Volker from team-mate Akiyama in DHI Cup seeding
Ronald Volker has topped seeding practice at the DHI Cup presented by LRP in Denmark. The reigning champion was fastest from his Yokomo team-mate Naoki Akiyama being the only driver to run 3-laps in 38-seconds. Fastest by almost 3/10ths from Akiyama, Volker would set his quickest time in the final practice with Akiyama having topped the times in the first of the two runs. Also improving his time in the second run, Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3 followed by his Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky. While 2016 podium finisher Viljami Kutvonen would struggle to only the 10th fastest time, Awesomatix team-mate Freddy Sudhoff would round out the Top 5 times ahead of the VBC of Yannic Prumper.
‘I’m satisfied with how the car went’ was Volker’s reaction after practice. Chasing an 8th DHI Cup title this weekend, which marks the 16th running of the event, he added ‘we kept changing the set-up each run and managed to improve, the grip went a lot higher than expected with the car lifting tyres on the long corners’. Overall happy with the car for the final practice he said ‘it is a little edgy at the beginning of the run so we’ll probably adapt the tyre prep for Q1’.
With the biggest change to be made to his BD8 over the practice rounds being a switch to a harder diff, up & coming Japanese star Akiyama said the car was ‘better’ after the change. Having made his DHI Cup debut last year, finishing 6th, the 17-year-old plans to leave the car unchanged for Q1 feeling his driving is where the greatest improvement will come from. Running a ‘very different set-up’, he said the track which was designed by Volker has a ‘good flow’ but for the 5-minute qualifiers he needs ‘to be more smooth’ and try to get through it with ‘no mistakes’.
‘A bit better, the car feels pretty balanced’ was how Hagberg summed up his ORCA powered T4. Racing in his 13th consecutive DHI Cup, all of which he has been accompanied by his father Bosse, he added, ‘we’ll see how pace is over minutes but it feels alright’. Describing the traction levels as ‘medium-high’ and describing the track as ‘fairly open compared to last year’, the Swede said for Q1 they will make some ‘minor tweaks’ to the set-up but overall the car ‘feels alright’.
With no Formula class at the DHI Cup to dominate, ETS Formula Champion Ratheisky said his P4 pace was ‘a lot better than expected’. Asked about his car the German said ‘I just drive it and have fun’. In terms of changes to the set-up he said the only thing he changed between the two rounds was to ‘just drink coffee with milk & sugar’. Describing the layout as ‘very good’ he is confident his 3-lap pace is a true reflection of his pace saying, the car can run that time consistently for all the run’.
‘So far so good’ was how Sudhoff summed up what is his first race outing since the ETS season opener in early December. Running Awesomatix’ A800, he explained the preproduction run of the first of their new A800X kits has just started and while they have an example of the car here they don’t have enough spare parts to race it. Running his car ‘nearly the same as at the ETS’, he said the big thing is that ‘the driving style is a little different due to the tyres’, the DHI Cup using a handout LRP tyre for touring car. Looking to qualifying he said, ‘I need to make it a little more stable in the long sweepers which is our weak point for now’ concluding ‘on this track consistency is important’.
Prumper described practice as having gone ‘so so’. The German added ‘the car is to edgy and is always on two wheels and I don’t know what to change anymore’. Running a different but unchanged VBC chassis to that which he used at the ETS season opener he said ‘there is a lot traction, its normally not that high here’. For the first of the qualifiers, which will bring Day 1 of the event to a close tonight, he said, “I will keep the same set-up and change tyre prep but don’t know what exactly’.
View the event image gallery here.
