Rivals close gap slightly to Volker in P3
While Ronald Volker continued to dominate the top of the time sheets on the opening day of the Reedy Race of Champions at Tamiya Raceway, on a quickening track the Yokomo driver’s rivals managed to reduce slightly the gap to the defending champion. With Volker improving his P2 pace by over 1.1-seconds, fellow German Chrstopher Krapp would shoot to second fastest at the end of P3, the newest Tamiya recruit getting to within less than half a second of the Yokomo ace. With Viktor Wilck, who was second fastest after P2, one of a number of drivers failing to improve on their times, Akio Sobue would move ahead of TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard to complete the Top 3. Having broke cars in each of the opening two practices, World Champion Naoto Matsukura is classified 22nd of the 27 runners with one practice remaining but the Japanese driver is not concerned. Running two cars in P3, the Tamiya driver said the second car which had no transponder was very good and that the times are not reflective of his true pace.
Running two cars, one with old and the other with new tyres from controlled tyre provider Sweep, Volker said the balance of the car on old was good but the BD7 fitted with the new set felt edgy. With drivers having to race new tyres and then that same set for the next race, the ETS champion said they needed to work on getting a set-up that is better balanced for new tyres.
‘Very happy’ with his improved pace Krapp said he was probably even closer to Volker’s pace as changing car in the run his second car, which had no transponder, felt faster. His first time to the track, he said while he still had a few overshoots he was starting to drive the track a lot better. Running new tyres on both cars he said the first two laps were very loose which was not good for the heads up racing and so for the final practice he will try a different tyre prep.
Going down in the rear diff oil and moving the front shocks in on the lower arm, Sobue said his Tamiya had better initial steering. Second fastest to Volker in terms of outright fastest lap time, he said he wants to find more overall traction and so will make further tweaks to the set-up for the final practice. Staying 4th fastest but improving his time by half a second, team-mate Rheinard said his TRF419 was ‘easy to drive but not crazy fast’. ‘Consistent to drive’, the 4-time Reedy Race winner said ‘it isn’t about being fast, it’s about having a car that is easy to drive’ and he was happy with were he is at.
Setting the fifth fastest time, Meen Vejrak said ‘now my car is working’. Having struggled with no rear traction in the opening two runs, the Thai driver said adding toe-in to the rear of his Yokomo was a big step forward but added they still have to further improve the set-up.
Another driver on his first visit to the Tamiya track, JJ Wang would make a big improvement in P3 to put his PRO-5 6th fastest. The 17-year-old factory HB team driver said his first two packs were all about just learning the track. With a good feel for the track for P3 he would run two cars for comparison with the stiffer car his preferred choice. Having only run new tyres, for the final practice he plans to run both cars again but fitted with used tyres.
Improving to 7th, Keven Hebert said changes to his Associated TC6.2 were ‘pretty good’ but that the car was ‘now too stable’. The Canadian plans to go back a little on the changes by taking out some of camber added to the rear. Third fastest after P2, team-mate Rick Hohwart would drop to 11th as he failed to improve his early time. While he managed to improve his brakes he said he needs to go more with the adjustment but with the track ‘so dirty’ offline that the tyres are done for the rest of the run he couldn’t pull off to make the adjustment over the 5-minutes.
Better known as one of the all time great electric offroad racers with 4 world titles to his credit, Ryan Cavalieri would set the 8th fastest time on his annual touring car outing. The Associated star said his TC6.2, which is being set-up by Randy Caster, was ‘by far the best it’s been’ in P3. Feeling he was ‘driving it a little too hard’ he said it was ‘super consistent’ and with the car better than last year he was upping his goal for the event. Having set himself a Top 10 finish but ended up 11th last year he said he is confident he ‘can mix it up more this year’ and so has set himself a Top 7 result.
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