Marc Rheinard has won the opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in the Czech Republic. The Tamiya driver claimed the victory with a win in the third A-Main over Ronald Volker and Bruno Coelho, that also being the final order they would step on the podium in Hrotovice. After the thrilling last lap finish to A1, in which reigning champion Volker snatched the win from the Top Qualifier, A2 & 3 would be more straight forward for Rheinard despite Volker’s best efforts. An event that has been won each season by the champion elect, the win is a major boost for Rheinard and Tamiya in their ongoing quest to win back the title. Last winning the race in 2009/10, the race has since been the reign of Volker & Yokomo in their run of five consecutive championship titles. With the bonus point for TQ and his 14th ETS win, Rheinard travels to Round 2 in German in February, where he took his only win last year, with maximum Championship points.
‘Last year I TQ’d but only finished 4th, this year got the TQ & win so it couldn’t be a better start to the season’, was Rheinard’s reaction to his first big win since winning last year’s Reedy Race. Asked about the importance of the race in terms of it always having been won by that season’s champion he replied with a smile ‘so we need to keep it going’. Commenting on A3, he said ‘it started good and (he) got small gap again, then when Ronald had a small crash I hoped Bruno would hold onto second but Ronald pushed even harder. Then I had one silly lap and he was able to close but luckily he crashed again’. Commenting on the performance of his Much More powered TRF419 which set the fastest lap of A3, the 4-time World Champion said, ‘It looks like we are going in the right direction but we still have more work to do to’.
‘One of the better second place finishes I have had’, that was how Volker summed up his weekend. He continued ‘it was clear I always lose time at the beginning to Marc and always have to fight back. I was catching him but then lost it in the chicane. While I was still not out of the win this was probably the moment that cost us the win’. Falling behind Coelho as a result of a roll over coming onto the straight as the race reached the final minute, he again complimented his rival’s ‘great sportmanship’ as the Portuguese ace didn’t force a block on his pass to retake position on the next lap. The debut for the BD7 2016, Volker said ‘the car was always fast over the weekend but the balance and rear end traction hurt us in terms of getting the TQ and win and is something we need to work on but overall it is a step up on the old car and there is a lot more to come from all the team’.
Making his ETS debut at this event last year when he qualified 8th and finished 6th, Coelho was happy to claim his first podium finish on carpet. The Offroad World Champion’s goal going into A3 was to secure 3rd overall. He said ‘that is why I opened up for Volker and let him retake me as it would have made no difference to my final position but if we crashed Alex (Hagberg) could have passed us and finish third (overall).’ Admitting asphalt is a surface he is stronger on, backed up by the fact he won the final two races of Season #8 on that surface, he said he needs to make the best result possible on carpet. With it ‘super hard to overtake on such a (carpet) track’ the 22-year-old said ‘you need to make a good job in qualifying and that is something I must work on’. Outside the podium, the Top 6 would finish as they qualified with Hagberg fourth ahead of Yannic Prumper and Dionys Stadler. Starting 9th, Olly Jefferies would be the biggest mover finishing up his first ETS A-Main appearance in 7th.
With Jan Ratheisky wrapping up the Pro Stock and Formula wins in A2, the third finals were about deciding who would join the popular German on the podiums. In the Xray Pro Stock class, reigning champion Marek Cerny took a tone to tone win over Tom Krägefski, and that is how they would line up behind Ratheisky to make it an all Xray podium. In the Serpent formula class joining the champion on the podium would be Christian Donath, winner of A3 with his Tamiya, and Belgian VBC team driver Olivier Bultynck.
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
Live results from be found on MyRCM here.
For viewers in Germany you can install the free browser addon YT Unblocker or ProxTube to allow you to view the live stream.
Chassis – Xray X1 ’16
Motor – Hobbywing (handout)
ESC –Hobbywing (handout)
Batteries – LRP 4700 mah
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Bodyshell – Kit body
Remarks – Reigning Champion Jan Ratheisky kicked off his title defense dominating the formula class here in Czech Republic running the new X1 ’16 from the Slovakian company. With the new platform featuring a floating steering system, for this race Jan decided to screw his servo down on the chassis while leaving the rest of the steering floating. He was also using an optional aluminium chassis.
Image Gallery
Chassis – Schumacher Mi5 Evo
Motor – G-Force 4.5T
ESC – G-Force TS 160
Batteries – Intellect 6000 mah
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Top Schumacher driver here in Hrotovice, reigning British champion Elliott Harper is running the Evo version of the Mi5 equipped with a new upgraded aluminium chassis. The car also features a Pro bearing set, front double joint driveshafts and a twin point steering system.
Image Gallery
Having had an A1 win snatched off him by Ronald Volker at the end of the final lap last night, Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard claimed a comfortable win in the second A-Main of the Yokomo Euro Tourig Series season opener in the Czech Republic. Leading from start to finish, a late charge from Volker would reducing Rheinard’s winning margin to half a second, the Tamiya driver was never under real pressure as on Volker and Coelho took turns at rolling. With the Top 3 breaking clear of the pack, Volker would as the race entered the second half roll out of the 3-car train promoting Coelho to second. That position change would only last a lap as Coelho would also roll his Xray handing the place back to the Yokomo driver, causing them to spread out and while Volker would take over a second out of Rheinard’s ending the race with three 12-second laps, the order remained unchanged with Coelho finishing 1.8-seconds back from Volker.
‘It started close until they rolled. I would be happy to have a race like this one more time today’, was Rheinard’s reaction to the win which sets the stage for showdown in A3 between two of touring car’s longest standing rivalries. Suffering ‘one bobble’ which let his pursuers close within striking distance, he said after Volker and then Coelho made their own mistakes he was ‘just cruising’. Having suffered a roll in A1 which he himself said cost him the win, the 4-time World Champion said ‘the last few laps I was just making sure I didn’t roll again’. The former champion, whose winning 2009/2010 season included his last victory of the Hrotovice event, said his ‘car was pretty easy to drive’ and he would leave it unchanged for the deciding race including running the same set of Volante tyres. A3 is set to be the 8th run of the weekend on the same set.
Having adjusted his tyre prep after suffering a very loose car at the start of A1, Volker said this resulted in an improved BD7 2016. Describing the rear grip as ‘better than all previous runs’ he continued while ‘still not very easy to drive, it was at least predictable’. Putting his roll down to catching a corner dot, he said after that all he could do was try to reduce the gap and with second in A2 securing him at least second overall he said it was going to end up ‘not too bad of a weekend’. Winner of this event during each season in which he has reigned over the ETS, the 12-time ETS race winner said track conditions have been a lot lower than they expected and that was something they needed to work on getting the car suited to for Round 2 in Germany in February.
‘Quite OK but not perfect’ was how Coelho summed up his A2 performance. The Portuguese ace said the first few laps were difficult, something he was putting down to the tyres as the cars sat on the grid for a time while the Top 10 drivers were introduced. After that his T4 ‘was good’ adding hopefully in A3 the race starts quicker. Asked about his roll, he also said he ‘touched the curbs’. Starting 4th team-mate Alexander Hagberg found himself 6th after just a few corners. Last year’s race runner-up, he would managed to get back passed Dionys Stadler but couldn’t do anything about Yannic Prumper, the 2014 podium finisher holding on for fourth by half a second.
While the first Season#9 winner of the Volante Modified class will be decided in A3, Jan Ratheisky didn’t want to wait that long backing up last night’s Formula and Pro Stock A1 wins with another in A2 to kick off the 2015/16 season in perfect fashion. Having also claimed the bonus championship point for being Top Qualifier for both classes, the reigning Formula Champion took an easy A2 win ahead of Christian Donath. In Pro Stock, the Xray driver would again be put to work hard for the win by his team-mate and reigning champion Marek Cerny. With no contact this time round, the German held on as Cerny threw his T4 through the chicane on the final dash to the finish. Doing the double is a repeat of Ratheisky’s, then known as Amser, entry in the ETS record books as being the first and still only driver to win two classes in a single ETS weekend.
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
Chassis – TOP Racing F1X
Motor – Hobbywing (handout)
ESC –Hobbywing (handout)
Batteries – Orion 4500 mah
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Bodyshell – MonTech F14
Remarks – German driver Tobias Schuster is running the latest version of the Japanese formula car here at the ETS Season#9 opener. The main new features on the project are a whole new front end, a new top deck which features an additional post to adjust the flex and a new servo mount that allows for Ackermann and bump-steer adjustments.
Image Gallery