Volker takes DHI Cup tally to six
Ronald Volker has brought his tally of DHI Cup titles to six after another easy win in A2 secured him overall victory at the 15th running of the famous Danish event. The Yokomo driver was joined on the podium in Odense by Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, winner of a controversial A3, with Freddy Sudhoff getting his debut for HB off to an encouraging start with third overall. Having been the only serious contender to the reign of Volker over the weekend Yannic Prumper would miss the podium finishing fourth after a coming together with Hagberg as they battled for the lead in the closing race.
As in the opening final, Volker again benefited from Prumper struggling with his BD7 while having improved slightly his own car was able to take advantage of having a clean track in front of him. Still not entirely comfortable with his car, he said it was better than A1 and he had more confidence to push, allowing him to match Hagberg’s pace as the Swede mounted a charge having got by both Marc Rheinard and Prumper for second. ‘Very happy’ to kick off the 2015 season with another DHI Cup win, he said it also had extra meaning as this year marks his 10th year of being supported by LRP, who are also the main sponsor of the DHI Cup. Describing the carpet used at the event as more unpredictable than the black ETS carpet, he also acknowledge the efforts of his engineer Yukijiro Umino over the weekend.
Promoted to the win of A3 after Serpent’s Marc Fischer was penalised for a last lap move on leader Sudhoff, Hagberg said his ORCA powered T4 was very good again at the start of the race and posting the fastest lap of the race he was able to put pressure on Prumper. Running on the bumper of the BD7, the Swede saw his opportunity to pass on lap 9 but it would see him put the German’s car on its roof. Giving his account of the incident, he said he thought Prumper had run a wide line coming onto the straight and he tried to get down the inside but the space wasn’t there and he ended up putting the Yokomo on its roof. Saying ‘(he) was responsible for that’, he waited on Prumper to retake position but this allowed both Sudhoff and Fischer to also go passed. Following the collison he said he just waited behind the leaders and this was to pay off as coming off the straight Sudhoff ran slightly wide resulting in his PRO5 getting tagged by Fischer opening the door for Hagberg to go into second a position that later became first when an apologetic Fischer was given a time penalty for his contact.
Prumper was clearly annoyed by the attempted pass by Hagberg saying ‘he is not able to make a clean race’. The 21-year-old went as far as saying ‘I think it was intentional’ giving the example of how he was able to run on the Hagberg’s rear bumper cleanly at the opening round of the ETS in the Czech Republic last month.
Unaware of Fischer’s penalty, intially believing he had finished fourth, a result he was pleased with, Sudhoff was delighted to discover he had got new contract with HPI Racing underway with a podium finish. Commenting on his A3 drive, the German said ‘up to the last lap the race was ‘really good’. Trying to keep Fischer behind he said he went a little too wide into the corner after coming off the straight leading to the contact that put his PRO5 out of shape dropping him to third on the track. Making a diff change for the final encounter hoping it would gve him more steering he said the steering remained the same but left the car more difficult to drive and on the right side of the track he slowed which allowed Fischer to close in each lap. Thanking both Andy Moore and HB team manager for their text message support throughout the weekend, he feels they are going to work very well together and he is excited about prospects of working with them face to face at future races.
Classified third after his penalty Fischer would end the race 5th overall with Xray’s Martin Hudy completing the Top 6. Having qualified third Marc Rheinard’s would finish last. The Tamiya driver made a mistake on the opening lap in A1 and quickly pulled off and in A2 got out of shape leading to contact with Hagberg. The day would not end any better as having discover a broken wheel on his TRF419 after A2 he had to us a wheel from another set and into the first corner he traction rolled off the track.
In Super Stock, ETS Champion Marek Cerny would win the opening two A-Mains to claim his first DHI Cup title. Although the Czech driver already had the title sewn up he went for the clean sweep in A3 but a bad first lap saw his Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky take the win and second overall in what would be an all Xray podium with Danish driver Mike Gosvig completing the overall Top 3.
View complete onroad event results here.
View the event image gallery here.
