weekend in the three way title battle, it wasn’t a great start to the weekend for Marc Rheinard as he found himself only 10th fastest over 1.4-seconds off points leader Coelho.
‘Very good’ was how Coelho summed up TP1 adding ‘we improved a little the car making it more stable’. The Xray driver who claimed his first ever ETS win at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” said, ‘the car is there, its just down to small things now’. Comparing the practice to the untimed morning practice, the Portuguese ace said ‘I think it was slower and there was more wind which made the rear of the car feel strange at times’. Comparing his lap times he said while his ‘three laps (were the) same as the morning’, the higher temperature meant the pace ‘drops a lot after 5-laps’.
Also at the controls of a Xray this weekend Team Infinity’s Groskamp summed up his TP1 with ‘not bad but Bruno a lot faster now’. He continued ‘the track changed for sure but I also changed the set-up a little and it didn’t feel as good as before’. 4/10ths off Coelho over 3-laps, the Dutch driver who claimed his first European Championship title in Luxembourg in 2009, said ‘compared to everyone else my pace is the same as the morning its just Bruno who has stepped things up’. He concluded the ‘first three laps are rocket but my car is good for the whole run so I’m pretty happy’.
‘It’s ok, it’s building up nicely’ was Urbain’s reaction to his P3 time. The French driver, for whom this is his local track, added ‘Bruno is really fast now and I felt my car better in the 1st practice’. With ‘too much understeer he said while the first few laps are good his D08 then suffers too much of a drop off in pace. Having adjusted the weight distribution for TP1, moving more weight to the rear of the car, he will go back as this just ‘cooked the rear tyres quicker’.
Needing to deny Coelho the win on Sunday to have any chance of making it six ETS titles in a row, Volker said he ‘didn’t focus too much on 3-laps’. Describing his BD7 as ‘good throughout the run’, the German added it was ‘very stable’. Admitting if it had been a qualifier such was Coelho’s pace over the opening three laps it would have been hard to recover the time and he will ‘try to make sure not to lose so much time at the beginning’. Planning to ‘make some changes for the final practice, he needs to discuss his options first with his engineer.
Having made his first A-Main appearance in some time at the previous round in Italy, Viktor Wilck would post the 5th fastest time. The Serpent driver was much happier with his 4-X after reverting back to his own set-up. Running that set-up in open practice yesterday for the first run today he copied the set-up of the car’s designer David Ehrbar but making the car ‘completely different’ he was quick to switch back to his own ideas. Describing the car as being ‘pretty OK’ for TP1 he said he just needs to fine tune it to ‘make it a little more edgy’.
Having just announced a deal to drive for Capricorn, Marc Fischer got that new partnership off to a positive start as he completed the Top 6 just behind his former team-mate. Having had little time with his new car, in TP1 the German said he finally found his way with it. Moving the front & rear shocks to a lay down position he said the car was now ‘more easy to drive’. Also rising the rear diff, he can ‘now go closer to the limit’ were as before if he went off the line it was ‘undriveable’. For TP2, he will focus on getting more corner speed through the sweeper.
The lead Awesomatix after the first timed practice, Freddy Sudhoff said, ‘so far so good, our second race that we show the car is good on asphalt’. Having been trying different set-ups each run, the German said ‘so far we have too much steering or not enough and we need to find an in between’. He added ‘with new tyres our hot laps are not that quick but we are good for 5-minute qualifying so we should be fine’. Runner-up to Coelho in Italy, Sudhoff’s team-mate Viljami Kutvonen was 16th fastest saying ‘I’m struggling a little bit’. The Finn added ‘Freddy’s car is quite good and mine feels ok but its missing something’.
Behind Sudhoff, Alexander Hagberg was P8 followed by Nicolas Lee and Rheinard. Rheinard who was in the top heat while Coelho was in the second fastest, said ‘seems our heat was a little slower but anyway we are not fast enough’. The Tamiya driver said his TRF419X was ‘better the round before’ adding ‘I guess track conditions change’. For the final practice the 4-time World Champion will try a different set-up in the hope of closing, by his standards, the considerable gap to both Coelho and Volker, his two title rivals.
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Chassis Focus – Jilles Groskamp
Chassis – Xray T4 2016
Motor – Orion LW VST-2 4.5T
ESC – Orion R10.1 Pro
Batteries – Orion 5000mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Infinity team driver Jilles Groskamp, comes to Luxembourg, a track he won his first European Champion title, choosing to run an Xray car while waiting for a forthcoming Infinity touring car. His pretty standard T4 2016 is equipped with T-Works titanium screw set and a WTF tilted speedo fan mount.
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Chassis Focus – Marc Fischer
Chassis – Capricorn TE 03
Motor –G-Force 4.5T
ESC –G-Force TS 120
Batteries – Gens-Ace 6000mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Newly signed by Italian company Capricorn, Marc Fischer is running the latest version of the TE 03 touring car. His version is equipped with the new “bridge” chassis stiffener and with the latest version of the chassis that features a different weave in the carbon fibre. The German is also using SMJ swaybars and Techra adjustable body posts.
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