Video – Modified & Pro Stock A-main Leg 3
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qEO7Rj3eqA[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IrVv8KdHiE[/youtube]
Rheinard wins, title to be decided at Hudy Arena
Marc Rheinard has won the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series ahead of Ronald Volker meaning that the two great rivals will battle it out for the overall title at the season finale at the Hudy Arena in Slovakia next month. After the chaos of Leg 2, the closing race in Traiskirchen was a much calmer affair with Top Qualifier Rheinard seeing off the close attention of Yokomo drivers Yannic Prumper and Volker to take the leg and the overall win which he needed to keep his title hopes alive.
Delighted to back up his Round 4 win and collect his second maximium points haul of the season, his TQ for the race earning him an extra bonus point, the former World Champion said while the first two Mains didn’t go to plan the final outcome was what he came here looking for. Irate after the happenings in Leg 2 and not wanting to comment on the race at the time, Rheinard said the incident combined with the pressure of the only result that would do being the win, emotions ran very high. He said going ‘from a safe win to a DNF in a couple of seconds’, after being hit by Andy Moore, was hugely frustrating and while his reaction at the time was full of emotion once he went away had a drink and cleared his head he could refocus on the job in hand. With Andy Moore apologizing for the incident, Rheinard said he knew the British ace didn’t hit him intentionally and it is all behind them now joking that he will be happy to drink a beer with the HB driver but ‘he can buy the first one’. Commenting on the final outcome of the weekend, the Top 3 all finishing on equal points, Rheinard said it would have ‘of course been better if Volker had finished third’, but the main thing is the championship battle goes to Slovakia.
Volker said he was disappointed at not being able to win the event and wrap up the championship as ‘they clearly had the pace and most of the time were faster than Marc (Rheinard)’. Starting from 3rd on the grid, a traction roll in Q1 was costly for the German, he said winning was always going to be difficult although the opening A-Main showed it was not impossible. While he would have much rather be leaving Austria with a third consecutive ETS title, the reigning European Champion said the championship being decided in Slovakia will create great interest in the race and he is looking forward to the showdown.
Prumper, who came into the event with an outside chance of the title that is now gone, said considering how the weekend started out and how his car ran in practice the result was ‘OK’ for him. Last year’s winner, when the ETS made its first visit to the unique Traiskirchen venue, the 19-year-old said he struggled a little at the start of the third leg with understeer but as the race went on his Much More powered BD7 improved and he was able to close right in on Rheinard but he said the risks were too high to try and make a pass with both Volker and Moore very close behind him. His third podium finish of the season, Prumper said he was more determined than ever to go for the win at the next race.
Missing out on the podium was Leg 2 winner Alexander Hagberg, the factory Xray driver finishing fourth ahead of fellow Swede Viktor Wilck who broke in the final A-Main. A race winner last season, Hagberg had a reasonable weekend in Austria considering the last few ETS races but with Round 6 at a track he knows extremely well due to it being where Xray develops its cars he will be one to watch. Although he only finished 6th, despite taking 4th in Legs 1 & 3, many onlookers commented on how well Moore drove this weekend. The 2006 World Champion intially struggled in practice but made a big step forward after making a significant discovery as to how he sets up his TCXX.
In the Xray Pro Stock class the third A-Main saw the biggest class in the ETS put on another great race which was won by the Awesomatix of 16-year-old Dominic Vogl. A hugely popular race win, unfortunately for the Austrian his winning time was 2/10ths of a second too slow and it was Xray’s Marek Cerny, who was only fourth in the leg, who took the overall win. His third win of the season, the Czech driver was delighted with the win after his terrible run at Apeldoorn. Although he moves closer to the title, defending Champion Zdenko Kunak’s chances of retaining the title coming to an end in Austria after a tough event, Cerny still needs to do well at the season finale but should he win it will be the perfect place to win his first title. Former Champion Martin Hofer and his Schumacher completed the podium.
The Speed Passion Formula class saw Roman Pichler again get the better of Top Qualifier Jan Asmer in Leg 3 to claim the win and his second overall victory of the season. However for Asmer second on the podium ahead of current champion Herbert Weber was enough to secure the Serpent driver the overall 2012/13 ETS title.
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
A-Main Overall/Leg 3 Results
Ride Modified A-Main Overall Result
1. Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 4 pts
2. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 4
3. Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo – 4
4. Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 6
5. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 8
6. Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 8
7. Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray – 9
8. Marc Fischer (DE) – Serpent – 11
9. Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 12
10.Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 14
Ride Modified A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(1) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 21/5:14.830
2.(2) Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo – 20/5:00.023
3.(3) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 20/5:00.155
4.(4) Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 20/5:00.449
5.(6) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 20/5:05.203
6.(9) Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray – 20/5:06.752
7.(5) Marc Fischer (DE) – Serpent – 20/5:07.511
8.(10)Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 20/5:07.989
9.(8) Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 20/5:13.302
10.(7)Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 15/3:56.869
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Overall Result
1. Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 3 pts
2. Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 3
3. Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 4
4. Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 5
5. Valetin Hettrich (DE) – Xray – 7
6. Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 9
7. Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 12
8. David Nemcek (SK) – Xray – 14
9. Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 15
10.Tobias Vogel (DE) – Xray – 16
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(3) Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 19/5:15.592
2.(2) Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 19/5:15.734
3.(6) Valetin Hettrich (DE) – Xray – 18/5:00.141
4.(1) Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 18/5:02.630
5.(8) Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 18/5:06.414
6.(10)Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 18/5:07.217
7.(9) David Nemcek (SK) – Xray – 18/5:08.553
8.(4) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 18/5:08.772
9.(5) Tobias Vogel (DE) – Xray – 18/5:14.682
10.(7)Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 18/5:14.844
Leg 2 Update – Volker’s view
Having read our report and watched our video footage of the chaotic Leg 2 of the A-Main, Ronald Volker has come to us to give his views of the race. Commenting on the first incident with Yannic Prumper, he said with Prumper’s car totally stopped in the apex of the corner, last year’s winner checking up to avoid contact with Rheinard, he had no where to go and it was never his intention to hit his own team-mate. He added that he was at the same time also trying to defend from Andy Moore who was right on his bumper. Volker added while the incident was in no way intentional he would have accepted a ‘Stop & Go’ for the incident.
On his coming together with Marc Fischer he said it is clear from the video that his rival’s S411 was unsettled after jumping the corner and with the door open he tried to pass but Fischer move back across to block and that is how they ended up clashing. Volker said he can understand Fischer being upset but the incident was bad for both of them.
The final incident, which happened on the straight in the closing laps of the race, Volker took responsibility for. Running second and trying to catch Hagberg, Volker grip rolled coming onto the straight and said he didn’t pay enough attention when rejoining the track resulting in his spectacular crash which saw Rheinard’s Tamiya get airborne.
Video – Modified, Pro Stock & Formula A-main Leg 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxVHaJWVIuk[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OEwXCrr7UM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfLuLxW9bc[/youtube]
Hagberg wins chaotic Leg 2
Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg has won what has to have been the most chaotic race in the history of the Euro Touring Series with the level of tension among the main contenders in the pits requiring a chainsaw to cut through it. After a change of weather saw cars sliding around in Leg 1, conditions were back to normal for Leg 2 and initially the race started well with Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard leading the way from Yannic Prumper and Ronald Volker, but on lap 4 the Yokomo pair clashed in what was the first of a number of incidents that have tempers running extremely high in Austria. One of the few happy faces in the pits at the end of the race, Hagberg took the win from fellow Swede Viktor Wilck with Martin Hudy, who started 9th completing the Top 3, with all three drivers admitting afterwards that they had got lucky by staying out of trouble.
Hagberg, who qualified 6th, said he was battling with Wilck and all of a sudden found himself leading the race as everyone starting hitting one another. Admitting he was ‘very lucky’ to get the result he said he was ‘of course happy’ to take it as a win is win. Wilck who would finish 1.3 seconds behind his fellow countryman, said he lost time at the start as he couldn’t find a way passed Hagberg’s Xray which he said in the early part of the race was slower than his Tamiya, the handling of which he said having struggled with it in qualifying ‘was not so bad’. In the end the Gran Canaria winner said he ‘for sure got lucky’ but added that his prediction for Leg 3 is a repeat of the chaos.
Trying to get Rheinard’s view of the race, the German needing the win this weekend to keep his title hopes alive, he was clearly not in any mood for talking about it just replying ‘no comment’ as he returned to the pits after marshalling the following race. Rheinard lead the race for 15-laps hounded by HB’s Andy Moore in what was a thrilling display of driving by the two former World Champions but Moore would make contact with the Tamiya resulting in the pair dropping down the field as the race really took a turn for the worse and all hell broke loose. Two laps later a multi car pile up would see Rheinard walk off the drivers stand, his car still sitting in the middle of the track.
Running a very competitive third and in touch with the leaders for a time, Serpent’s Marc Fischer was clearly irrate about Volker’s driving. Making his opinion of the incident very clear to Race Director Scotty Ernst and Race Referee Frans Heinsbroek, the German felt the Yokomo driver drove straight into him flipping his S411 and ending his challenge for the win. Mechanic for Prumper, Toni Rheinard was another who was less than happy with Volker’s driving saying that he should have been given a Stop & Go penalty for his early contact with his team-mate.
While a clean closely fought race would have been the preferred outcome, the result of the Leg 2 does set the stage for a thrilling climax to the penultimate round of the ETS with this race having more potential race winners that any other closing race that has gone before it.
The second A-Main of Xray Pro Stock, which ran before the chaotic Ride Modified Main, was a thrilling but thankfully clean race. Starting from pole position Marek Cerny kept his head under extremely pressure from the very fast Awesomatix’ of Viljami Kutvonen and Dominic Vogl. Starting from the number 2 position Kutvonen was practical glued to Cerny’s Xray the pair running at one stage side by side down the main straight but an error by the Finnish talent on lap 14 of 19 would see the end of his challenge. While Kutvonen was now out of the running, his error dropping him back to 5th, Cerny had little time to relax as 16-year-old Vogl took over the Awesomatix challenge running all over the back of the Czech driver. Unfortunately things got too close with Vogl hitting the T4 but the Austrian waited allowing Cerny to retake the lead with four laps to go which he would not relinquish. Winner of the opening Leg Martin Hofer completed the Top 3 setting the stage for a four way show down in the third & final Main later this evening. Cerny, who was told by Martin Hudy after the race that he drove better underpressure than when he was out on his own, said he really enjoyed the battle with Kutvonen describing him as a very fair driver. Asked about the pending third Main, Cerny, who has already won two rounds this season, said it was going to be the hardest race he has ever driven.
In the Speed Passion Formula class Top Qualifier Jan Asmer took the win over Leg 1 victor Roman Pichler meaning the overall winner of all three class will be decided in the closing races of the weekend.
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
A-Main Leg 2 Results
Ride Modified A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(6) Alexander Hagberg (SE) – Xray – 20/5:09.353
2.(7) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya – 20/5:10.735
3.(9) Martin Hudy (SK) – Xray – 20/5:12.491
4.(10)Magnus Vässmar (SE) – Xray – 20/5:14.289
5.(8) Freddy Südhoff (DE) – Awesomatix – 20/5:14.623
6.(5) Marc Fischer (DE) – Serpent – 19/5:00.410
7.(4) Andy Moore (GB) – HB – 19/5:02.136
8.(3) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo – 19/5:07.079
9.(2) Yannic Prümper (DE) – Yokomo – 18/5:00.991
10.(1)Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya – 17/4:26.374
Xray Pro Stock A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(1) Marek Cerny (CZ) – Xray – 19/5:15.348
2.(3) Dominic Vogl (AT) – Awesomatix – 19/5:15.589
3.(4) Martin Hofer (DE) – Schumacher – 19/5:16.572
4.(6) Valetin Hettrich (DE) – Xray – 18/5:00.230
5.(2) Viljami Kutvonen (FI) – Awesomatix – 18/5:01.962
6.(7) Oliver Franke (DE) – HB – 18/5:02.251
7.(10)Jan Asmer (DE) – Serpent – 18/5:03.097
8.(5) Tobias Vogel (DE) – Xray – 18/5:07.786
9.(9) David Nemcek (SK) – Xray – 18/5:08.079
10.(8)Henrik Heitsch (DE) – ARC – 7/2:01.046
Video – Modified & Pro Stock A-main Leg 1
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWc9FcutPmY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3jLZ1uOnJg[/youtube]
