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Coelho Completes Podium As Dobnikar And Heitsch Take First ETS Wins
Marc Rheinard RC cruises to a relatively unchallenged win in A3 of the Modified class, confirming him in the runner-up position in Daun. Yannic Prümper had a great fight again with Bruno Coelho, with Prumper’s Awesomatix able to hold off Coelho’s XRAY this time. However, Yannic’s earlier results kept him down in the overall rankings as Coelho was confirmed on the final step of the podium.
In Pro Stock, Jan Ratheisky was able to hold on for a win in A3 after an early challenge from Olivier Bultynck once again. Ollie rolled his Awesomatix out of contention, giving the Xray of the German driver to take the win. Alexandre Duchet took second overall, ahead of Simon Lauter.
Formula saw a lot of action over the first lap, and Matej Dobnikar took full advantage to take the lead by the time the cars crossed the timing loop for the first time. Despite Jan Ratheisky doing all he could to recover the lost time, the Dobnikar kept his composure and ran out the winner, taking his fist ever overall victory at the ETS. Ratheisky finished second overall, with Luke Lee RC moving from sixth on the grid to complete the podium.
With the other classes already decided after A2, the third leg was about deciding the podium. In Front Wheel Drive, Marwin Riedelbauch took the third leg to secure second overall, with Enrico Jung taking the third step in the final ranking. Masters confirmed Andreas Weyhoven as the runner up, with Werner Schmitzer taking third place. And in Stock 17.5, Dominik Ruf finally had the final he was looking for, taking the win and second overall, with Alexander Muller rounding out the top three.
Volker “Super Happy” To Take ETS Daun Victory
Ronald Völker once again held off a challenge from Marc Rheinard RC to take an emphatic victory in A2 on Sunday to wrap up the overall win at the second round of the 2019/2020 Euro Touring Series. The Team Yokomo driver, starting on pole position, said that at the start the rear of the car was “a little loose, so I had to defend immediately”. “It was once again very intense pressure from Marc, and again another fair and drive” Volker continued, the two Germans racing toe-to-toe for the opening half of the race once again. As the race moved to the half way point, it became a similar story to A1, run last night, as Volker was able to finally pull clear of his long-time rival in the second half of the race, a lead he would not relinquish and take the overall victory.
With this race marking the first appearance at an ETS of the production BD10 chassis for the Japanese company, Volker said that “once the new car was ready, I already felt it had high potential”. Asked about the particular car he is running at this event, he said “I actually built this car last week whilst watching the Superbowl, and have not had to make any setup changes on it since arriving in Daun”. Putting in a lot of pre-ETS testing and racing, having also taken big wins at the EWS International and GP3F since the opening round of the ETS last October, he said he knew the pressure was on because “Marc would arrive with the strongest package he had for years”. Thanking the team for their work and support, he finished by saying “it’s also great to see Christopher Krapp on the pace as well with a similar setup, as he has limited racing time due to his job commitments. Overally, it’s really great”.
Finishing second in the leg, and so looking good to secure his first ETS podium in nearly a year, after a third place at Wiener Neudorf last May, Rheinard was obviously disappointed not to be able to take the fight to a third final. Certainly seeming re-invigorated at this race following his departure from the Infinity team, the TONISPORT driver was quick to congrate his long-time rival on the driver stand and after the race. Rheinard’s Awesomatix will effectively start on pole position for A3 – ETS rules stating that Volker will not be allowed to run A3 having wrapped up the overall win. Behind the German pairing, the fight for third was between Yannic Prümper and Bruno Coelho. Around the half way point, the almost inevitable contact between them occurred, which allowed Christopher Krapp to power through and take third place in the race.
In Pro Stock, Jan Ratheisky took the win after being chased once again by Olivier Bultynck. Unlike A1, however, it was Bultnyck who made the mistake in the final minute, rolling his Awesomatix and giving the XRAY driver a clear run to the finish to force the fight to A3. Ratheisky was also victorious in A2 of Formula, holding off a late charge from A1 winner and team-mate Matej Dobnikar. The two Xray drivers will have to fight it out for the overall win in the deciding leg of the final.
The three other classes were decided in A2 – in Front Wheel Drive Henrik Heitsch again fought off Marwin Riedelbauch to take a very popular first ever ETS win, whilst in Masters it was Alexander Stocker again surviving a first-lap scare to take the win. In 17.5 Stock, Dominik Ruf led as he had done in A1, but again rolled and gifted the win and overall victory to Joachim Altenhof.
Volker Holds Off Rheinard In Epic A1
“A really great battle with Marc” was how winner of A1 Ronald Völker described what certainly seemed to be one of the most exciting Touring Car races of the last decade to all the spectators trackside at the second round of the ETS in Daun. With Volker leading off the field, the Team Yokomo driver was immediately under pressure from the second starting car of Marc Rheinard. For the first half of the race, the two champions raced literally nose-to-tail, Volker’s car not looking as safe as it had done in qualifying. At the half way point, Rheinard twice got alongside Volker going through the teardrop section on the left side of the large Daun circuit. But both times, Ronald was able to fight back at the following corner and hold onto the lead.
“It took everything out of me” was Volker’s initial reaction to the race, both drivers visibly exhausted after the intense five minute race. “I really struggled with the new bumps on the track, which were on my usual lines. I had to figure out new lines during the race”. After the half way point, having seen off the immense challenge from his long-time rival, he said he had “figured it out, and then I could make a small gap, which was enough”.
“An intense and nice race” was how Rheinard reacted to the battle. The TONISPORT backed driver, piloting an Awesomatix chassis for the first time at an ETS race this weekend, described it as a “good fight, a clean fight. I could make some nice moves to the inside, but he fought back fairly”. Feeling like he had a quicker car in the middle of the run, the recently crowned 1:12th scale World Champion said “seeing his exhaustion afterwards showed me how tough a race it was. I’m looking forward to going again in A2 but hope this time I can come out on top”.
Behind the two Germans, it was Bruno Coelho who managed to get past Yannic Prümper for third, almost un-noticed as the attention was focussed on the battle up front. Coelho was able to move his XRAY to within striking distance of the top two, but in the second half of the race when Ronald was able to pull his gap, the gap opened up again.
In Pro Stock, Jan Ratheisky led the field until one and a half minutes remained, when he clipped a kerb and allowed Olivier Bultynck, who had been shadowing him until that time, to get past. Ollie explained that he “tried to stay in touch with Jan, but make sure not to make a mistake as Alexandre Duchet and Simon Lauter were close behind. But then Jan made the mistake, I saw the opening and went for it”.
In Formula, it was also disaster for Ratheisky, as with a comfortable lead he took a roll with just two laps remaining. Sitting upside down, he could do nothing as Matej Dobnikar swept through to take the lead and the win. A frantic fight for third had David Ehrbar coming through to take the place ahead of Luke Lee RC.
Front Wheel Drive was a treat for the crowd as Marwin Riedelbauch spent five minutes less than half a second behind pole sitter Henrik Heitsch. Riedelbauch closed the gap a number of times, but long-time ETS supporter Heitsch held off the pressure, including a drag race along the front straight to the finish line.
In Masters, a small drama on lap one for Alexander Stocker saw him take a half spin and a trip across the kerbs and green infield carpet. But he recovered and held onto the lead, and from there extended the gap each and every lap. Andreas Weyhoven held second and Werner Schmitzer took third.
Stock 17.5 was led by pole man Dominik Ruf for the first half of the race, but then he rolled his car onto its roof as he exited the back section of the track. This gave second place starter Joachim Altenhof a nice lead, which he didn’t give up for the remainder of the race. Alexander Muller got through to second, as Ruf was left with a third place finish.
Volker Secures Pole Position At ETS Daun
Team Yokomo driver Ronald Völker secured the overall Top Qualifying position in the final round of action at the ETS in Daun. Reflecting on his run, the German former ETS champion was clearly happy to start up front following a lot of work developing the team’s new BD10 chassis over the winter. Asked about any changes for the last round, Volker responded that he “changed the tyre prep slightly – and that was the best for the car right now”. Looking to the triple finals, he said to end qualifying with another TQ run was “for sure a boost going into A1. But I know Marc will try everything for the win”.
Marc Rheinard RC will line up second on the grid. Taking third in Q4, the German, who was let go from former team Creation Model Ltd./Infinity over the Christmas break in the ETS schedule, continues to be pleased with the speed he has found with his TONISPORT-backed Awesomatix chassis. Knows as one of the best head-to-head racers on the planet, spectators are likely to be treated to some close racing with Rheinard so evenly matched on pace with Volker this weekend. Rheinard’s Tonisport team-mate, also running an Awesomatix this weekend, Yannic Prümper took fourth in the round and will line up third overall. The big improvement in the round was Bruno Coelho, the XRAY driver second on the track to move into fourth in the final qualifying rankings. This pushes Yokomo’s Christopher Krapp down to fifth on the grid.
In Pro Stock, Jan Ratheisky’s hold over the class came to an end, as Olivier Bultynck took the final qualifier for Awesomatix. Noting it was a “good feeling – finally the driver was awake”, the popular Belgian put his result down to “just driving better”. The result means he will start second on the grid behind Ratheisky, with Alexandre Duchet’s Xray set to line up third. The Frenchman, who took third in Q4, reflected that his car was “really good. A little difficult in the first minute but overall good”. Not planning on any changes for the finals, he hopes to take his car, which is being prepared for him by Xray T4 designer Martin Hudy, onto the podium. Taking second on the round and fourth overall, Simon Lauter said he was “not super happy, you don’t come to an ETS to finish P4”. Cheering up a little, he said the team was working well together, and that “Ollie has the best car right now, but we are getting there with mine and I will see if I can learn anything else from him to help me for the finals”.
The first leg of the finals will take place on Saturday evening, with the results to be decided after legs two and three on Sunday.
ETS Qualifying R4 Results, RD2 Season #13 2020/21 Daun, GER
Ronald Völker took his third TQ run of the event to secure the overall pole position for himself and Team Yokomo at the ETS in Daun. Bruno Coelho had a slow start, but his XRAY pulled time back in the second half of the race to take second in the round and move to fourth on the grid, whilst Marc Rheinard’s third place solidified himself as Volker’s closest challenger on the starting grid. Yannic Prümper took fourth in Q4 and will start third on the grid, with Christopher Krapp completing the top five in both Q4 and overall.
The dominance of Jan Ratheisky came to an end in the Pro Stock class, as Olivier Bultynck topped Q4. He lead Awesomatix team mate Simon Lauter by one and a half seconds, with Alexandre Duchet the best of the Xray runners this time in third. Ratheisky came in fourth in the round, with Kevin Nielsen taking fifth. This put Ollie second on the grid behind Jan, With Duchet set to line up third ahead of Lauter, and Leo Arnold rolling off fifth.
It was quite fortunate that Jan Ratheisky also had TQ in the Formula class in the bag already, as he had a poor run in Q4, pulling out after four minutes. Olivier Bultynck took the top spot, moving him into second on the overall rankings, with Matej Dobnikar second in round (fourth overall), and Lukas Hoch RC third (fifth overall). A nice improvement from
Dominik Reile placed the German fourth in Q4 and into eighth overall, with Luke Lee RC fifth in round and sixth on the grid. David Ehrbar’s earlier finishes means he will line up third.
One of the biggest cheers in Q4 came at the end of the Front Wheel Drive class, as Marwin Riedelbauch took a popular TQ run. This bumped him up to second overall, with Henrik Heitsch taking second in the round – but his Q1 and Q2 scores keeping him on the pole position. Third in the round was Enrico Jung, puttin him fourth on the final grid, with Steven Møller Olsen fourth in the round and third overall. Rounding out the top five this time was Marcel Krause, which put him into eighth in the final rankings.
In Masters, Alexander Stocker clearly had put his Q2 “blip” behind him as he scored another dominant TQ run to lock up the pole position. Behind, Andreas Weyhoven took second in the round to put himself second on the grid, with Christian Driessle (Chris Diesel) coming good at the end with third in the round and overall. Fourth place points this time for Oliver Krahemann moves him to fifth on the starting grid, whilst Fritz Kaufmann had his best qualifying run to be fifth in the round and eigth overall. Werner Schmitzer didn’t have a good Q4, but his earlier results keep him fourth in the A Final.
The 17.5 Stock class had Dominik Ruf take another TQ run, to secure himself the overall number one starting position, as he headed Joachim Altenhof (second in the round and second overall). Third in the round was Philip Richter, the late result for the German not quite enough to lock himself into the A Final. Marwin Riedelbauch continued his consistent results to be fourth in round and overall, with Thomas Bemmerl making up the top five again in the round and overall.
First leg of finals take place this evening!
Volker Again In Q3, Ratheisky Locks Up Pro Stock TQ
Ronald Völker again set the best time as qualifying resumed on Saturday morning. The Team Yokomo lead driver quickly commented that he was “of course very happy with a TQ run”. Talking of the track conditions, he found “there was a little less overall grip than yesterday, but my BD10 was still fast”. For Q4, which rival Marc Rheinard RC needs to win with a new best time to stop the 2016 World Champion starting on pole, Volker will “keep the car the same, but make a small change to the tyre prep”. Unsure what Q4 will bring, the experienced driver said “at previous indoor ETS races, Q4 has not been fast as the carpet can get sticky, but we’ll have to wait and see how it is”.
With Rheinard crashing out late in the run, second place went to TONISPORT driver Yannic Prümper. Backing up his Q1 result, the driver, racing a privately entered Awesomatix, said that he “again had the same problem as Q1 – the rear was loose in the first minutes”. Set to try his second tyre set for Q4, he will otherwise “keep the car as it is”, adding that for Q3 he had “reduced the power on my Maclan speedo a little, which made the car more consistent”.
Amongst the other top drivers to encounter problems, XRAY’s Bruno Coelho ground to a halt on lap two with a spur gear failure, and Alexander Hagberg had issues late in the run to also retire. This meant Christopher Krapp put a second Yokomo into the top three once again, however the German was not a smiling face back in the pits. “Perhaps the most disappointing third place result you will see,” he later joked. “The car was brilliant and I’m not happy with myself – I know I can drive better. But still it is a solid result for the team and important to lock ourselves into the top half of the grid”. Thinking about the conditions, he added “the track gets more edgy, which I think is what is letting more people make mistakes”. For Q4, he will change nothing on his car and just focus on his driving.
With the issues of the other top runners, Yugo Nagashima and the Serpent team seemed very happy to score fourth place in the round. The Japanese driver, who is on a small world tour after attending last weekend’s Snowbirds race in the USA, said his improved pace came from adding a T-plate stiffener to the rear of his X20 chassis, as well as reducing the rear toe in slightly. Looking to try to get himself into the A Main now, he will make a drastic change for the last qualifier and switch to a carbon chassis plate.
The biggest surprise was Swiss driver Michele Manzo taking fifth overall. The Awesomatix pilot was seeded in the C Heat, and started by saying “that was better than yesterday!” Making a number of changes to his car, switching to a softer differential and also changing to the popular Xtreme Twister bodyshell, he will think if he wants to make any changes for Q4 – not really expecting to be in contention for an A Final spot at the event.
In Pro Stock, Jan Ratheisky took his third TQ in as many rounds, securing the overall pole position. Pleased to have wrapped it up early, he can now use Q4 to test some different things before looking ahead to the Finals – the first leg due to run this evening, with legs two and three on Sunday. Second in Pro Stock was his Xray team-mate Alexandre Duchet. The Frenchman has been slowly improving his results throughout qualifying, with his car being worked on by the car’s designer, Martin Hudy. Simon Lauter keeps himself in the mix with a third in round, but admitted he felt he was missing something – but wasn’t sure exactly what.
ETS Qualifying R3 Results, RD2 Season #13 2020/21 Daun, GER
Ronald Völker took the top spot in Modified in Saturday’s Q3, after his main rivals encountered a number of issues. First to crack was Bruno Coelho, with a spur gear failure on his XRAY. Later in the run, Marc Rheinard RC damaged his Awesomatix on the fast back section of the track, and Alexander Hagberg was also another retirement late in the running. This left TONISPORT’s Yannic Prümper to recover from his issues in Q2 last night to take second in the round, and Christopher Krapp to score another third place set of points for Team Yokomo. Behind, Serpent’s Yugo Nagashima took fourth from the B heat, but the big surprise was Michele Manzo (Awesomatix), taking a sixth in round from the C group. Elliott Harper was best Xray finisher in sixth.
Jan Ratheisky wrapped up the overall TQ in Pro Stock, with another fastest time in Saturday morning’s Q3. Jan’s Xray was half a second clear of team-mate Alexandre Duchet, who now firmly puts himself in the mix for a front row start. Simon Lauter was third, three tenths behind Duchet, with Leo Arnold taking fourth, a further one and a half seconds back and Valentin Hettrich making up the top five with his time from the B Heat.
The Formula class was the first to have an overall TQ decided, as Jan Ratheisky made it three-out-of-three so far. Setting a time nearly one and a half seconds better than anyone else could manage, the German Xray driver is assured of starting at the front of the grid for the triple finals. Second in Q3 was Olivier Bultynck, who was four tenths up on Matej Dobnikar. Dobnikar’s time was a few tenths quicker than David Ehrbar, who seemed to have lost some of his Friday pace and had to settle for fourth this time around, with Luke Lee RC rounding out the top five.
Front Wheel Drive got Saturday’s action underway, and Steven Møller Olsen, our pole sitter in Vienna, finally got back to the top of the scoreboard by setting the best time by six tenths of a second over Vienna winner, Enrico Jung. Jung was in turn a little over one second ahead of Stefan Schulz, as the battle for all the A Final grid positions really heats up. Marwin Riedelbauch kept himself in the mix with a fourth place score, just taking it from David Kushnarew by one tenth of a second.
Q3 of the Masters and 17.5 Stock divisions took place very late on Friday evening, at least giving the drivers a lie-in for Saturday morning! In Masters, Alexander Stocker put his Q2 result behind him to return to the top of the pile, the only driver to turn a 19 lap run. Andreas Weyhoven was best of the rest, one second ahead of Mirco Thalheimer in third. Christian Driessle (Chris Diesel) and Werner Schmitzer made up the rest of the top five this time.
Dominik Ruf had been slowly improving throughout qualifying, and was rewarded with a TQ run in Q3 of the 17.5 Stock class. More than a second back, round 1 winner Joachim Altenhof continued his solid results with a second place, beating out Alexander Muller by only a tenth of a second. Fourth in the round went to Marwin Riedelbauch, one second behind Muller, with Thomas Bemmerl completing the top five a half second back again.
