Leino fastest in opening Qualifier
Formula One may have lost its Iceman but 190mm Touring Car racing hasn’t and in the opening round of qualifying here at the 10th Anniversary of the DHI Cup it is Team Xray’s Teemu Leino who has set the pace with a 19 lap run in 5:07.111. Leino, who prefers to do his talking on the track, described his run as good and other than looking over his 5.5T Team Orion motored T3 chassis, plans no changes for the next round. Closest to the Finn was defending champion Marc Rheinard. The German was very happy with his Tamiya in terms of the set-up but a loose rear belt meant he was not able to drive at 100% for fear of stripping it. Chasing his third DHI Cup win Rheinard, apart from fitting a new belt, plans no changes to his 416X for Q2.
Steen Graversen was clearly delighted about his run to the third fastest time. Also running a 416X chassis but fitted with a self designed motor mount, the former factory Kyosho driver said his car was very easy to drive, maybe too easy to drive. The Dane feels he could have probably pushed hard and maybe that second for the round would have been possible. His first international race with the 416X, Graversen said he is still learning the car and runs a very different set-up to that of Rheinard and Wilck but that he is very exited about the potential of the car.
Top Swedish touring car driver Alexander Hagberg was much happier with his Xray T3 this morning. Having improved the corner speed he lacked in practice yesterday he said it now feels a little nervous and will make some small changes to the suspension geometry ahead of the second round. Behind last year’s Top Qualifer was fellow countryman and 2008 Champion Viktor Wilck. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver was not happy with his car which is very nervous and is also unsure what direction to take in terms of changing the set-up.
Sixth fastest was another of the four former winners competing in the 2010 race, Ronald Volker. Part of a major presence by Japanese manufacturer Team Yokomo, he said his BD5 was quick but difficult to drive and as a result he made a lot of mistakes. The German will run less droop next time to try and make the car easier to drive.
In Pro Stock the opening round of qualifying was the first time we haven’t seen Tommy Bergfeldt’s name at the top of the time sheets as German ace Alexander Stocker set the pace with an 18 lap run in 5:06.213. Stocker struggled yesterday in practice but a complete change of set-up last night on his Hot Bodies Cyclone, better gearing to suit his prototype LRP SXX Stock Spec speedo and a change to CS tyre additive have made the former Euro Touring Series Champion a real contender for the 2010 DHI Cup title. Stocker says his car is still not perfect but he is going in the right direction now in terms of his set-up and is hoping to find even more speed.
Bergfeldt, who is also running a Hot Bodies but fitted with an Advanced Electronics Black Diamond speedo, said his car was suffering from understeer this morning, something he hopes can be cured with a change of roll bars. The Swede also admitted to a few driver mistakes, one of which cost him over 3 seconds. Third fastest was 18-year-old local driver Thomas Larsen who was the only other one of the 88 runners to record 18 laps. Driving a Tamiya TRF416WE he said he was happy to open qualifying with a Top 3 run but hopes a diff rebuild will give him a better car for the second of the five qualifiers and allow him to close on the gap to Stocker and Bergfeldt.
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