Video – Modified Qualifying Rd4
Kunák on target for back to back Pro Stock success
Having claimed his first ever ETS win at the 2011/12 season opener, Team Xray’s Zdenko Kunák is on target to make it back to back victories after he secured overall TQ honours for Pro Stock in Italy this evening. Taking the opening two qualifiers, Kunák could only be denied from carrying the No.1 race number on his car in tomorrow’s triple A-Main by Awesomatix’s team driver Ivan Laptev who earlier in the day topped Q3. Proving a difficult run for Kunák after himself and reigning champion Martin Hofer had a coming together, Laptev could not repeat his earlier performance finishing the fourth & final qualifier with the third fastest time ensuring the Slovak driver his second pole position of this the fifth season of the ETS. Unfortunately for Hofer posting only the ninth fastest time right behind Kunák means the Schumacher driver ends up 11th overall and pole in the B-Main which is a big set back to the German’s title defence.
Asked about tomorrow’s final Kunák said he will change the set-up on his T3 so as to make it less aggressive but his game plan is to just drive with a cool head and make no mistakes. Topping Q4 to secure 2nd on the grid, Steffen Leinburger said the finals will be all about who doesn’t make a mistake rather than who can pass who. Topping yesterday’s practice ahead of Kunák, the German has the speed and is confident with his Hot Bodies which he said is working well on this track and easy to drive. Having made quite a few mistakes today he said he hopes thats them all out of his system.
Laptev described his 3rd spot on the grid as a ‘miracle’. Qualifying in the C-Main in Modified he plans to use his first run in the premiere class to try a set-up idea for his Pro stock car. As for the opening Pro stock A-Main he said his plan is to just be patient behind Kunák and Leinburger and see if they trip each other up and as a previous race winner he said he has to be cautious of those starting behind him, in particular another former race winner Oliver Franke who starts 5th behind the Yokomo of youngster Felix Wiessmann who has looked strong here this weekend.
While Ronald Volker secure TQ honours in the Ride Modified class after the third round of qualifying he completed the clean sweep by topping Q4 from Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prumper who will start second on the grid. Yokomo have enjoyed a strong performance here in Scandiano getting four cars in the final. Eric Dankel will line up 7th on the grid while French Champion Loic Jasmin gets to make his first ever ETS A-Main start from 9th on the grid.
The man most expected to challenge Volker this weekend Marc Rheinard starts the final 3rd on the grid just in front of Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg. Rheinard has struggled to be a match for the defending champion and is sure to be conscious of Hagberg starting behind him as there is no love lost between the German and the Swede following their incidents at the recent DHI Cup.
Also making the main event tomorrow are Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck and Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp who start 5th & 6th respectively. Krapp started from the same spot at Round 1 of the ETS and went on to claim his first podium finish so the German will be one to watch. Completing the grid & both representing Hot Bodies are former World Champion Andy Moore who will carry No.8 on his TCX and Dominik Fleischmann starts 10th. Putting in a very competitive final qualifier to post the 6th fastest time it was a performance that came too late for Team Serpent’s Marc Fisher and the German National Champion ends up in the unenviable BQ position.
Ride Modified A-Main Grid
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 310
2. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo/Speed Passion – 306
3. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 305
4. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray/LRP – 304
5. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 303
6. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 302
7. Eric Dankel (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 300
8. Andy Moore (GB) – Hot Bodies/HPI Flux – 297
9. Loic Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo/LRP – 297
10.Dominik Fleischmann (DE) – Hot Bodies/LRP – 296
Xray Pro-Stock A-Main Grid
1. Zdenko Kunák (SK) – Xray – 310
2. Steffen Leinburger (DE) – Hot Bodies – 308
3. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 307
4. Felix Wiessmann (DE) – Yokomo – 304
5. Oliver Franke (DE) – Hot Bodies – 303
6. Alessio Menicucci (IT) – Xray – 302
7. Philip Tschupp (CH) – TOP – 300
8. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 299
9. Fabian Bucher (DE) – Xray – 298
10.Francesco Martini (IT) – Xray – 296
View the complete results here.
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Volker on target for perfect Italian job
Ronald Volker is on target to pull off the perfect Italian job at Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series after securing yet another TQ run in the third round of qualifying to secure pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main finals. On target to repeat his domination of the opening event of the 2011/12 season in Germany, the Yokomo ace has ruled proceedings since arriving in Italy with no one able to mount any serious challenge to the reigning ETS Champion.
While it was business as usual for Volker at the top of the time sheets, the third round of qualifying saw Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg make huge progress as he took his LRP powered T3 2012 to second for the round with what is so far the second fastest overall qualifying run. The Swede who was struggling to get a good feeling with his car switched to heavier shock oil for Q3 resulting in a car that he could now drive hard and with confidence. Having found a ‘good base set-up’ Hagberg said he plans a few minor adjustments for last qualification round but says its now game on for a Top 3 starting position on the grid.
Setting the third fastest time Yannic Prumper was on target for second but as he passed the slower car of Team Xray’s Martin Hudy the pair touched costing the former ETS race winner over 1.5 seconds. While the ultra calm teenager didn’t appear too bothered by the incident his mechanic Toni Rheinard made his thoughts clear to the Slovak driver following the run.
Marc Rheinard, who after having a moment early in the run had to let Prumper through, set the fourth fastest time but the World Champion said his Tamiya just was not fast enough due to a lack of corner speed. Behind him Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp set the fifth fastest time ahead of the Yokomo’s of Eric Dankel and France’s Loic Jasmin.
In Pro Stock we saw our first change at the top of the time sheets as Russian driver Ivan Laptev finally got his Awesomatix to work. Struggling to get the A700 to work on the bumpy track the winner of last season’s final round ran a super soft set-up on the car’s unique suspension design. With such soft suspension Laptev had to fit swaybars to his car something he normally doesn’t need to use but the desperate measure was to pay off and he was able to TQ the round ahead of championship leader Zdenko Kunák.
For defending ETS Pro Stock champion Martin Hofer his late arrival to the event due to a University exam on Friday morning looks like costing him dearly. Managing only the 7th fastest time in Q3, which for the German is best run yet, the Schumacher driver needs to pull out something special in the final qualifier if he is to make the grid for tomorrow’s A-Main.
View the complete results here.
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Volker tops Q2 in Scandiano
Ronald Volker continued where he left off yesterday as the Team Yokomo driver topped the second round of qualifying this morning in Italy when he improved slightly on his TQ time set in last night’s opening qualifier for the Yokomo Euro Touring Series second round. Recording the first 12-second lap of the weekend so far, the ETS Champion was 2.4 seconds clear of the field in Q2 with Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard taking second and Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp third fastest.
With Rheinard starting the heat last following his non finish in Q1, Volker said his focus was the World Champion who due to their starting positions was only two corners ahead of him on the track. Happy to run a similar pace as his great rival, Volker said while the run was pretty clean despite some traffic he was not entirely happy with his own driving. Making some very minor errors like riding corner dots he said he will leave his BD5 set-up as is and instead focus on tidying up his driving in the third & penultimate qualifier. Team Yokomo enjoyed a 1-2 in Q1 but a roll in the warm-up would result in a broken transport socket on Yannic Prumper’s car and although the timing picked up his car over the start line the rest of his run, which by track position would have been a Top 3 time, failed to register.
Rheinard said after his DNF yesterday he just focused on putting in a safe run and now that he has points for second in the bag plans to push much harder on his next run. Suffering with a little understeer the lead TRF driver will make some small changes which he hopes will improve things as he says he is going to take a lot more risks to see if he can in some way stop Volker from again dominating this weekends proceedings.
‘Better than yesterday’ was how Krapp summed up his run. Having switched to a thicker sway bar on his Orion powered Kyosho TF6, the German said it was much easier to drive but added that he also drove much better than he had done yesterday. Planning some tweaks to his tyre prep the ETS Round 1 podium finisher said he is too far off the pace of Volker and Rheinard and plans to focus on reducing that gap by focusing on his driving.
Eric Dankel was another who was much happier with his performance on Day 2 of the first ever Italian ETS encounter. Gluing up the tyre walls of his front Ride R32 tyres the Team Yokomo driver said it made the car much easier to drive allowing him to record the fourth fastest time. Planning no changes for his next run Dankel said he is confident he will be able to push a little harder on his next run.
Although the fastest Xray, posting the fifth fastest time for the round, Alexander Hagberg summed up his Q2 run by saying he was ‘too slow’. Still unable to get a good feeling with his car, the Swede said he cant pin point the problem but thinks its now a combination of both his driving and the car set-up. He hopes heavier shock oil will make the car easier to drive and help him get his confidence back to be able to push that bit harder.
Dominic Fleischmann completed the Top 6 with his Hot Bodies TCX but the German said the car is just missing something. Not sure what it is, he said his driving in Q2 was OK and the run was clean but on the time sheets he is just too slow. Factory Hot Bodies driver Andy Moore, who was fifth fastest in the opening qualifier, could only managed 8th this morning in between the Xray’s of Martin Hudy and Zdenko Kunák.
Also racing in the Xray Pro Stock class, Kunák made it two out two as he improved on his Q1 time to again top the time sheets from Steffen Leinburger and Felix Wiessmann. In the new Formula class Swiss driver Roman Pichler is on target for the overall Top Qualifier honours having topped the 40 car field in the opening two rounds of qualifying.
View the complete results here.
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Video – Modified Qualifying Rd1
Yokomo 1-2 in first Italian ETS qualifier
Team Yokomo got their weekend in Italy off to very positive start as their drivers Ronald Volker and Yannic Prumper claimed the top 2 times in the opening qualifier for the second round of the 2011/12 Euro Touring Series. Running 23 laps in 5:05.408 compared with Prumper’s time of 5:08.301, Volker said other than having to avoid a stranded car on the straight the run was near perfect with some small set-up changes to his LRP powered BD5 ahead of the run making it a lot more consistent than in practice. Prumper was also happy with his run saying he played it safe but the German teenager did have a moment when he got his car up on two wheels.
Closest to the Yokomo’s with the third fastest time was Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck but the Swede had a far from perfect run. Starting the heat second on the track, he made a mistakes as he suffered with understeer. This allowed team-mate Marc Rheinard, who started 3rd, to find a way passed but coming on to the main straight on his 8th lap the German got out of shape resulting in Wilck clipping the side of the World Champion’s car making contact with the power switch and turning it off. Afterwards Rheinard, who was running second fastest at the time, said ‘its a stupid place for a switch but now that Viktor has modified it by breaking the top of the switch off he can force it into the on position and leave it where it is as it cant be switched off again.
Following the same rear diff set-up as Xray team-mate Martin Hudy used in the final practice, Alexander Hagberg was much more comfortable with his T3 2012 for Q1. The only other driver along with Volker, Prumper and Wilck to record 23 laps he set the fourth fastest time. Hudy opted to try a different set-up for his first heat but setting the 12th fastest time the Slovak driver said he should have left it as it was at the end of practice. The surprise of the first qualifier was that of 18-year-old Xray driver Marco Kaufmann who surprised himself with the 8th fastest time just behind Yokomo’s Eric Dankel and ahead of the Hot Bodies of Dominic Fleischmann. Only racing three years, Kaufmann said was sruggling to carry any corner speed and so plans to make some set-up changes for Q2 tomorrow morning.
Fastest of the drivers on 22 laps Hot Bodies’ Andy Moore set the fifth fastest time ahead of French National Champion Loic Jasmin. Running in the second fastest heat grouping along with British Champion Moore, Jasmin was clearly delighted to kick start his weekend with the sixth fastest time saying his Yokomo was very easy to drive allowing hin to drive a clean and safe round. Suffering from a little understeer he said he will make changes for Q2 but is not sure what that will be yet until he has talked it over with Yokomo engineer Yukijiro Umino.
Completing the Top 10 and supporting a huge entry of Serpent 411 chassis’ here in Scandiano was Serpent factory driver Marc Fisher. The German National Champion said his car is not so easy to drive but improves over the run. Having to push super hard to get the car to work, which is less than ideal on the track here this weekend, he hopes a change of rear sway bar for tomorrow might bring some improvement.
In the Xray Pro Stock class it was Round 1 race winner Zdenko Kunák that topped the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying. The Team Xray driver said his car felt really good as he outpaced DHI Cup winner Steffen Leinburger by a considerable 4.5 seconds despite the German Hot Bodies driver setting the fastest lap of Q1. Young Yokomo driver Felix Wiessmann completed the opening Top 3 ahead of Alessio Menicucci who is the fastest Italian driver in both classes setting the 11th fastest time in Modified.
Defending Pro Stock Champion Martin Hofer arrived at the track just in time to contest his first qualifying heat. Having had to sit a University exam this morning in Germany before driving to Italy, the Schumacher team driver missed out on practice and got his first taste of the track in Q1. Running a fresh, out of the packet, set of the controlled Ride tyres on his Mi4CXL the German could only manage the 44th fastest time but happy with his first impression of the track can be expected to be right up there battling for a spot at the front of the A-Main grid.
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Volker tops practice at inaugural Italian ETS encounter
While the event may be all new to the Yokomo Euro Touring Series the name at the top of the time sheets at the end of four rounds of practice is not with Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker setting the pace. The reigning champion, who got his title defense off to the perfect start by dominating the opening round of the 2011/12 season in Germany, set a best time of 13.209 to ensure he is the top seed for qualifying ahead of the Tamiya’s of Viktor Wilck, who recorded a best time of 13.236, and Marc Rheinard who posted a 13.271 average lap.
Liking the layout of the track the Italian race organisers have created, which he described as technical, Volker said the surface is a little bumpy and this makes it very challenging. Rolling his LRP powered BDX5 WXi twice on his fourth and fastest practice run the German said his car feels pretty good but the combination of the track design and the bumps make it very difficult to pull off a clean run.
Wilck said he was happy with his practice pace and how his Thunder Power powered Tamiya TRF417X was handling. Like Volker, the Swede said the track is the biggest challenge here in Scandiano because if you push too hard and the car slides it can easily catch a bump resulting in a roll. Not planning any set-up changes for this evening’s opening round of qualifying which will bring the first day of action to a close Wilck said his focus will be on putting in consistent laps times rather than pushing for outright speed. TRF team-mate Rheinard said his Speed Passion powered car is OK but due to the bumps feels very inconsistent to drive and he plans to make adjustments to the droop and shock oil for Q1.
Setting the fourth fastest practice time, Yannic Prumper is happy with his Yokomo ahead of the opening qualifier. The German teenager complained of a lack of steering at the end of P3 but after switching to a heavier oil in the rear shocks for the final practice he found it a lot easier to drive. Yokomo team-mate Eric Dankel set the sixth fastest time but plans to follow Prumper’s direction and change his rear shock oil. Having only signed for Yokomo just ahead of the start of the ETS season, Dankel said he has been busy testing since the opening round in October and is now far more comfortable with the Japanese chassis and is hopeful of a stronger performance here in Italy.
In between Prumper and Dankel with the fourth fastest time was factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp. The German, who scored his first ever ETS podium at this season’s opener, said his TF6 is fast but not consistent enough. Very edgy he will glue his tyre walls for the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying. Asked if he could repeat his Round 1 performance the World Championship finalist said his first target of the weekend was to qualify in the Top 10 and he would wait to see how it goes after that.
Heading the Xray challenge in the Ride Modified class was Alexander Hagberg. The Swede managed only the seventh fastest time just ahead of team-mate Martin Hudy saying he is struggling with the feeling of his T3 2012 something he is putting down more to himself rather than the car. Hudy, who went from 700w to 1500w oil in his rear diff for the final practice, said his car is very easy to drive and while not the fastest out there he can run it with mistakes.
Completing the Top 10 in practice and therefore making up the final two places in the top heat were Team Associated’s Juho Levanen and Hot Bodies driver Dominik Fleischmann. Other than making some small adjustments due to bumpiness of the track Levanen said he has done little with his TC6 set-up as he expects it to be pretty good for a consistent run over five minutes.
In a country better known for its nitro racing the first visit of the ETS to Italy has attracted a massive entry creating a great atmosphere in the pit area. Among the entry are three of nitro racing’s top names with Lamberto Collari, Dario Balestri and Andrea Pirani competing as electric racing novices this weekend.
A nine time World Champion in 1:8 Onroad, Collari is the most experienced of the trio as this is his second time to race an electric touring car. One of the true legends of the sport, the Italian says he is really enjoying the experience describing it as being totally different to what he is used too. Being looked after this weekend by the very capable Toni Rheinard, the biggest difference Collari is finding is that of getting his braking right and then getting the timing right for when to get back on the power but added jokingly if he had a few hours of practice he is confident he could perfect this. Known for being a master of strategy in longer gas races, the Italian said thats not possible here and you’ve got to give 100% for the full 5-minutes. Asked if he planned to do more electric racing in the future he said he would very much like to look at the possibilities of being able to contest the Electric Touring Car World Championships. At the end of practice Collari was a very respectable 22nd fastest.
Balestri, a two time 1:10 200mm European Champion and a podium finisher at last year’s 1:8 Worlds, said electric racing is an all new experience for him. Running a Team Magic 4RS2 this weekend, the Italian said he was just here for fun but said maybe in the future it could become something more serious for him but this year his focus was firmly on the 200mm World Championships in Thailand. Having not raced electric before or on carpet, Balestri said knowing what set-up changes to make after each run is proving his biggest challenge but he hopes he can get his head around it before the end of the weekend.
Racing in the new Formula class that has been added to ETS for the remainder of the 2011/12 season, Andrea Pirani is here as part of his birthday present. Due to celebrate his 23rd birthday on Sunday he was invited to come race at the ETS race by the owner of WRC who make a 1:10 Formula car. A 1:8 Onroad specialist, Pirani said its very different to nitro but he really likes the electric RC paddock. Enjoying the 2WD Formula car which runs a handout Speed Passion 21T Motor/Speedo combo, he said in the future he would like to try his hand at the modified Touring Car class to see how he would compare with the likes of Volker and Rheinard.
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First Italian ETS encounter attracts World class entry of nitro drivers
This weekend (January 20-22) the Euro Touring Series travels to all new territory as Italy plays host to the second round of the Yokomo backed 2011/12 Series with a massive 300 strong entry set to descend on the town of Scandiano in the North East of the country. A nation famed for its motoring passion and in rc racing for producing world class nitro drivers, the event has attracted one of the sport’s greatest legends Lamberto Collari who will be joined by other big names from the onroad nitro scene such as Dario Balestri, Walter Salemi and Andrea Pirani. A nine-time 1:8 Onroad World Champion, Collari has already shown his ability to quickly adapt to 1:10 electric touring cars having made the A-Main at the Italian Charity Race in December which attracted a quality field as the main factory teams used it as a warm-up event for the first ever Italian ETS encounter.
Racing a Yokomo chassis, Collari will be in good hands on his ETS debut having reigning Modified Champion Ronald Volker for a team-mate. The Team Yokomo lead driver got his title defence off to the perfect start at the season opener in Germany at the end of October when he took a dominant victory over his great rival Marc Rheinard and the driver who carries the unofficial title of being the World’s best touring car driver on carpet is sure to have plenty of top tips for Collari who is much more at home on asphalt tracks.
Having been victorious over Volker when they used the Italian Charity Race as preparation for this weekend, Tamiya Racing Factory’s Rheinard will be hoping he can take his first ETS carpet success since Poland two seasons ago. The World Champion lost his crown as Champion of what is now the World’s biggest championship for electric touring cars to Volker last year after the Team Yokomo driver dominated the first half of the season on carpet and Rheinard knows the key to retaking the title is denying his fellow German a victory indoors.
Having secured his first ETS podium finish at this seasons opening round, Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp will be aiming to build on that result this weekend but will have to see off tough opposition from rival factory drivers in the Ride Modified class. Two such drivers are Team Xray’s super fast Swede Alexander Hagberg who must now be due his big break and Team Associated’s Juho Levanen who looked very good at the Asian Touring Series pilot event at Yatabe in November where he finished runner-up to Volker.
In the Xray Pro Stock class Zdenko Kunák will be looking for a repeat of Round 1. In Germany we witnessed a very popular maiden victory for the Team Xray driver when the talented Slovak racer final got the job done holding off the Hot Bodies of former race winner Oliver Franke and the Schumacher of defending champion Martin Hofer.
Being a country steeped in Formula 1 history, the organisers of the ETS have chosen the Italian round to debut the new Formula class that will now join the Modified and Pro Stock Touring Cars classes as the third category on the race program at each of the remaining 5 rounds of the 2011/12 series. Replacing the Hobby class, Formula racing is enjoying growing interest around the world and the first race has had a very positive response with a healthy 45 entries registered for this weekend.
Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series gets underway with practice on Friday and culminates with triple mains for all drivers on Sunday. All the action from Scandiano can be followed live throughout the weekend on RedRC.
