The first round of the Euro Touring Series in Apeldoorn was a great event and a blistering start into Season #15 2022/23. During the trophy ceremony, all drivers looked very happy and satisfied, after some beautiful days on the ground of the AMCA Apeldoorn. At every event, there are some things to talk about afterwards, and here are the 5 things we learned from ETS RD1 in the Netherlands…
1) Different class – different body
One thing which you could see in the equipment charts after the race, is the domination of 2 body shells in the Matrix Modified, and Awesomatix Pro Stock class. The bodies we are talking about, are the Zoo Racing Wolverine Max, and the Xtreme Twister Speciale. Normally, a fact like this is nothing special to talk about. But when we are looking onto the equipment charts, we notice that one body was dominant in Modified, and the other one in the Pro Stock class.
It seems that the Wolverine Max suits the speed and driving style of the Pro Stock class almost perfectly. The level of downforce is different, and the cars are have a totally different approach to the corners. In the Pro Stock class the drivers are usually using less brake, carry a ton of cornerspeed, and hit the „full throttle“ position on the trigger very early and hard. The downforce level and the overall handling characteristics of the Wolverine Max made 9 out of the 11 A-Main drivers choosing this body from Zoo Racing in the Awesomatix Pro Stock class. The other two body shells were an TCN from Blitz, and a Zero from Mon-Tech.
As mentioned before, the Twister Speciale was the dominant force in the Matrix Modified class. This body has a different hape when we compare it with the Wolverine Max. Most noticeable is the difference of the rear wing, and the front section of the body. Additionally, the Twister Speciale offers a different amount of aerodynamic drag, which suits the demands of the higher speeds in the modified class better. The equipment charts of the Matrix Modified class are showing that 9 from 11 bodies had been a Twister Speciale from Xtreme Aerodynamics. The other body shells in the A-Main was a Wolverine Max from Zoo Racing and a classic Twister from Xtreme.
A very interesting realization about the body shells, and we can be excited for the third body shell for Modified and Pro Stock, which the manufacturing companies can list until the third race of the season at Arena33 in Andernach.
2) Yokomo stronger than expected with their new BD11
Yannic Prümper had a real blast on the track with the new Yokomo BD11 touring car. He was able to win the race of the Matrix Modified class ahead of Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker, who was TQ after qualifying. Normally, Völker is almost impossible to beat when he is starting from pole position, but Prümper showed some great racing and was able to get by the Mugen car of Völker in A2 and A3. He was driving flawless and with that kind of agressiveness you need to win a race from second on the grid.
But it was not only Prümper who impressed with the new Yokomo car. The whole team looked very strong. With Christopher Krapp also stepping on the podium (3rd), Nicholas Lee in 4th, and Loic Jasmin in 6th, Yokomo had 4 cars in the A-Main at the first international race for the BD11 – something we can not highlight enough!
The BD11 worked fine in the Awesomatix Pro Stock class as well. Enrico Jung was in the top 5 after practice, and qualified 10th on the grid for the A-Main. It seems that Yokomo did a good job with the development of the BD11. Let`s see what the team can do with the BD11 during the season on other tracks. The next stop for the ETS and Yokomo is another fast and flowing track in Aigen (Austria) at the end of July.
3) Foam tires and Formula racing – a good fit!
After we saw the Scorpion Formula class racing on foam tires for the first time in Neumünster (RD4) and Daun (RD5) on carpet at the end of last season, the race in Apeldoorn was the first outing on Asphalt. The drivers all had their doubts about the tires, and there was some serious setup work to do. But in the end, the cars looked good and racy on the track. We have seen great overtaking maneuvers on the AMCA track in the finals, and almost everybody was satisfied with the Matrix foam tires in the end.
What can we learn from that: Every tire needs a special setup and some tewaks here and there to get them working perfectly. It is not easy to extract the maximum from a race tire and it is always one of the biggest challenges in all racing classes – no matter if it`s full scale or RC racing. Let`s see how the Formula foam tire story continues!
4) Crazy top speeds up to 116,9 kmh on the straightway
During the weekend, Ronald Völker was measured with the highest top speed at 116,9 kmh on the straightway with his LRP powered Mugen Seiki car. Whan an amazing speed. The other modified drivers also posted values above the 110 kmh mark and it was just fantastic to see the cars grippin and rippin down the main straight. But what can we learn from that?
The track in Apeldoorn features a tight hairpin right before the cars are entering the straightway. That means that the cars are slowing down a lot before they accelerate up to full speed. On tracks with a sweeper before the straightway, the speed is building up slowly, until you hit full throttle. But not so in Apeldoorn.
All stock drivers are hitting the throttle very hard there, and also the modified guys needed their power increasing quickly to achieve a decent top speed. Therefore it was mandatory, to know everything about speedo settings (Modified), and to have a battery with a low internal resistance for the best possible punch when firing up the cars onto the main straight (Stock classes). Power is imortant, and the perfect power delivery as well!
5) Fighting for pole position is worth it
Qualifying is always something special. Drivers are only racing against the clock, and sometimes, for the spectators it is not easy to see who is leading on track. But on the other side, qualifying is a thirller and very intense when it comes down to every hundreth of a second. In Apeldoorn, we once again saw how important a pole position can be. Five from our six ETS race winners started from pole position. Max Mächler in Pro Stock, Steven Olsen in FWD, Dominik Reile in 17.5 Stock, Elibert Sievers in 40+ Masters, and Renè Kölbel in the Formula class.
The only driver who was able to win from second on the grid was Yannic Prümper. He took advantage of two not perfectly driven opening laps from Modified TQ Ronald Völker, and snatched the win away from the TQ.
At the last race of Season #14 in Daun, we saw ALL drivers taking their overall victories from first on the grid. It seems like the TQ is half way to victory, and therefore it is absoluteley important to focus on a perfect qualifying for the top drivers in every ETS racing class.
