Euro Touring Series » ETS 12/13 Rd1 Muelheim-Kaerlich Germany

October 13, 2012

Levanen pips Rheinard to take Q2

Team Associated’s Juho Levanen pipped Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard by just 9/100ths in Germany this morning to TQ the second round of the qualifying at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series season opener. Second fastest behind defending champion Ronald Volker in last night’s first qualifier, the Finn benefited from a mistake by the rapid Yokomo driver during the second minute of Q2 but still managed to run a new fastest 5-minute pace after being forced to respond to a late challenge by Rheinard.

Running the same set-up on his Reedy powered TC6.1 as in Q1 and starting directly behind Volker, Levanen said he drove a little harder and following the German’s roll he just tried to control the rest of the run. With Rheinard starting 6th following a poor opening heat, Levanen said he didn’t realise how close the former World Champion was to him until 30 second from the finish when race announcer Scotty Ernst said that the German was on a TQ run. Responding with his fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap, Levanen said he had to push very hard over the last two laps but admitted his car was very much on the edge. Planning to stick with the same set-up for Q3, he said the key to qualifying is keeping the run clean and while you think you can go faster once you push you ultimately end up crashing. Following his crash which he said was his own fault as he caught a corner dot, Volker set the fastest lap of the round as he came back up the order but with a lap to go while on target for third for the round the screw on his pinion came out leaving his BD7 stranded on the track.

Highlighting how beneficial a clean run can be was Tim Wahl’s run to the third fastest time in Q2. Having just turned 18 two days ago, the Xray driver was only 28th fastest in Q1 but running the same set-up and keeping his ORCA powered T4 on four wheels this morning he was capable of a 24 lap run. Surprised himself by his pace, the German said the car has been good since practice but it was the driver who was letting things down but today he managed to get his act together and now in with a chance of making the A-main he said he hopes he can repeat the feat at least once more today.

Setting the fourth fastest time, the same position he recorded in Q1, factory Awesomatix driver Freddy Sudhoff said his A700 was better today following a change of tyre prep. A clean error free run the German said the car is still ‘edgy’ and is going to try run a different set-up on the car’s unique shocks for Q3.

Team Xray’s Magnus Vassmar set the fifth fastest time, the Swede saying he just tried to keep it safe for the 5-minutes adding he need to find a better set-up for Q3. Team-Mate Alexander Hagberg said his T4 was overall a little better than yesterday but he had two rolls as a result of getting too far on to the curbs. Continuing his strong international debut for Team Serpent David Ehbar completed the Top 6 as he did also in Q1.

Elsewhere in the Xray Pro Stock class Oliver Franke continued to be the man to beat securing his second TQ run this time ahead of the Awesomatix of Dominic Vogl and Jan Asmer. Also racing in the Formula class Asmer made it two out of two, once again outpacing Roman Pichler and Hebert Weber.

Ride Modified Q2 times
1. Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 24/5:05.178
2. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 24/5:05.268
3. Tim Wahl (DE) – Xray – 24/5:09.303
4. Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 24/5:09.381
5. Magnus Vassmar (SE) – Xray – 24/5:11.140
6. David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 24/5:11.511
7. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 24/5:11.668
8. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 24/5:11.816
9. Adrian Bernsten (NO) – Xray – 24/5:12.038
10.Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 24/5:12.256

Xray Pro Stock Q2 times
1. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 23/5:12.680
2. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 22/5:01.348
3. Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 22/5:01.874
4. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 22/5:02.012
5. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:02.429
6. Joe Streff (LU) – Xray – 22/5:04.215
7. Bernd Bopp (DE) – HB – 22/5:04.499
8. Markus Kreder (DE) – Serpent – 22/5:04.507
9. Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 22/5:04.849
10.Tobias Hepp (DE) – Xray – 22/5:05.251

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October 13, 2012

Volker TQs first qualifier at ETS season opener

Defending Yokomo Euro Touring Series Champion Ronald Volker got his 2012/13 campaign off to the perfect start on Day 1 of the season opener in Germany as he backed up his practice topping pace with a TQ run in the first round of qualifying. The German was one of the few drivers to keep his car on four wheels for the 5-minute run and took the round by a comfortable 2.5 seconds from Team Associated’s Juho Levanen with Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prumper completing the Top 3.

Volker, who dominated this event 12 months ago from start to finish, said conditions for Q1 felt trickier than during the earlier practice runs but his BD7 was still comfortable to drive. Having caught a glimpse of a number of cars rolling early in the heat, including arch rival Marc Rheinard, he said he didn’t push 100%, instead focusing on ensuring he kept ‘rubber side down’. Declaring his 24/5:05.321 run as a ‘good’ start to the event, Volker added he hopes he can build on that pace over tomorrow’s three remaining qualifiers.

Deciding to leave his top deck tight and instead reduce his shock rebound along with lowering the ride height on his TC6.1, Levanen said the car was now ‘really good’. Also put off by Rheinard’s early roll which like Volker caused him to drive on the side of caution, the Finn said if he had known how close to a TQ pace he was he certainly would have pushed harder. Pleased with his competitive start to the event the former European Champion has a renewed air of confidence going into Day 2.

Traction rolling twice, Prumper was happy to claim the third fastest time but said he needs to find a better set-up to make his BD7 less aggressive. Planning to try shorter front camber links in Q2, the ETS Austria winner, said he may also change shock oil but he would make that decision closer to the time of his heat.

‘Better than expected’ was how Sudhoff summed up his run to the fourth fastest time. Suffering one traction roll, which he said was down to the condition of the track, ‘Fast Freddy’ said he planned to leave his Awesomatix the same for tomorrow but would try a different tyre prep.

Running in the second highest heat, due to a tough practice, Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg was pleased to be able to set the fifth fastest time but added his car is a ‘handful’. Knowing his only chance of a Top 10 was to keep his T4 on four wheels but admitted he didn’t expect to make the Top 5. For tomorrow the Swedish ace will try gluing the wall of his front tyres which he hopes will help turn things around.

Having just recently signed for Serpent, David Ehrbar got his first major race with the company off to a great start as he took his S411 to the sixth fastest time just ahead of Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp.

Setting the fastest lap of the race Rheinard completed the Top 10 in Q1. Suffering a number of rolls the former three time World Champion said they were his own fault as he hit the curbs. Putting his early mistake down to not applying additive to his front tyres for long enough, the German said for tomorrow he just needs to improve his driving as the car is working well. Team-mate Viktor Wilck who is in the same heat as Hagberg was on a very strong run until his car came to halt 2-laps from the finish with an over heated motor.

Having set the second fastest time in practice, Adrian Berntsen didn’t have a good opening qualifier but the young Norwegian was quick to put his hand up and say he got caught up in the moment and just over drove.

In the Xray Pro-Stock class Oliver Franke TQ’d the opening qualifier ahead of Serpent driver Jan Amser and former Champion Martin Hofer. Viljami Kutvonen was on a TQ pace setting the fastest lap with his Awesomatix but hit problems and had to pull up after 3 and a half minutes. In the Speed Passion Formula class Jan Amser went one better to take Q1 ahead of Roman Pichler and defending champion Herbert Weber.

Ride Modified Q1 times
1. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 24/5:05.231
2. Juho Levänen (FI) – Associated – 24/5:07.990
3. Yannic Prümper (DE ) – Yokomo – 24/5:10.934
4. Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 24/5:13.329
5. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 23/5:00.326
6. David Ehrbar (DE) – Serpent – 23/5:02.084
7. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 23/5:02.421
8. Vässmar Magnus (SE) – Xray – 23/5:03.257
9. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 23/5:03.327
10.Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 23/5:03.485

Xray Pro Stock Q1 times
1. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 22/5:01.386
2. Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 22/5:03.068
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 22/5:03.932
4. Ivan Laptev (RU) – Awesomatix – 22/5:04.843
5. Tobias Hepp (DE) – Xray – 22/5:05.251
6. Max Mächler (DE) – Awesomatix – 22/5:05.378
7. Philipp Neudinger (AT) – Awesomatix – 22/5:05.391
8. Joe Streff (LU) – Xray – 22/5:06.207
9. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 22/5:06.479
10.Christoph Thiele (DE) – HB – 22/5:06.711

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October 12, 2012

Volker top seed for qualifying

Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker is the top seed for qualifying at the opening round of the ETS, the defending Champion’s time from the first timed practice standing with the key improvements coming from former World Champions Marc Rheinard and Andy Moore who improved to set the 3rd and 8th fastest times respectively.

Volker described track conditions for the second timed practice run as ‘not as fast’ but said he had a ‘solid’ run and planning to leave his BD7 as is he said he believes he is in good shape for tonight’s opening qualifier. Set to start behind last year’s TQ & Winner of this event, Team Xray’s Adrian Bernsten said while he did better his time in the final practice he said his T4 felt as good as it did when he set the second fastest time earlier and he too does not plan to change anything for Q1.

Trying a different additive Marc Rheinard said his Tamiya TRF417 was slightly better than in the previous practice allowing him to improve by 2/10th. Instead of using the traditional method of applying tyre additive, for the final practice he used a Capricorn tire additivator which was originally designed for applying additive to 1:10 nitro foam tyres. Attracting a lot of attention in the pits, the German has the unit because of his recent signing with the Italian manufacturer for the upcoming 200mm World Championships in Thailand but said while it did a good job on the rubber tyres he believes it didn’t offer any distinct advantage over just brushing the liquid on.

Dropping to third behind Rheinard, Juho Levanen said as he prepared for his final practice he noticed he hadn’t fully tightened the screws in the top deck of his Reedy powered TC6.1. Securing the screws for the run he said the car didn’t feel as good and so he plans to intentionally run a more flexible top deck set-up for the opening qualifier.

Switching the rear diff along with changing to a heavier shock oil, Yannic Prumper said his Thunder Power equipped Yokomo BD7 was good as he improved to the fifth fastest time. The same oil set-up as the diff original fitted in the car he said the diff he changed to was a lot smoother and this helped the feel of the car a lot and he is confident he has a ‘safe car’ for qualifying. Prumper’s improvement demoted Awesomatix’s Freddy Sudhoff to sixth just ahead of Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp who improved his time by 2/10th to move up from 10th in the first timed practice to seventh.

Inspecting his HB TCXX after its heavy impact in the first practice Andy Moore found it had a cracked top deck which he suspects was not from today’s crash but from a race in China when he last raced the car. Having spent 10-days testing and racing HB’s new 1:10 nitro touring car in Thailand in preparation for the World Championships prior to coming to the ETS, Moore said the last practice was the first time today he didn’t drive his electric car like it was nitro powered. Also switching to a set-up very close to that of fellow British racer Stefan Chodzynski, Moore said he was ‘real happy’ to improve from being 36th to 8th fastest.

In the Xray Pro Stock class last season’s title contender Oliver Franke set the pace ahead of Awesomatix team-mates Viljami Kutvonen and Ivan Laptev while in the Speed Passion Formula class Dutch driver Alexander Roeleveld will be the top seed for qualifying.

Ride Modified Timed Practice Top 10
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 37.549 (1)
2. Adrian Bernsten – Xray – 37.862 (1)
3. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 38.022 (2)
4. Juho Levanen – Associated – 38.072 (1)
5. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo – 38.389 (2)
6. Freddy Sudhoff – Awesomatix – 38.396 (1)
7. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 38.499 (2)
8. Andy Moore – HB – 38.552 (2)
9. Loic Jasmin – Yokomo – 38.601 (2)
10.Eric Dankel – Yokomo – 38.602 (2)

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October 12, 2012

Volker sets early pace at ETS season opener

The sixth season of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series got underway today in Muelheim-Kaerlich, Germany, with defending champion Ronald Volker laying out his intentions early as he set the pace in the first round of timed practice. Having had two free practice runs in the morning, in the first of the two timed practice runs from which the fastest three laps will determine the reseed for this evening’s opening round of qualifying, Volker put his new Yokomo BD7 top of the time sheets ahead of the new Xray T4 of Norwegian Adrien Bernsten.

Fresh from winning last weekend’s IIC race in Las Vegas, the winner of the opening race of the ETS for the past two season’s said his new LRP powered Yokomo feels very good and is reacting well to the increasing amount of traction the brand new carpet is building up with each round of running the record entry gets on the track. Benefiting from the knowledge built up at the IIC last week Volker said he has had to make little changes to his set-up and having run a new set of the series’ controlled Ride tyres in his first time practice he plans to continue on the same rubber for the final practice so as to check where they are in terms of wear with the 32 shore tyre. A layout designed by Spanish racer Toni Mateo, the man responsible for hosting the Gran Canaria round of the ETS, the track and in particular the chicane in front of the drivers is proving a big hit with racers. Coming across more confident than normal, Volker says he really likes the chicane as with a bit of extra risk there is the chance to make a lot of time through it.

Having just rejoined Team Xray after a year with Yokomo, 19-year-old Bernsten was very happy with his start to the event. Only receiving his T4 kit on Monday which he duly built so he could test on his local track in Norway on Wednesday before departing for the ETS on Thursday, the former European Junior Champion said the car feels really good and he plans to leave it as is for his next run. Switching from the standard arms to graphite arms he said this made the car more consistent and easy to drive. Team-mate Alexander Hagberg, a winner in the series last season and Team Xray’s main title hope for the 2012/13 title, could only manage the 17th fastest time in the first timed practice. The Swede said his ORCA powered T4 was too nervous and for the final practice he will copy the set-up of Bernsten.

Another driver attending the ETS straight from the IIC, Team Associated’s Juho Levanen set the third fastest time. The Finn said he is trying a ‘pretty radical’ set-up on his TC6.1 following on from the direction he took in Vegas where he qualified 3rd and it feels good. Just making some small changes to suit the larger ETS track which covers an area 30 metres in length by 20 metres in depth, he said having run new tyres when he set his time he will re-run them again for his next run with the same set-up.

Having not seen competitive action since the World Championships in the Netherlands where he lost his title to Tamiya team-mate Jilles Groskamp, Marc Rheinard set the fifth fastest time. Driving his Speed Passion powered TRF417, the German declared himself reasonably happy with the car on which he said his is still trying out some small changes. Planning on running the same set-up in the last practice he said he will use the track time to try a different additive.

Making it 5 different manufacturers at the top of the time sheets, Freddy Sudhoff took his Awesomatix to the fifth fastest time. Now with two versions of the car available, the L and the EX, Sudhoff is testing a number of parts from both cars and summed up the end result as ‘so far so good’. A team that has enjoyed huge growth in the ETS with drivers running the Russian designed car occupying a full row of tables in the huge pit area here in Germany, the team’s lead modified driver is running his A700 in transverse configuration making it the loudest car on the track due to the extra gear required for the more conventional touring car motor position on the shaft driven car. Happy with his 3-lap pace the German said his focus is more on how he can run 5-minutes adding that he needs to improve his steering as the car is a little edgy.

Completing the Top 6 was last season’s finale winner Yannick Prumper. Running two BD7 chassis’ in the first timed practice he said the first car was easy to drive but slow while the second was fast but edgy and he needs a car that is in between. Planning to run his second car again he said he will fit to it the diff from from his first car which he hopes will give him what he is looking for.

The other of last seasons race winners, Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp set the 10th fastest time. The German crashed and broke his Orion powered TF6 less than 2 minutes into the run and so thinks he could have produced a better time but said based on his morning practice runs he feels he has a good car for a 5-minute run. Others to crash in the same group were former World Champion Andy Moore and Tamiya’s Elliot Harper. Harper managed only 7 laps after his 417 suffered a huge impact when he collected Moore’s out of shape HB on the main straight. Moore managed to continue for a few more laps but the car didn’t not sound good and he pulled up, only able to set the 36th fastest time of the 102 Modified competitors.

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