Euro Touring Series

April 11, 2015

Yokomo 1-2 as Volker tops Q3 from Vejrak

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Yokomo claimed a 1-2 in the penultimate qualifier at Round 3 of the ETS in Italy with Ronald Volker topping the times from Meen Vejrak, the Thai driver finally completed a run after servo issues resulted in DNF’s in the opening two qualifiers. Running his second set of tyres, Volker’s second TQ run of the weekend is a significant one as it leaves his only challenger for the honour of Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho needing to post the fastest qualifier of the weekend on what today is so far proving a slower track. Still using his first set of controlled Ride tyres, Coelho would post the 3rd fastest time, an impressive pace for tyres that were on their third run, and now goes into the final qualifier armed with a fresh set of tyres.

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Starting from 7th, following his off in Q2, Volker was very happy to capitalise on his fresh rubber with a TQ run. The German said despite having new tyres the traction was lower than both last night when he TQ’d the opening qualifier and this morning’s run. Having to deal with ‘a lot of traffic’, he said while the four cars he passed didn’t obstruct him it was a slight distraction none the less. Planning to use the final qualifier to test a different set-up ahead of the finals, the four time defending champion who jointly leads the current standings with Marc Rheinard believes with the current track conditions Coelho will have his work cut out to deny him the extra bonus championship on offer for the overall TQ.

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Having had a tough start to qualifying due to a servo issue that was only discovered after Q2, with a new servo and a new receiver as a precautionary measure fitted to his BD7 Vejrak was clearly relieved to go the full 5-minutes. With ‘almost new tyres’, the former 1:10 Nitro World Champion managing only 1 timed lap in the previous 2 qualifiers, the Thai driver said he had no choice but to drive a safe round. Pleased to get a second he said there was room for improvement with the car set-up but needing to get another strong run he said he wouldn’t risk a change going into the final qualifier. While he has the advantage of a new set of tyres he said his target would be just to run another clean round and hope its enough to bump him up on the A-Main grid.

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‘Not so bad’ was how Coelho summed up his Q3 performance. The factory Xray driver said his T4 was ‘super pushing’ as the tyres were ‘finished’ after doing three heats. Having saved his second set for the final qualifier he declared himself as being in a good position for the last round adding he was ready to ‘break balls’.

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Another leading driver to park his car in the grass in Q2, Alexander Hagberg came back to set the fourth fastest time and book his place in the A-Main. Fourth in Q1, the Swede decided for Day 2 of the event to start out with team-mate Coelho’s set-up. Unfortunately going off on his opening lap in the day’s first run, the Nitro Touring Car World Champion didn’t get a feel for the set-up change. Leaving the car unchanged for Q3 but gambling to run his second set of tyres he said while a decent run the set-up didn’t suit his driving style. For the final qualifier he will go with a set-up of his own.

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Another driver on new tyres, HB’s Jilles Groskamp described his 5th as a ‘safe, solid A-Main run’. Starting off ‘a bit too safe’ and then having to open up to let Volker through, he said with his PRO5 suffering from more understeer than expected for new tyres he just focused on keeping the run clean. His first outing with his new team he said high speed understeer is still a big problem and he will try a new set-up in Q4 to try and alleviate this issue.

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Despite losing boost during the run Yannic Prumper would complete the Top 6. The Yokomo driver suspects the problem may have been caused by his motor getting too hot but as a precaution will fit a new motor and speedo for the final qualifier. Running on third run tyres with fresh rubber the Yokomo driver who was 3rd and 2rd in the opening two qualifiers should be a contender for a TQ run. Behind Prumper, Xray’s Marco Kaufmann enjoyed another Top 10 run with the 7th fastest time ahead of team-mate Tim Wahl.

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Christopher Krapp would be the fastest Tamiya of the round in 9th position just ahead of new team-mate Naoto Matsukura while Marc Rheinard was only 18th. Making a set-up change Krapp said it was the ‘wrong way’ and was frustrated by the fact he was running on his second set of tyres. He will revert to his Q2 set-up for the last run adding that hopefully he can ‘somehow put it into the A-Main’.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class Marek Cerny claimed his second TQ run. The defending back to back champion this time put his Xray top of the times ahead of the Tamiya of Christian Donath. Former champion Martin Hofer enjoyed his best round as he took his Yokomo to 3rd ahead of ARC’s Henrik Heitsch and the Scumacher of Nicolai Lindegaard.

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In Formula, Martin Hofer topped the third round with his Yokomo ahead of the Xray of Mike Gosvig, the pair the only drivers to run 15-laps of the Riccione track. Behind them Michele Romagnoli was third fastest while Q1 & 2 pace setter David Ehrbar had a troubled round leaving the Serpent driver only 18th.

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April 11, 2015

Chassis Focus – Yannic Prumper

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Chassis – Yokomo BD7 2015
Motor –Muchmore 4.5T
ESC – Muchmore Fleta Pro
Batteries – Muchmore 6000 mAh
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Yokomo team driver Yannic Prumper is running a box stock BD7 2015 here in Italy, the same car having been used by another driver at the previous round of the series in Germany. Starting with their base outdoor setup that haven’t made too many changes apart from a harder rear diff and less rear toe. The oil in the diff is so hard that they bed in the diff before the start of each heat so it is at working temperature when they take to the grid. At the time of photographing they were going to try a Spec-R steering mount which has more flex than the standard Yokomo part in an attempt to get more mid corner steering.

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April 11, 2015

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd2

April 11, 2015

Coelho takes 2nd qualifier in Riccione

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Bruno Coelho opened Day 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Italy with a convincing Q2 TQ run. Second in yesterday’s opening qualifier, the Xray driver was the only driver to run 19-laps of the Riccione track this morning topping the times from Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper and HB’s Freddy Sudhoff. Having dominated yesterday’s action with only Coehlo in touch with his pace, defending champion Ronald Volker would be one of a number of drivers to end their runs in the grass.

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Setting the TQ pace from the first lap Coelho described his run as ‘super good’. Making an ackermann change to his LRP powered T4 for the first of the days three qualifiers, the 21-year-old said this made for a better feeling despite the car running used tyres. Starting behind Volker but going passed the grass bound BD7 on lap 3, the exciting to watch Portuguese driver said he was able to run a good clean 5-minutes eliminating the small mistake he had yesterday that ended his challenge for the TQ to Q1. Happy with his car and planning to leave it unchanged for Q3 the only decision he has to make is when to run his second set of tyres.

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Commenting on his off, Volker said the car felt slightly off balance and while never an issue previously when he ‘barely touched the curb it put it out of shape’. Aware Coelho was close behind and not wanting to obstruct him he moved off the racing line which he said turned out to be the grass. While marshals took sometime to get to his BD7 he said once he hit the morning’s damp grass he had already made the decision to end his run and although on used tyres save them. Others making trips onto the grass included Xray’s Alexnder Hagberg, Tamiya’s Naoto Matsukura and Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak. Like Volker, Hagberg pulled up after he went onto the grass on his opening lap. Matsukura would try to continue but after a second mistake called time on the run him saying afterwards a set-up change was ‘no good’ and he will will revert back to his Q1 set-up for the 3rd qualifier. Having had a DNF in Q1, Vejrak’s off in Q2 turned out to be due to a faulty servo which he now suspects was also his issue yesterday and not a bad set of tyres as previously thought.

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Prumper said his BD7 was better than yesterday after he reduced the cars toe-in back to 2 degrees although on used tyres the rear end was a little too loose. Pleased with his early pace, his best lap being a 16.489 compared to Coehlo’s 14.452, the German said after two small slides he just tried to keep the rest of the run clean knowing he had a big advantage over Sudhoff’s third position pace.

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Finishing over 2-seconds off Prumper, Sudhoff declared it ‘another good run’. With the benefit of being on his second set of tyres, the new factory HB recruit said a spring change made by team manager Hiroyuki Kasuya had improved the PRO5 from yesterday. The German said the car is ‘maybe too consistent now’ but with an A-Main start now seeming safe they can try bigger changes for the remaining two qualifiers. Messing up his opening lap, while it didn’t effect his overall position, he said its something he needs to work on.

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‘Better than Q1’, that was how Jilles Groskamp summed his run. Running a different set-up to Q1, the 2012 World Champion said while better it still wasn’t what he wants but a really clean run he was happy with 4th. The Dutch driver said for most of the track the car is ‘pretty good’ but the bump and the right right middle section as still a problem. He said the bump is a power problem as having the right throttle feeling for that part of the track is critical. For the right right section he will try a droop change as well as adding weight to his Orion powered PRO5.

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Fifth fastest, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard said he is just driving around around without mistakes and ‘profiting from others ending up on the grass’. While he described his Muchmore powered TRF419 as ‘pretty easy to drive’ he said it has less and less steering towards the end of the run making it difficult to maintain position, him having been ahead of former team-mate Groskamp for much of the run.

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Having just missed out on a Top 10 run in Q1 due to two mistakes, a safe clean qualifier saw multiple French National Champion Loic Jasmin record the 6th fastest time. The Yokomo driver admitted he got ‘Super lucky a lot of guys stopped’ but added he was happy to take it especially as it was on used tyres. No different to the majority of his competitors he said he would like to find more steering and so will make changes for Q3.

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Setting the 7th fastest time Xray’s Dionys Stadler was pleased with the result as he suffered a power problem during the run. Seeded in the top heat, the 18-year-old was on a Top 4 pace but ‘lost punch’. Unsure of the cause of the reduced power the German will fit a different motor and battery to his T4 for Q3.

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Christopher Krapp took his new Tamiya to the 8th fastest time with a run he described as ‘ok’. The former lead Kyosho touring car driver, went for a softer spring for Q2 but for the first 2-minutes this left his Orion powered TRF419 not so good. Improving for the second half he will go to a harder spring in the hope he can make the performance more equal over the full 5-minutes. The German added with the times very close ahead of him he would also focus on trying to improve his driving as there was time to be gained there too.

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Having pulled up after just one lap in Q1, Viktor Wilck with the benefit of practically new tyres would claim a 9th for the round. The Serpent driver said while his S411 is good from the middle to the end of the run in the beginning it is ‘really shit’. A problem that has plagued himself and team-mate Marc Fisher since the start of the event, the Swede will try a different diff and shock set-up for the penultimate qualifier.

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Completing the Top 10 Marco Kaufmann said he only wished he had been half a second faster as it would have put him in the Top 5. Suffering a mistake on Lap 2 in Q1, the Xray driver said Q2 was a ‘better run’ and now that he has a chance of making the A-Main the plan is to leave the car as is and just push harder.

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In the Xray Pro-Stock class the second round of qualifying would see defending champion Marek Cerny TQ with a convincing run. Setting the fastest lap, the Xray driver would outpace the Awesomatix of Max Machler by one & a half seconds with the Schumacher of Denmark’s Nicolai Lindegaard completing the Top 3. For surprise Q1 pace setter Johannes Sperr Q2 would see the Team C driver set the 8th fastest time just behind the Yokomo of former champion Martin Hofer. In Formula Serpent’s David Ehrbar was the only driver to repeat his Q1 form as the Serpent driver again enjoyed a second TQ run. This time round the German topped the times from the CRC of international 1:8 nitro racer Michele Romagnoli and the Tamiya of Italian Marco Donadelli.

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April 11, 2015

Chassis Focus – Bruno Coelho

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Chassis – Xray T4 15
Motor – LRP 4.5T
ESC – LRP Flow
Batteries – LRP 6000 mAh
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Portuguese Xray star Bruno Coelho is running the same car that he finished runner-up at the World Championships in Florida last year. A prototype of the current car it still features pre production parts which are now current such as the rear uprights. Upon arriving in Riccione he has been on the search for rear traction and having tried a number of changes they have also implemented the ARS system at the rear which he says works really well and now the car is very good.

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April 10, 2015

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd1

April 10, 2015

Volker from Coelho in opening Italian ETS qualifier

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Ronald Volker kicked off qualifying at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Italy with a TQ run however the defending champion’s anticipated domination wasn’t to be by a much as expected. Leading off the World class 11 car top qualifying group the Yokomo driver would find himself trailing Bruno Coelho before the Xray driver overheated his tyres. In the end just half a second separated the Top 2, Coelho posting the fastest time, while somewhat off the lead pace Yannic Prumper completed the Top 3 as the only other driver to run 19-laps of the Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

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Having dominated practice topping the 3-lap seeding times by almost 7/10ths of a second, Volker said he wasn’t surprised by the smaller margin over 5-minutes adding he expected it to be close. In a change to the 3-lap mindset of practice, the German said he drove a very cautious first lap which gave Coehlo the early advantage. Focusing on conserving his tyres for the first minute he said this ultimately helped him TQ the qualifier as his lap times remained consistent over the run and he was able to close and then build up a gap over Coehlo. ‘Very satisfied to get it done in Q1’, he said this is the key qualifier for outdoor racing as all drivers were on new tyres and as tyre management will be more influential over the remaining 3 rounds of qualifying tomorrow.

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Describing it as a good start to qualifying, Coehlo stayed safe for Q1 by running his T4 unchanged from the final practice. The World Championship runner-up said his T4 was fine and it was his driving that cost him the TQ. Feeling he overheated his tyres forcing him to slow up for a few laps he said when he tried to recover the time he ended up making a slight mistake handing Volker an unassailable advantage. One of the few drivers without a complaint about his car he said for tomorrow morning’s second qualifier the goal was to ‘just drive the car (he’s) got better’.

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Increasing the toe-in on his Yokomo from 2 to 2.5, Prumper said ‘maybe it was too much’ as he struggled with understeer. The German said ‘after 2-laps Ronald and Bruno were already gone’ and his BD7 started to push more and more over the 5-minutes. Ending up over 3-seconds off his team-mate’s TQ the 21-year-old said he needs to find a different set-up for tomorrow to be competitive.

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Opening up with a fourth place Xray’s Alexander Hagberg said the run was ‘a little slow’ attributing it to a combination of his own driving and his car. With changes after practice making his T4 ‘better’, the Swede said while now closer to his rivals he was ‘still not on the pace’. A two time ETS race winner on carpet, he said he needs to find more steering for Day 2 of this the 42nd running of an ETS race.

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World Champion Naoto Matsukura would be the fastest Tamiya of Q1 ending up 5th just ahead of his senior team-mate Marc Rheinard. The Japanese driver said they have a bit of work to do for tomorrow as he struggled with understeer. Losing over a second in time when he ‘got a little out of shape’ he plans to make a geardiff oil change as well as changing the shock oil and position. Rheinard said his TRF419 was ‘ok’ at the beginning but only got worse and worse with ‘no grip’ at the end of the 5-minutes. Having reverted to the set-up he ran yesterday when he was the closest driver to his title rival Volker, the German is clearly frustrated by the sudden drop off in his pace.

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Best of the newly expanded HB team, Freddy Sudhoff took his PRO5 to 7th. Having started out the day trying Jilles Groskamp’s set-up but finding it not to his liking he reverted to a completely different set-up he ran yesterday for Q1. A big improvement he said the car had better traction out of the corner and the pace was OK for the back of the A-Main. For his first race on asphalt with his new team he declared himself overall happy but said he hoped for tomorrow they can find a few extra tenths so as to put them in a position to challenge for a Top 5 result.

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For new star signing Jilles Groskamp the first qualifying was ‘not so good’. Slowed by Vejrak’s early spin, the Dutch driver said he got a little frustrated at being held up and feeling he was off the pace, overdrove leading to him hitting the curbing at the corner before the loop on lap 8 losing him 3-seconds. He said had he known he pace was not as slow as he thought he would have calmed down and probably ended up with a solid Q1 instead of 24th. He said while they still need to find pace, ‘tomorrow is another day’ and hopefully the can move forward.

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While Meen Vejrak, who seeded fourth for qualifying, suffered a tyre problem in Q1 that saw him spin on the opening lap and forced him to pull up, fellow Thai Yokomo driver Chavit Saligupta enjoyed a Top 10 run setting the 8th fastest time. Describing the run as ‘clean & safe’ the nitro touring car World Finalist said for tomorrow he will just push harder as his BD7 is working well.

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Tamiya’s Christopher Krapp said having to move to a different position on the driver stand to where he stood in practice he ‘drove the first minute shit’. While personally happy to get a Top 10 on his first qualifying run for his new team he said as a team TRF’s only target was being first. While the car can make the A-Main he said they are not competitive adding that was clearly highlighted to him when Volker and Bruno both passed him ‘on a different level’ during the qualifier.

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Despite ‘two stupid mistakes’, reigning Italian National Champion Nicola Marrone completed the Top 10. Adding weight to the front of his Xray T4 for Q1, the Hotrace Tyre brand owner said this made the car easier to drive giving him more steering through the track’s faster corners.

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In the Xray Pro Stock class the first round of qualifying sprung up a bit of a surprise when Team C driver Johannes Sperr TQ’d ahead of defending champion Marek Cerny. Also setting the fastest lap time, the German finished a very close 0.087 of a second ahead of the factory Xray driver. Behind them ARC’s Henrik Heitsch completed the Top 3, some 2-seconds off the lead pace. In Formula, with reigning champion Jan Ratheisky missing the race due to a shoulder injury, the class is wide open with Serpent’s David Ehrbar taking Q1 from MD Racing’s Tony Mur and the Project HP One of Roman Pichler. Well known Italian 1:8 nitro racer Michele Romagnoli was fourth fastest of the massive 84 Formula entries.

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April 10, 2015

Volker throws down the gauntlet in Italy

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Ronald Volker has thrown down the gauntlet to his rivals on the Yokomo Euro Touring Series’ to Italy by convincingly topping timed practice. Describing the Road Race Riccione RC Circuit Marco Simoncelli track as one of his all time favourite tracks, the Yokomo driver was almost 7/10ths faster than his closest rival Bruno Coehlo over three laps. Joint leader of the standings with Volker coming into the first outdoor race of Season #8 of the ETS, Marc Rheinard struggled over the 2-timed practice runs with the Round 2 race winner ending up only 11th fastest behind new Tamiya team-mates Naoto Matsukura and Christopher Krapp who ended up 6th and 10th fastest respectively. Making his race debut for HB, Jilles Groskamp kicked off his new contract with an encouraging pace that will see him seeded 5th for qualifying.

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Posting his fastest time in the first of the two controlled practice runs, Volker said he was happy with his pace throughout practice adding now he needs to put everything together for this evening’s opening qualifier. Having also topped free practice, despite having a distinct advantage over his rivals at the end of CP1 for the final practice run of the event the German would try a set-up change. Resulting in his LRP powered BD7 being a ‘little loose to drive’ and allowing Coehlo to be become the only driver to top him on the times sheets for the 7 recorded rounds of practice, the 4-time back to back champion will revert to his earlier setup for the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying.

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Contesting his first season of ETS, as expected the switch to asphalt looks to be suiting Worlds star Coehlo. The Xray driver said having struggled in practice yesterday a switch to the ARS rear suspension on the T4’15 had improved things. Describing the car as ‘good but not perfect’, the Portuguese driver said traction was still an issue they needed to work on. Having tried different things over the day to improve the cars steering he said for Q1 he would just make small changes that he hoped would allow him to close the gap to Volker.

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Changing back to longer shocks on his Yokomo for the final practice, Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper would post the 3rd fastest time. Having been running short shocks on his Muchmore powered BD7 he said he prefers the feel of the longer shocks but the change, while making the car faster, also made it more difficult to drive. Running 2 degrees of toe-in the German said he will continue with the long shocks and instead add an extra half a degree of toe-in which should make the car more stabile. Overall the Round 1 & 2 podium finisher declared himself happy with his practice pace adding he is feeling pretty confident for the opening qualifier.

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Making his first ETS outing of the season, Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak would end practice 4th fastest. The Thai driver said was happy with his BD7 and was using the track time to focus on the set-up of his Scorpion electrics for the ‘high speed track’ layout which is very different to the tracks in Thailand. Running the car pretty much as he raced it at the TITC he said it starts off really good but after 3-minutes starts to push, something he feels is down to the car needing a freshening up which he will do in preparation for Q1.

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Enjoying his ‘new challenge’ with his new HB team, Groskamp said considering he hasn’t had much track time with his new PRO5 ‘my pace is not bad’. The 2012 World Champion said his initial impression of the car is that it is easy to drive and stable and every run he has been trying set-up changes so as to build up as much knowledge as possible as to how it reacts to change. Happy with his 3-lap pace, pointing out ‘only one guy is really fast’, he said he is really looking forward to Q1 adding that with everyone on new tyres from the same batch that is when he believes we will get to see everyone’s true pace. Happy that both himself and his car have good consistency he said its a pity the track’s traction level is ‘so so’ as if someone finds something they can gain a lot of time with it. Picking the right right uphill middle section with its off camber corners as an area he feels he can improve he said adding weight to the front of the car could be of benefit. Also commenting on the bump before the sweeper leading onto the main straight he said for Q1 he will reduce the turbo on his Orion speedo so that it kicks in just after the bump.

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Making his first ETS appearance since his shock departure from Yokomo, Matsukura said for the last run his TRF419 was good as he clocked the 6th quickest time. Going up in the rear diff oil he said now he needs to turn his attention to the front end of the car. Feeling he has a good base set-up for the track which many drivers are struggling to get to terms with the World Champion said he hopes he can find more steering. Describing the layout as easy to drive he continued it is difficult to find the last few tenths admitting this is leading him to make many mistakes.

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Posting the 7th fastest time, Alexander Hagberg said his Xray feels OK put on the clock is too slow. Having struggled yesterday pointing out that unlike the some of their rivals they didn’t do pre-race testing, he said today they made good progress but still they have to come up with a change that will give the car more steering. Over a second off Volker’s pace over 3-laps the Swede said while their outright pace wasn’t there he was hopeful over a 5-minute run they would be more competitive.

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Behind Hagberg 18-year-old Xray team-mate Dionys Stadler set an impressive 8th fastest time. Liking the track layout ‘a lot’, the German was also much happier with his T4 after switching to ARS rear suspension for the final practice. Giving him more steering he said his car also ran very consistent over the 5-minutes and he will continue with an unchanged set-up for Q1.

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The star of Round 2 in Germany where he made his debut for Serpent, Viktor Wilck ended practice in 9th. Having ‘tried many things’, the Swede said its proving very hard to find a good set-up and the right combination of having enough steering and enough grip. The ETS race winner is struggling to get good pace out of his S411 at the start of the run but added by the end it is good. Planning to try a softer diff for Q1 he believes part of the issue being faced by drivers at the Road Race Riccione track is that some corners are off camber.

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Another driver making a high profile debut with a new team this weekend, Krapp completed the Top 10. While admitting his new TRF team is having problems with finding a set-up for this track the former Kyosho driver said he is really enjoying having team-mates to work with rather than working on his own. The previous ETS asphalt race winner, said overall traction is the issue but they don’t know why and they have each been trying different set-ups to try and find aspects that might improve their pace.

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Relieved to make the top qualifying heat, the outdoor track allowing for 11 car qualifiers, Rheinard said having ran pretty ok yesterday today they are in the ‘middle of nowhere’. Suffering understeer the 3-time World Champion said as a result the ‘fast corners are horrible’. Having ran 49-second pace yesterday the German said he was lost as to why they had lost speed, his best controlled practice time being a 50.457, 1.5 seconds off arch rival Volker.

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