Tamiya end Day 1 on top
Day 1 of the 2009 EFRA Electric Touring European Championships has been completed and it is the Tamiya team who top the time sheets. The final practice of the day saw defending Champion Marc Rheinard set a new fastest run as both he and Jilles Groskamp broke into the 17 laps. Having had a run time issue in the third practice, Rheinard switched to SpeedPassion’s new Competition 3.0 motor for the final outing of the day and now plans to stick with the motor after posting the 17/5:17.356 run with plenty of power left afterwards. The German will make a small change to the gearing but said overall he was confident that his run time shortfall was a one off. In terms of the car, the World Champion said it was a little loose but feels that is down to track conditions rather than set-up.
Not happy his TRF416 in the opening three practice runs, Groskamp was clearly delighted to break into the 17 laps for the first time. The Dutch ace had made a number of small changes to his car since winning the Warm Up race, including the fitting of some prototype parts, but reverted to a more standard set-up and was much happier with the feeling. The Speedpassion team driver, who is running the Competition 2.0 motor, said he went a little too advanced with the motor’s timing and the car started to dump just before the finish. Third fastest for the round despite spinning out twice was Viktor Wilck who managed the fastest lap of the day with an 18.049. Unlike his Tamiya teammates the Swede has opted for the more on the edge LTC-R bodyshell over the more consistent Speed 6.
Early practice pace setter Ronald Volker ended the day fourth after having trouble with getting the steering on his Yokomo to trim straight in the day’s final practice. With the car creeping to the right, the German wasn’t able to fully push his LRP powered BD5 but said afterwards he felt the overall set-up was better than in the earlier runs.
Kyosho/Team Orion driver Christoffer Krapp was very happy with his run after a change to the rear toe on his Stallion had given him more steering. The German teenager said the car is very near how he would like it and plans in the morning to try a different tyre additive to give him more options ahead of the first qualifier.
Driving a Losi JRXS-R, Lucas Urbain is making good use of his local track knowledge to post the sixth fastest time. Winning the most recent round of the French National Championships, Urbain lives just 40Km from the Mini-Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg” and admitted that he has done extensive testing here in preparation for this event. The Frenchman said his GM powered Losi is very easy to drive and he will focus on keeping his driving tidier over the latter half of the run. Seventh fastest was 2006 Champion Andy Moore but the Englishman is finding his Hot Bodies very loose and this is leading to a lack of confidence in his driving. The Team Orion driver improved the Cyclone a little for the last run but is still finding it hard to drive. Next up was Schumacher’s Chris Grainger who said he could do with a little more steering on his Mi4. Another British driver inside the Top 10 was Team Associated’s Olly Jefferies who had been suffering with oversteer on his TC5 earlier in the day. Tenth fastest was French Tamiya driver Loic Jasmin.
Elsewhere Elliot Harper was on for a good time until the steering on his Xray started intermittently locking fully to the right through the right hand corners. The UK racer thinks the problem is down to a faulty servo which he has now replaced but as an extra safety measure he has also fitted a new set of crystals for tomorrow.
Drivers have two final practice rounds in the morning in which to get themselves sorted for the opening two qualification rounds that make up tomorrow’s timetable. With 5 rounds of qualifying drivers with have their best two rounds determine the grids for Sunday’s finals.
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