Wilck fastest in Q4

Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck has topped the fourth round of qualifying here Aniche, France, helped by the fact that Ronald Volker ran used tyres. A slower round than Q3, which saw Volker record 16 laps, the Swede managed only 15 laps, admitting that the TQ was down to that fact that the provisional pole sitter ran one of 5 allocated sets of tyres for a second time. Volker said on the used rubber his Yokomo was very loose for the first part of the run and he had to let the Tamiya drivers by but by the end of the run he was able to close back in.

Setting the second fastest time was Hot Bodies’ Andy Moore. Originally planning on changing rear shock positions to improve steering on his TCX, he ended up changing from steel to plastic outdrives on the front spool which he said improved the car in particular giving it more slow speed steering. Adding second to his earlier 4th and 5th fastest times the former World Champion said with a place in the final now pretty much assured he plans to try some more radical set-up changes for the remaining two rounds of qualifying.

Having not featured in early qualifying, Marc Rheinard final managed to record a competitive run but the World Champion said this was only due to the fact that he completed an incident free run. The Tamiya/Speedpassion driver is still far from happy with his TRF416 which he said has very bad understeer. Team-mate Jilles Groskamp set the fastest lap for the round but managing only 5th he said ‘it’s just me’. The Dutch driver is happy with his car but not with his driving saying inconsistent laps are costing him too much time. Having been in the Top 3 for in the previous rounds Elliot Harper struggled with his Tamiya after a switch to an LTC-R body for Q4. Sideways through the corners, the World Championship podium finisher said the Protoform shell, which Wilck is using successfully here, did not suit the set-up he is running and he will revert back to the Speed 6.

Fourth fastest was Yannick Prumper. The Team Yokomo driver raised the droop on his BD5 which improved it over the start of the run but after a minute and a half he once again struggled with understeer. He hopes a change of timing for his tyre prep will cure the problem for the penultimate qualifier.

Having been outside the Top 10 up to now Team Associated and Xray finally posted a decent round. Olly Jefferies had his best round setting the 6th fastest time with his prototype TC6 while team-mate Juho Levanen ended up 9th. Both drivers put their improvements down to cleaner runs, former two time champion Levanen felt his car wasn’t as good this time round but said he managed to get around without hitting anything. Jefferies said he found a better balance between pushing too hard and driving too cautious, the end result being a faster average lap and his quickest 5-minute time so far.

Alexander Hagberg, who posted the 7th fastest time, said his time was down to improvements both to his LRP powered T3 and in his driving but the Swede said the package is still not perfect.  Putting in his best run Austrian Tamiya driver Thomas Pumpler completed the Top 10.

Qualifying standings after 4 rounds
1. Ronald Volker (DE) – 0pts (Yokomo/LRP)
2. Victor Wilck (SE) – 6pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)
3. Elliott Harper (GB) – 8pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)
4. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 9pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
5. Andy Moore (GB) – 11pts (Hot Bodies/Nosram)
6. Yannick Pruemper (DE) – 15pts (Yokomo/Speed Passion)
7. Loïc Jasmin (FR) – 21pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
8. Marc Fischer (DE) – 27pts (Corally/GM)
9. Olly Jefferies (GB) – 29pts (Associated/LRP)
10.Steven Weiss (DE) – 29pts (Yokomo/LRP)

Full results can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.