Volker TQs important opening qualifier
Ronald Volker has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the Touring Car World Championships in the Netherlands, the Team Yokomo driver running 18 laps in 5:09.314 to top the round by just over a second from the HB of Atsushi Hara with Viktor Wilck’s Tamiya taking third.
Volker said afterwards the TQ was a very important one as his rivals have only one more opportunity to better the time when they opt to use their second set of controlled tyres, new rubber offering a distinct advantage over used. The Euro Touring Series Champion said his prototype BD5 lacked a little traction over the first two laps, something he put down to the wait on the starting grid, but for the rest of the run he was very happy with the performance of the car. The German had one ‘heart attack’ moment in the run when defending champion Marc Rheinard who on the previous lap let him by hit the rear of his car as they came in to the hairpin in front of the rostrum as he began his third last lap. Volker got a little out of shape losing 4/10ths as a result but wasn’t overly concerned about the matter afterwards.
Rheinard, who was only fifth fastest, said he just took his normal line through the hairpin and had more speed than Volker. Happy with how his Tamiya worked at the start of the run, the German setting the early pace for the round, he said the car gradually start to get loose over the run. Asked what changes he plans for Q2, Rheinard replied that he is not sure as he was planning to run the same tyres again which will make the car very different anyway and that from here on in the rest of qualifying was going to be a tactical game as teams decide which drivers to put out on new tyres and when.
Atsushi Hara was very happy with the start of his qualifying saying after two years of having a tough time in touring car it was nice to be competitive from the start of the event. Quite cool conditions for the opening round the former World Champion said he only changed his diff oil for the run opting to leave his shocks the same as yesterday when he felt they were a little too soft. Having also reduced the boost on his Hobby Wing speedo he said the power was better now and other than freshening up the car he will run everything the same for Q2.
Although he’s Swedish, Wilck used a well known French word to sum up his first run through the chicane. His Tamiya got out of shape and the Reedy Race Champion lost half a second, time that would have put him ahead of Hara for the round. Happy with the car for the rest of the run he said his biggest decision for Q2 is to decide whether to gamble his second set of tyres or wait to til later in the day when the hotter conditions better suit the Tamiya. Team-mate Jilles Groskamp, who was fourth fastest, was pleased with his run saying his car is very consistent. Still unable to run a 16-second lap the former European Champion is looking forward to running on used tyres as unlike most of his rivals he spent much of pre-event testing working on a set-up to get the most from them.
Surprise of the opening qualifier was French National Champion Loic Jasmin, the Yokomo driver setting the sixth fastest time ahead of factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp and 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura. The ETS regular said his LRP powered BD5 has had good 5-minute pace since the event started and so he knew a good run was possible however he admitted finishing in the top 6 was a little better than he expected. Krapp described his 7th as a solid run but after a frustrating final practice yesterday the ETS race winner was a lot happier with his car and thinks he has something good now to build on. Making a ‘big mistake’ on the final lap which lost him 2 seconds, Matsukura said he was just pushing too hard.
Two notable retirements from Q1 where Yokomo team-mates Yannic Prümper and Hayato Matsuzaki who completed just five laps each. Both finalist at the last Worlds, Matsuzaki the runner-up in Germany, the Japanese driver made a mistake at through the sweeper which saw his car need marshaling while Prumper hit something on the track which caused him to have a moment. Afterwards it was discovered whatever he hit gorged a groove out of the rear of his chassis. Both will be looking to capitalise in Q2 from their still pretty fresh tyres.
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