Video – Modified Qualifying Rd4
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2R1xn7ZcWI[/youtube]
Chassis Focus – Leo Arnold
Chassis – Team Magic E4 RSIII
Motor – Orion 4.5
ESC – Orion
Batteries – Orion 6000
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/HRC
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – French factory Team Magic driver Leo Arnold is competing in both Modified and ProStock in Luxembourg. Here is his Modified E4 RSIII. While being pretty standard, the car features a double top deck, an aluminium center pulley and differential aluminium gears.
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Volker is Top Qualifier in Luxembourg
Ronald Volker has moved a step closer to clinching a fifth consecutive Euro Touring Series championship title after the Yokomo ace claimed the overall TQ in Luxembourg. His 18th time to become Top Qualifier, the German secured pole position for tomorrow’s penultimate round of Season #8 when he completed a perfect day at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” with a third TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying. Denying Volker the TQ in the opening qualifier last night, a late P3 in the final heat will see Alexander Hagberg start from second on the grid. Behind the Swede, Volker’s bonus TQ championship point ending his title hopes, HB’s Jilles Groskamp will start third followed by Xray’s Bruno Coelho. Volker’s other two title rivals Marc Rheinard and Yannic Prumper start 6th and 8th respectively meaning the are going to need to pull off something impressive if they are to force the title to go to the season finale at the Hudy Arena next month.
The driver with the most TQ starts in the ETS, commenting on his latest one Volker said ‘after yesterday’s qualifier I couldn’t have expected three TQ runs today’. Not making the task easy for himself, for the third time he would clip the curbing on the uphill section of the large track’s feature corner sending his LRP powered BD7 into a 720 degree spin. ‘Super lucky not to lose more time’, he said apart from that one incident his car was really good with him particularly pleased, despite being on second run tyres, that he was able to set his fastest time of the day. Looking to the finals, he said ‘tomorrow is going to be a different story as everyone will be on new tyres’ adding ‘I just hope for a good track and good sets of tyres so that I can run a clean race’.
Changing to the set of tyres he used to take Q1, after his second set of tyres ‘spoilt’ two of his qualifiers today, Hagberg said his ORCA powered T4 was ‘better again’. Posting the third fastest time in the final qualifier ahead of Loic Jasmin, the Swede said ‘luckily I snatched third on the last lap which gave me second on the grid, a good position for tomorrow’. He continued ‘it’s a shame the tyres are so inconsistent and I’m concerned for the finals as tyres are going to be a bit of a lottery’. Feeling his car is good he said ‘I just need to hope I get good sets of tyres to put on it’.
Running new tyres in the final qualifier but having heard complaints from others when they changed to their second set, Groskamp said his PRO5 was pretty good in Q4. With the car feeling exactly the same on both sets of tyres, the 2012 World Champion said this was encouraging in terms of showing his car has a well balanced set-up. Happy with his consistentcy of three Top 3 qualifying runs, he said being sandwiched between the two Xrays he would have preferred the drivers in the opposite order. Admitting Coelho is faster and a better match for Volker’s pace, he said having him starting from second would have been nice as ‘maybe something would happen between him and Volker’ allowing him to capitalise. While his team-mates Freddy Sudhoff and Andy Moore missed the A-Main, Groskamp feels this event has been a big step forward for his HB/HPI Racing team as they now have a good base set-up to work from which has given him more confidence.
Coelho said his final qualifier started out good before a ‘little mistake’ dropped him off the TQ pace but worse was to come as his T4 took flight. No idea why it did this, he said he could only assume he caught a bump or something on the track. Before the incident he said the car was perfect, a fact highlighted by yet another fastest lap for the round. Admmitting his performance was helped by a ‘lucky set of tyres’, when asked about starting from fourth on the grid he said ‘as normal I want to finish in a better position and with a little more luck I think this should be possible’.
Having qualified and finished sixth at this event last year, Yokomo driver Loic Jasmin was delighted to qualify fifth. Finishing the final qualifying fourth having just got pipped for third by Hagberg on the last lap, the French driver said he wants to at least hold his position in the finals. Joking to his team-mate Volker that ‘the first guy is super slow so I should be able to make a few places in the traffic jam behind him’, he said having Marc Rheinard starting behind you is never good for the nerves but he would try his best to keep ahead of the 4-time World Champion.
Saving his second set of tyres for the final qualifier, Rheinard was said he was ‘really sick of the tyre situation’. Hoping to capitalise on the fresh tyres so as to take a good result in the final qualifier for a strong starting position he said it was a ‘maximum fail’. On new tyres yesterday he said he almost pulled off a TQ but now he struggled to make Top 10 against drivers who were on used tyres. He said his Much More powered TRF419 is a lot stronger this weekend than previous ETS encounters but starting from 6th especially with ‘grip not so high’ it’s going to be difficult to pull off a good result but added ‘in the finals anything can happen so let’s wait and see’.
In Pro Stock and Formula it will also be the reigning champions who will start from pole position. Xray’s Marek Cerny would secure the overall TQ on a tie break with Nico Catelani, the class seeing four different drivers topping the qualifiers. Topping the final qualifier, Lars Hoppe will start third. Formula Champion Jan Ratheisky would also claim the TQ on a tie break coming back to top the final qualifier to pair with VBC Racing’s Olivier Bultynck who also ran two TQ rounds. Serpent’s ETS Round 3 winner David Ehrbar starts third.
View the complete event results here.
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Euro Touring Series Rd4 – Saturday Action
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGZ0Tfn-wAw[/youtube]
Live results from be found on MyRCM here.
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Chassis Focus – Julian Borowski
Chassis – Serpent S411 Eryx 3.0
Motor – Muchmore (handout)
ESC – Muchmore (handout)
Batteries – Gens Ace 6000 mah
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/GM
Bodyshell – Serpent LTC-R
Remarks – German Serpent driver Julian Borowski who is running strong in ProStock here at the ETS Luxembourg is using an S411 3.0 that features a number of option parts. In addition to rear aluminium driveshafts and front 2° aluminium C-Hubs, he is also using titanium arm pins and an aluminium screw set.
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Volker tops Q3 from Coelho
Ronald Volker has posted a second TQ run at ETS Luxembourg, the Yokomo driver topping Q3 from Bruno Coelho after the Xray driver found himself blocked by Volker’s team-mate Meen Vejrak as the qualifier entered the final minute. Backing up his strong Q2 performance, HB’s Jilles Groskamp completed the Top 3 ahead of Serpent’s Marc Fischer. Having not featured so far on this his first visit to Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”, World Champion Naoto Matsukura would finally put together a half competitive penultimate qualifier to set the 5th fastest time.
Describing Q3 as ‘a must win run’ due to the fact he was on his second set of RIDE tyres, Volker said he was pleased to have two TQ results as it puts the pressure now on Alexander Hagberg, his only rival for the overall TQ and the bonus championship point that goes with it. Aware that Xray had its drivers on new tyres he said despite his LRP powered BD7 lacking steering he knew he ‘had to win’. With Hagberg having the fastest time from TQ in Q1, Volker said he would be going into the final qualifier fighting for a third TQ run so as his rival wouldn’t get to use the tie breaker. While the track was ‘slightly better’ than in Q2, the temperatures not as cold and the wind not as strong as earlier, Volker believes that while it might improve again for the last run the overall conditions won’t improve enough to post a faster time than Hagberg’s.
‘I don’t know what he was thinking’, that was Coelho’s reaction to Meen blocking him in the track’s ‘Laguna Seca’ section. The Portuguese driver continued ‘ Prumper opened but Meen didn’t and I ended up crashing into him, what is that about’. With his T4 doing a donut following the contact, the World Championship runner-up would lose over 1.5 seconds saying ‘my car was super perfect and I would have made TQ easy without this (incident)’. On new tyres Coelho would post the fastest lap of the round. In contrast his team-mate, setting the 8th fastest time Hagberg said his ‘car was close to undrivable’. With his T4 going from ‘perfect to terrible’ the nitro touring car World Champion said he can only hope it’s due to a bad set of tyres. For the final qualifier he will revert to the same set of tyres he used to take Q1.
‘Not bad but Ronald was a bit faster than before’, was how Groskamp summed up his latest qualifier. Really happy to lock in a starting position towards the front of the A-Main grid, he said his performance on 3rd run tyres was just a consistent one. Armed with a new set of tyres for the last qualifier, he said he has a feeling old tyres might actually be faster after talking to his rivals with most reporting new tyres as loose.
Running in the second fastest heat, Fischer said his S411 feels good and while happy to get fourth when he ‘knows it could have been a better result it’s not so nice’. The German was referencing to his incident with Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski. Getting caught up in an off the talented Polish driver had, Fischer said with the car facing the wrong way on the track he made head on contact with it and spun out costing him 2-seconds. Confident as ‘the speed is there’ he continued ‘hopefully for the last one I will also have a bit more luck to go with it’. Team-mate Viktor Wilck would again suffer a spin but on his second set of tyres he pulled off to save them for the last run.
Making ‘maximum changes’ to the set-up of his TRF419, Matsukura said the car was ‘now good’ having been ‘shit’ in the opening two qualifiers. Using his second set of tyres for the run, the Japanese driver said he could still do with more traction and steering but hopefully they can make a further step forward for the last qualifier and secure his first ETS A-main start with the Tamiya Racing Factory team. His first time at the track he said ‘if it had more traction it would be more fun’.
Running his first Top 10 time, Schumacher’s Elliot Harper would complete the Top 6. The British driver described his car as ‘not bad’ adding it was a ‘nice consistent run’ in which he ‘didn’t hit any curbs’. Thanking team-mates Aaron Rose & Andy Murray for their input, the fifth Round of the ETS attracting a huge UK entry, he said having changed set-up for Q2 it was not the best and he has gone back to an earlier set-up. Saying he needs more steering he said he hasn’t figured out yet what but he will make a set-up adjustment for the final qualifier which sitting 12th in the qualification ranking could turn around his event.
One of the stars of last year’s event with his Team Magic, Leo Arnold would post the 7th fastest time. Running new tyres in Q2 he was on target for a Top 4 time until he stripped a belt in the final minute. A big fan of the track, the very capable 1:10 nitro racer who is a strong runner in the Euro Nitro Series said his car is good especially on used tyres and he just needs one more good qualifier to replicate his A-Main appearance again this year.
In the Xray Pro-Stock class, Danish Schumacher driver Nicolai Lindegaard took a surprise TQ run in Q3 ahead of Serpent’s Julian Borowski with defending champion Marek Cerny completing the Top 3. It was a bad round for Q1 pace setter Nico Catelani as he went out after just a lap while title hopefully Lars Hoppe also had a tough round as he finished outside the Top 10. In Formula, the Top 3 was a repeat of Q2 as Olivier Bultynck posted another TQ run ahead of David Ehrbar and Mike Gosvig. Champion Jan Ratheisky would post the 4th fastest time after losing time on his second lap.
View the complete event results here.
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Chassis Focus – Jilles Groskamp
Chassis – HB Pro5
Motor – Orion 4.5
ESC – Orion
Batteries – Orion 6000
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – 2012 World Champion Jilles Groskamp is running a pretty stock version of the HB Pro5. The Dutchman is using Lunsford titanium turnbuckles throughout the car while the front end of the car features caster blocks from the previous HB TCXX car.
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Volker takes ‘surprise TQ’ ahead of Groskamp
Ronald Volker took a ‘surprise TQ run’ in the second round of qualifying on another cold day at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg. The Yokomo driver overcame difficult conditions rising to the top of the timing screen where he would finish 4/10ths of a seconds up on HB’s Jilles Groskamp with Yokomo team-mate Loic Jasmin completing the Top 3 a further 2.2 seconds back. A round that would see most of the front runners suffer spins, Q1 pace setter Alexander Hagberg was one of such drivers with the Swede pulling off after just a lap due to having ‘no traction’.
Volker said while ‘super happy’, he ‘didn’t expect to TQ on old tyres’. ‘More hoping that Bruno (Coelho) or someone would deny Alex (Hagberg) from getting a second TQ’, he said it turned out ‘the track was completely the opposite to yesterday with absolutely no grip’ making his used tyres less of a disadvantage. Putting the lack of traction down to both overnight rain and a strong wind, him feeling the wind blowing dirt onto the track was the biggest cause of the problem, the reigning champion would suffer two spins. Describing his LRP powered BD7 as ‘(feeling) good for the conditions’ he added thanks to this he was able to pull back the time lost and ‘steal the TQ’.
On target for a TQ run for almost half of the run, Groskamp said ‘I was surprised to hear I was leading but I did notice a lot of people flying off the track’. The Dutch ace, who felt his driving didn’t make the most of his PRO5’s potential in last night’s opening qualifier, said he knew the car was ‘very stable’ on old tyres and P2 for the round showed he’s competitive so he is ‘really happy’. Having reduced the power settings of his Orion speedo, the former World Champion said this was a big help for the low traction. Feeling he could ‘maybe have pushed harder’ he said the fact he didn’t could have been the reason for his ‘consistent run’.
Running new tyres on his BD7, Jasmin said the track was ‘not perfect’ and a combination of this and the fresh rubber left him with a ‘super loose’ car for the opening two laps. Losing in the region of a second as result he said towards the end of the 5-minutes the car handled the conditions well. Living just half an hour from Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”, the multiple French National Champion said he hoped for better traction in Q3 and would judge whether or not to make a diff change based on the pace of the heats leading up to his.
Having pulled up in Q1 to save his tyres after an error, Bruno Coelho took his Xray to the fourth fastest time. Setting the fastest lap of the round, the Portuguese driver described the run as ‘not perfect’. Describing his T4 as ‘super good’ on lap 4 he got caught out by ‘the wind or something’ which spun him out while on the TQ pace. Losing over 3-seconds as a result he said after that he just tried to keep the rest of the run clean for the best result possible knowing he had a DNF from yesterday.
Serpent’s Viktor Wilck would set the 5th fastest time. Running ‘carefully’ behind Groskamp, the Swede said ‘all of a sudden the car spun out’ and like Coelho the only explanation he could give was that it was due to the wind. Describing the performance of his Speed Passion powered S411 as ‘not too bad’ he felt without the spin he had Top 3 pace. Completing the Top 10, team-mate Marc Fischer said his S411 was also ‘OK’ but the conditions were difficult as the wind made it impossible to predict a spin adding ‘it just goes from you’.
Sixth for the round, Marc Rheinard described conditions as terrible. Pinning the lack of traction on the wind, the Tamiya driver said he ‘had no grip and no steering’ and just getting around the track was ‘a challenge’. Despite the conditions, TRF team-mate Akio Sobue would enjoy improved form. With a track of this size an impossibility in his home country of Japan, the star of ETS Round 4 said while his TRF419 was a little loose and he made some little mistakes he is just driving the track better and better with the more mileage he gets. Feeling more improvements are to come through his driving he might consider a rear shock set-up change but that will depend on the track conditions for Q3.
In Pro-Stock the second round would also see the defending champion post his first TQ run with Xray’s Marek Cerny topping the times from team-mate Jan Ratheisky. Last night’s Q1 pace setter Nico Catelani would back up that performance with the third fastest time, the 20-year-old Italian Team Yokomo driver 9/10th faster than ARC’s Lars Hoppe who again set the fastest lap for the round. In Formula, VBC Racing’s Olivier Bultynck topped Q2 ahead of Serpent’s ETS Italy winner David Ehrbar. Having TQ’d the opening qualifier, Champion Jan Ratheisky would retire from the run.
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