Video – Modified, Pro Stock & Formula A2
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXtzffII2vU[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMgF9q-nLh0[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bp4aYH–6s[/youtube]
Volker fends off Coelho in A1
Ronald Volker saw off intense pressure from Bruno Coelho to win the opening A-Main at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Austria this morning. Top Qualifier for the race, the only let up for Volker came when Coelho’s car tapped the boards but he quickly recovered with his Xray again all over the rear bumper of the Yokomo. Despite laying down the fastest lap of the final on his penultimate lap, a slow final lap meant Volker would hold on to win by 3/10th of a second. Behind them Viljami Kutvonen would complete the Top 3 almost 4-seconds back, the Awesomatix driver benefiting from Alexander Hagberg making contact with Marc Rheinard in the 2nd minute of the race. Rheinard would end the race 4th, 9/10th back from Viljami followed by Hagberg and Team Associated’s Juho Levanen.
‘Super happy with A1’ was how a relieved Volker summed up what he would go on to describe as ‘one of the most pressured races ‘he’s done’. Chasing his first win of the ETS season, the reigning champion said, ‘Bruno was hanging on my ass for the first two minutes but then I managed to get a small gap which meant I didn’t have to worry every corner about having him on my tail’. Hoping for another clean race in A2, the German said, ‘(he) was able to see where (Coelho) was faster which might help for A2’ adding ‘we won’t be changing the car’.
Coelho described the race as ‘very good’ adding it was ‘amazing to race close and clean’. With the fastest lap of the race which was 2/10th faster than that of Volker, said ‘congratulation to Volker, he defended well’. Looking to A2, the joint championship leader continued, ‘I will try to do the same, actually, better in the next one but the track is super tight’.
‘Pretty much how I planned it’ was Viljami’s response to how his race had gone, continuing ‘there was an accident in front of me and that promoted to third’. Collecting Hagberg’s car after the Xray made contact with Rehinard after the fast chicane, Viljami said this left his A800 ‘a little tweaked’ but he was still able to ‘cruise’ the rest of the race. Describing his car as ‘OK’ before the incident, he is undecided as to whether to make a set-up change, his fastest lap one of the slowest of the race.
Rheinard’s reaction to the race was, ‘I thought I had a good starting position but probably not’. Describing his start as good, the winner of the season opener said he ‘just tried to stay with Bruno and not hit him but then got hit by Alex’. While the contact from Hagberg was ‘not on purpose, just unlucky’, the 4-time World Champion said it ‘ruined’ his race’. With his car TRF419X ‘really good’, the German is hoping for a cleaner A2.
Also describing his car as ‘really good’, Hagberg said when Rheinard went wide in the chicane he tried to pass but they ‘came together’. Given a penalty for the failed pass, the Swede said ‘It was my fault I guess’ adding he’d ‘try again the next final’.
In Pro Stock and Formula Jan Ratheisky had a very successful start to his day taking both A-Mains from the TQ pretty much unchallenged over the 5-minutes. In the Serpent Formula class, the Xray driver put in a dominant drive to win by 2-seconds from the Roche of Olivier Bultynck. Behind them Serpent’s David Ehrbar would get by the No.3 Yokomo of Andreas Myberg to complete the Top 3. In the Xray Pro Stock encounter, Ratheisky led an Xray 1-2 from reigning champion Marek Cerny who mounted a late charge followed by a recovering Tony Streit, the latter having got a penalty for a contact with Valentin Hettrich on the opening lap.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
Video – Modified, Pro Stock & Formula A1
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DWd005S28g[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z5qSSY-yz0[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KRSLS0df8s[/youtube]
Chassis Focus – Viljami Kutvonen
Chassis – Awesomatix A800 “A”
Motor – LRP X20 4.5T
ESC –LRP Flow
Batteries – LRP 5600mAh “LCG”
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Highest
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R 2.0
Remarks – Having just secured his best grid position of the ETS season, Finnish ace Viljami Kutvonen is running the “A” version of the Russian made touring car which means he is using an aluminium chassis, the A800 coming with a carbon chassis as standard. His car also sports new, wider suspension arms that feature adjustable pivot balls to make it easier to adjust the car’s width. He is also using a new centre chassis stiffener which also doubles as a 65g weight.
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Volker completes quali clean sweep
Having wrapped up his first overall TQ of the current ETS season in the penultimate round of qualifying, Ronald Volker has completed the clean sweep in Wels, Austria. The Yokomo driver claimed a very close fourth & final qualifier ahead of an improved Alexander Hagberg with the Top 5 covered by just 0.834 of a second. Overall it will be joint championship leaders Bruno Coelho and Marc Rheinard who will line up behind Volker with Hagberg and Viljami Kutvonen completing the top half of the A-Main grid for the final carpet encounter of the season.
With nothing to be lost or gained in the final qualifier, Volker ‘just tried to repeat Q3 but with a clean run’, the German taking the third round despite rolling his BD7. Describing the run as having ‘started better’ with him ‘matching Bruno & Marc’s pace’ this left him ‘quite confident’. After a mistake from Coelho he then ‘took it easy, almost too easy’ admitting he didn’t know how close his rivals were until the end of the heat, the gap to Hagberg 4/10th of a second. With Q4 a confident boost that the car is now a match for his rivals at the beginning of the run, looking to the finals he said his approach would be to ‘try and not get caught at the start and maintain a gap’ over his pursuers.
Trying ‘something new’ in the final qualifier, Coelho said his car ‘did not work as well and (they) will go back’ to his Q3 set-up as it had ‘lost its edge’ over the initial laps. Predicting it will be ‘super difficult to overtake’, the three time ETS race winner said with his Hobbywing powered T4 ‘working very well’ he will fight for the win adding ‘we will see what happens’.
Third fastest in the final quali, just 0.029 off Hagberg, Rheinard said changes to his car meant it didn’t fade as quick towards the end of the run but push was still an issue. With his TRF team-mate Christopher Krapp, who will line up 9th on the grid, also using Q4 to test a different set-up Rheinard plans to copy his fellow countryman set-up for the opening final tomorrow morning. Looking to the finals, highlighting three of the new TRF419X had made it to the grid, he said the important thing for him was to maintain his run of carpet podium finishes before the championship moves outdoor but added with ‘Alex is fast now and Viljami too, it is going to be interesting’.
‘Was better’ was how Hagberg summed up changes to his car for Q4. The Xray driver said while his ORCA powered T4 was good at the end of the 5-minutes he felt he lost ground at the start and they need to get a better balance over the run. Confident they can get it good for the final, the Swede added with everyone so close he is looking forward to racing which he feels will be ‘interesting’. Admitting it is going to be difficult to pass without pushing someone out of the way he added it’s also going to be hard to drive clean with the field so tight.
Enjoying his best qualifying of the season, Kutvonen said ‘it feels good to be so close to the ETS Top 4’ pointing out they are the same group every race. Adjusting the rear toe and front spring on his LRP powered Awesomatix, the Finn said the changes made his A800-A ‘very good early on’ but at the end he had too much understeer and this is something he ‘hope to figure out’ a fix for going into the finals. Starting behind Kutvonen will be Marc Fischer in the new Serpent 4X followed by Tamiya’s Akio Sobue, Team Associated’s Juho Levanen, Krapp and Magnus Vassmar with the new Schumacher Mi6.
In both the Pro Stock and Formula it is the championship leader of both, Jan Ratheisky, who claimed the honour of Top Qualifier. After a P2 in Q1 of the Serpent Formula class, the Xray driver claimed the next three qualifiers to put his Xray X1 on pole ahead of Olivier Bultynck and Andreas Myrberg. In the Xray Pro Stock class his only TQ run in Q4 secured the winner of the season opener his second TQ bonus championship point of the season. Lining up behind the popular German will be Yokomo driver Valentin Hettrich and the Awesomatix of ETS Germany winner Tony Streit with reigning champion Marek Cerny fourth.
View complete event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
Euro Touring Series Rd3 – Saturday Action
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1faJ3vBZpQ[/youtube]
Live results from be found on MyRCM here.
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Chassis Focus – Andreas Myrberg
Chassis – Yokomo YR-10F
Motor – Hobbywing (handout)
ESC –Hobbywing (handout)
Batteries – ORCA 4800mAh
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Xpert
Bodyshell – Montech F13
Remarks – After a long racing hiatus, former top touring car racer Andreas Myrberg gets back behind the wheel running a Yokomo formula borrowed from his AME team driver Tobias Vogel. The car is pretty standard, only equipped with a lightweight aluminium rear axle and titanium screws, and fitted with a set of Montech wings.
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Video – Modified Qualifying Rd4
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUCHZCa-we8[/youtube]
