Volker hangs on to win A1

Having dominated qualifying Ronald Volker had to work a lot harder for victory in the opening A-Main at the DHI Cup, the Yokomo driver only just hanging on for the win as challenges from both Yannic Prumper and Marc Rheinard ended with them each suffering rolls. In the end Volker would cross the line over a second clear of Rheinard, but the Infinity driver had the fastest car on track and looked a much more threatening proposition than he had in qualifying, his two rolls costing him over 3-seconds.  Recovering from an early roll, that allowed Rheinard through, Elliott Harper would complete the Top 3 ahead of Viktor Wilck, with Prumper opting to pull up and save his tyres after rolling his Yokomo a second time.

‘I got very very lucky in A1’, was Volker’s reaction after the race. The World Champion said, ‘I had a total lack of balance.  No rear grip and too much front grip. I had oversteer in all the corners. I jumped the chicane and gave myself a body tuck. Luckily Yannic, Elliott and Marc struggled behind me otherwise I would not have won that main’.  Having switched back to the progressive springs set-up he ran in Q3 for the finals, he said, ‘the track changed so that set-up was off.  For A2 I will change the shock set-up and make a tyre change’.

Rheinard summed up A1 by saying, ‘the speed was there but its still hard to drive. It is not grippy enough overall’.  A two time DHI Cup Champion, he continued, ‘Ronald was not as quick as in qualifying, and if I had qualified second it could have been a different result.  I got lucky at the start when Elliott crashed and then when Yannic rolled I could catch Ronald but I made a mistake and rolled. He then had a mistake and I could catch him again but my car hit the bump and rolled’.  Looking to A2 Rheinard said, ‘I will just drive my own race again and see’.

‘It was a bit harder for everyone to drive’, was Harper’s view on A1.  The Schumacher driver continued, ‘I traction rolled which let Marc by and after that I drove more conservative. If I had pushed more maybe I would have got Marc back but it was still a good result’.  For A2, the British driver plans ‘a few changes to stop the flipping’ and allow him get a better start.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.