Volker ends practice on top
Having set the pace in the opening round of timed practice at the DHI Cup Ronald Volker has gone on to secure the honour of top seed for qualifying after he again topped a much faster concluding round of practice at the Danish event. Improving his time by one second over 3-consecutive laps, the German ace ran a time of 37.874 to head the ranking from arch rival Marc Rheinard and defending Champion Adrian Berntsen who improved his pace by a massive 2.1 seconds.
Making changes to the rear end of his LRP powered BD7 2014, Volker said these improved the feeling of the car and more comfortable with it he was in turn able to push harder. Declaring himself ‘very satisfied’ with how practice went the German ace, who is chasing a 5th DHI title, said ‘all looks good’ going into tonight’s opening qualifier.
Switching from the stiff chassis ETS car he ran in the first timed practice to his softer chassis spare TRF418, Rheinard said both cars have the same problem with being difficult coming on to the main straight. The 3-time World Champion said the difference between the two cars should be very noticeable but the lack of traction means you cant really feel any difference. Having run the soft car with 400w shock oil in the front and 500w in the rear he will continue with the same car for the opening qualifier but with 450w oil all round. Having run a new set of the controlled LRP tyres in the practice Rheinard said he will run the same set again for qualifying with the tyres so far proving to be faster on their second run.
Berntsen said changing from a 4.5 to 5 turn motor made a very big difference with his Xray ‘much better’. Having complained of his car being too aggressive in the first timed practice he said the reduced powered maybe made the car a little too easy to drive. Planning to stay with the same motor he said he will most likely change his tyre preparation for Q1.
Behind the Top 3, Finland’s Viljami Kutvonen took his Awesomatix to the fourth fastest time ahead of Martin Hudy. Only 9th fastest in the first free practice Hudy said while he improved on his position, compared with the pace of Volker it was a terrible time. Having changed his set-up for the final run he said it was as good as his base set-up he ran earlier in the day. Planning to go back to that set-up for Q1 the Slovakian driver said there is better potential in the car with that set-up. Ending up 7th fastest, team-mate Alexander Hagberg said his car was fast over a single lap but the consistency needs work. The Swede said with a few small changes all should ‘be ok’ for qualifying.
Completing the Top 6 was Serpent’s Marc Fischer, the German still not overly happy with his car. Changes made after the opening timed practice made the car ‘better’ but he said it is still not fast enough. For the first of his qualifying runs he will adjust the droop on the S411 along with running a softer shock oil in the hope of giving the car more high speed steering.
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