May 24, 2015

Krapp moves into contention for RROC title

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Contesting his first Reedy International Touring Car Race of Champions at the famous Tamiya Raceway in California, Christopher Krapp got the final day underway with an important win that puts the Tamiya driver in contention for the overall win at the 18th running of the event.  His fourth win from 9 races, the result was made even more significant because the same round would see overnight points leader Marc Rheinard and defending champion Ronald Volker post their worst results so far.  In the other two races, Tamiya’s Akio Sobue notched up a second win ahead of Viktor Wilck while former 200mm World Champion Ralph Burch claimed a popular first win of the event.

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Krapp said it ‘feels really good to start the day with a win’.  The win over Meen Vejrak and Ryan Cavalieri, ‘opens everything up again’ and having ended Day 2 third in the points table that moved the German up to second just one point behind TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard.  Another cold morning, Krapp said his Orion powered TRF419 was a little edgy for the day’s opening race but should, like yesterday, the sun come out he is confident he will have a good car for the remaining three rounds of racing.  Running in the same heat as Krapp, Rheinard described his race as ‘horrible’. Starting from 7th on the grid, the 4-time champion was battling with Nicolas Lee for fourth but with three laps to go he would clip the curbing through the sweeper launching his TRF419 into the fencing leaving the German to finish 9th.

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Racing in the same heat that would be won by Sobue, Volker said that starting from last he had to be ‘very patient’.  Up to 5th after the first minute, the ETS Champion was running behind World Champion Naoto Matsukura and HB’s JJ Wang but when the pair clashed he too got caught up in the incident losing him time. While he would catch up to third placed Alexander Hagberg he said he ‘couldn’t get by’ the Xray driver.  Having to settle for 4th which drops him to third in the standings he said now the only way he was going to defend his title was if both Krapp and Rheinard had bad results the next one.  Starting from his first pole position for the 10th round, he said with Rheinard in the same race it’s going to be an important one to win.

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Starting Race 2 from the pole, RC America boss Ralph Burch was clearly happy to post a win at the Reedy Race.  The Texan said he made a good start and was able to get away quickly, his winning margin being a massive 6-seconds.  Taking his Xray T4 to the fastest lap of the round, he said while it was ‘not the most comfortable to drive’ it has been really quick throughout the event but he hasn’t had good starts and when he did he ‘took (himself) out’.  Unfortunately his chance of a repeat win will be limited due to his starting positions for the rest of the day, him starting last in 2 of them.

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January 9, 2015

Prumper tops opening practice at DHI Cup

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Yannic Prumper topped the opening round of timed practice at the 15th running of DHI Cup in Denmark.  The Team Yokomo driver headed a very closely matched Top 6 over 3-consecutive laps with Serpent’s Marc Fischer second fastest just 0.054 off his fellow German’s pace.  Defending champion Ronald Volker, who is chasing a sixth DHI Cup title this weekend, completed the Top 3 with his Yokomo just 0.003 off Fischer.

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Having posted only the 7th fastest time in free practice, Prumper put his improvement down to a bodyshell switch and a change of tyres.  Without his regular mechanic Toni Rheinard, the 21-year-old went from Protoform’s Speed 6 to LTC-R bodyshell which together with fitting a new set of the event’s controlled LRP tyre gave him more steering. Happy with how his BD7 is running now he plans to run the car unchanged for the final practice.

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Finishing free practice just one place ahead of Prumper, Fischer also attributed his improved form down to changing to a new set of tyres. Describing the second set as ‘much better’, for the final practice he plans to run softer shocks on his S411 to see if it improves the car over the bumps caused by cable tunnelling underneath the track.  While he described the track layout as ‘a little boring’, he added the that ‘it is good that everyone is so close’.

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Volker, who has made carpet racing somewhat boring due to his domination of events, described the practice as being ‘super close between a lot of drivers’.  The ETS & European Champion was very happy with his 5-minute pace but added that they need to make some small changes to his LRP powered BD7 to make it a little easier to drive which would allow him to push just a little harder.

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Making his debut for HB, Freddy Sudhoff was very happy with his early pace. Setting the fourth fastest time, he ‘thought it was a pretty good start’ with his new car.  The former Awesomatix driver said the nature of the shaft driven Russian car meant he had to drive it more aggressively through corners than a belt car and he thought this was going to affect his performance this weekend but the track layout requires even a belt car like his new PRO5 to being driven hard and that’s helping with the switch.  Overall he said the basic set-up of the new car is really good and he is pleased to be in the mix so early on in his first race with it.

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Setting the 5th fastest time, Alexander Hagberg declared himself content with his early form describing the leading times as ‘very close’.   The Xray driver, said they were still working on a ‘couple of details’ on the T4 set-up and everything should be fine come qualifying.

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Completing the Top 6 was Awesomatix’ now lead driver Vijami Kutvonen.  The Finn who was runner up to Volker here last year, said he is just really waiting for the traction to come-up.  With the bumps an issue for most drivers, for the first timed practice he fitted a top deck to his A700 which he said improved the impact the bumps had on the car alot.

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Last years other podium finisher Marc Rheinard would top free practice but could only manage 8th behind Martin Lissau in the first timed run.  Very happy with the stability of his TRF419 in free practice he said having started out good the car was ‘now not so good’. ‘Sliding all over the place’ he said having done nothing to the car between the two runs he hopes that a fresh set of tyres for the closing practice run will return the car to how it was earlier.

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January 10, 2010

Volker takes first A-Main

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Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker has taken victory in A-Main Leg 1 here at the 10th Anniversary DHI Cup after a thrilling climax to the opening race.  Initially it looked as though Top Qualifier Christer Andersson was checking out and that the big battle of the race would be for second but in the final minute the Associated driver caught a dot flipping his TC5.  This allowed Volker to take the lead as the No.1 car resumed in second spot just in front of defending champion Marc Rheinard.  Nothing separated the trio as Andersson challenged for the lead and defended from Rheinard at the same time.  In the end Volker held his nerve to take the win with the Top Qualifier taking second as he and Rheinard touched crossing the finish line. Coming from last on the grid Martin Hudy took fourth just ahead of Xray team-mate Leino.

Volker said the race was how he expected with the top four cars very closely matched on pace, Teemu Leino having also been part of the battle until he rolled his Xray. The German said the technical design of the track made it difficult to pass but he was very happy to open his account with a win. Andersson said he gave away the race but plans to look forward for the second leg.  Having pulled a comfortable gap the 18-year-old said he saw Volker was closing and reacted by pushing too hard resulting in his costly mistake.  Rheinard said the race was OK but thinks winning from 3rd is going to difficult unless someone in front crashes.

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In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker converted his pole position start in to a light to flag victory but he was made work very hard for it by defending champion Tommy Bergfeldt.  Having decided to start with a fresh set of LRP CPX tyres, Stocker said his Cyclone was loose for the opening few laps as the new rubber bedded in and only for an error by Bergfeldt he was struggling to hold the lead.  Dropping back almost 2 seconds after missing his apexes just before the main straight, the Swede stormed back with his Red Bull sponsored Hot Bodies closing the gap down to just 5/10th by the finish.  A great race from Tony Streit saw him come from starting last on the grid to finish third.

Modified A-main Leg 1 results
1. Ronald Völker – 20 Laps in 5:09.119
2. Christer Andersson – 20 Laps in 5:09.771
3. Marc Rheinard – 20 Laps in 5:09.802
4. Martin Hudy – 20 Laps in 5:13.308
5. Teemu Leino – 20 Laps in 5:13.720
6. Steen Graversen – 20 Laps in 5:14.173
7. Alexander Hagberg – 20 Laps in 5:14.429
8. Freddy Südhoff – 20 Laps in 5:15.654
9. Yannic Pruemper – 20 Laps in 5:16.376
10.Marc Fischer – 14 Laps in 3:43.580

>Pro Stock A-main Leg 1 results
1. Alexander Stocker – 19 Laps in 5:07.217
2. Tommy Bergfeldt – 19 Laps in 5:07.798
3. Tony Streit – 19 Laps in 5:14.543
4. Henry Salmén – 18 Laps in 5:02.393
5. Ola Westholm – 18 Laps in 5:03.099
6. Thomas Larsen – 18 Laps in 5:08.877
7. Daniel Horn – 18 Laps in 5:10.222
8. Bastian Hennig – 18 Laps in 5:10.625
9. Carsten Madsen – 18 Laps in 5:14.299
10.Yukijiro Umino – 2 Laps in 0:26.930

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January 9, 2010

Andersson on pole for 10th Anniversary DHI Cup

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Having just signed a new contract with Team Associated last week Finnish star Christer Andersson has opened his new term with the American company in the best way possible by claiming the Top Qualifier spot at the opening international touring car race of 2010, the 10th Anniversary DHI Cup.  The 18-year-old claimed his third consecutive international pole position start when he backed up his Q2 and Q4 TQ runs with second in the final qualifier behind Ronald Volker.  His third time to qualify for the A-Main of the prestigious Danish event, Andersson said he is really pleased with the result which he sees as just reward for the hours of development work he has put into the TC5 over the past 12 months.  Having achieved a best result of seventh here last year he says he is pretty confident about his prospects for tomorrow’s finals as his retires for the night knowing he is the fastest man around this technical track over five minutes thanks to his Q4 run.

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Having improved his pace with each outing today, Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker ended the day on a high by topping the final round of qualifying.  The result will see the German line-up second on the grid and considering how the day started out he said he is very happy with the result and encouraged by the progress his team made today in getting a good set-up on his LRP powered BD5.  The 2007 Winner admitted that in the later stages of Q5 Andersson was faster but says he is still confident that he can challenge for Yokomo’s first DHI Cup win tomorrow.

Despite managing only 11th in the last qualifier defending champion Marc Rheinard will start third on the grid, but the German doesn’t appear overly confident about becoming the first driver to stand on the top step of the DHI Cup podium three times.  Making it four different manufacturers at the sharp end of the grid Teemu Leino, who TQ’d the opening round, will line up fourth for Team Xray followed by local hope Steen Graversen and Yannick Prumper.  One man to watch tomorrow is ‘Fast’ Freddy Südhoff who set another fastest lap in the last qualifier with a 15.702.  The German starts eight just behind last years Top Qualifier Alexander Hagberg. Completing the grid is factory Corally driver Marc Fisher and Xray’s Martin Hudy.

A number of big name drivers didn’t have a good day in the office and will find themselves unusually low down the field.  In contrast to their team-mates Associated’s Juho Levanen, a former winner of the event, will start sixth on the grid in the B Main two places ahead of another former winner Viktor Wilck.  Factory Hot Bodies driver and former World Champion Andy Moore finds himself in the C Main along with current 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura.

Modified overall qualifying results
1. Christer Andersson – 4pts (Associated/LRP)
2. Ronald Völker – 5pts (Yokomo/LRP)
3. Marc Rheinard – 5pts (Tamiya/Speedpassion)
4. Teemu Leino – 7pts (Xray/Team Orion)
5. Steen Graversen – 12pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
6. Yannic Pruemper – 15pts (Tamiya/Speedpassion)
7. Alexander Hagberg – 16pts (Xray/LRP)
8. Freddy Südhoff – 18pts (Xray/LRP)
9. Marc Fischer – 24pts (Corally/GM)
10.Martin Hudy – 27pts (Xray/LRP)

View the full Modified qualifying standings here.

Pro Stock overall qualifying results
1. Alexander Stocker – 3pts (Hot Bodies)
2. Tommy Bergfeldt – 5pts (Hot Bodies)
3. Henry Salmén – 9pts (Tamiya)
4. Thomas Larsen – 10pts (Tamiya)
5. Yukijiro Umino – 13pts (Yokomo)
6. Ola Westholm – 15pts (TOP)
7. Carsten Madsen – 15pts (Tamiya)
8. Daniel Horn – 19pts (Xray)
9. Bastian Hennig – 23pts (Xray)
10.Tony Streit – 24pts (Hot Bodies)

View the full Pro Stock qualifying standings here.

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January 9, 2010

Another TQ run for Andersson

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Christer Andersson bounced back from a disappointing Q3 to TQ the penultimate round of qualifying here at the 10th Anniversary DHI Cup.  Ending up only seventh fastest in the third round due to a number of driver errors, the young Finnish talent came back with the perfect run to record 19 laps in 5:03.743 finishing 1.5 seconds ahead of Ronald Volker.  The Associated/LRP driver has run the same set-up for the last three outings and plans to stick with it for the final heat which will decide who is the 2010 Top Qualifier. Unfortunately for Alexander Hagberg he wont be repeating his 2009 feat after putting in his worst round which netted a lowly 11th.

Completing the Top 3 Marc Rheinard said he is still struggling for speed and needs to find around 3/10th of a second but things are a lot worse for his TRF team-mate Viktor Wilck.  The 2008 Champion is currently set to make the C final and even revert to a new car for Q4 but he spent most of the run on his roof.  Yannic Pruemper enjoyed his best placing with fourth followed by Steen Graversen while factory Corally team driver Marc Fischer, whose weekend got off to a bad start when his race equipment was lost by his airline, finally claimed a Top 6 run.

The big surprise of the round was German’s Freddy Sudhoff who looked on target to set the pace until he rolled his Xray on the very last lap. ‘I am an idiot, it was a stupid mistake’, was how he summed up the costly error.  The reigning  European 200mm B Champion said his sudden rise to the front end of the time sheets was a result of reducing the timing of his tyre additive.  This gave more steering on his T3 allowing him to post a new fastest lap of 15.690 around the technical track here in the Odense Congress Center.

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In Pro Stock defending champion Tommy Bergfeldt gave his all to try and force the battle for the 2010 Top Qualifier honours to go to the fifth & final round but Alexander Stocker just had the edge to top the time sheets and claim pole for tomorrow’s finals.  The German, used to having Pro Stock all his own way normally, said he expects to have to work very hard tomorrow to keep Bergfeldt behind.  Once again Henry Salmen was third at the controls of his Tamiya with TOP driver Ola Westholm enjoying his best run of the day setting the fourth fastest time.

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January 9, 2010

Rheinard ups the pace in Denmark

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Defending DHI Cup Champion Marc Rheinard has upped the pace here in qualifying to claim the third round and move to the top of the Qualification Ranking with two heats remaining. The German was pleased with the 19 laps in 5:04.658 result but feels his Tamiya, which is fitted with 4 turn Speedpassion motor, is too easy to drive. Although very consistent he feels that his 416X can be quicker and so he plans to lower the camber link, something he hopes is the right direction to take.

Behind the World Champion it was the man he beat to that title Ronald Volker.  Just 6/10th adrift of his fellow countryman, the Yokomo team leader was on target to TQ the round but made a mistake. Despite the error the 2007 winner of this event was happy to be back on the pass after his team made a number of set-up changes to his LRP powered BD5 that allowed him to post a new fastest lap time of 16.822.  Third fastest for Q3 was Teemu Leino who was again very close to the pace with his Xray T3. Steen Graversen, Freddy Südhoff and Yannic Pruemper completed the Top 6 with Q3 Top Qualifier Christer Andersson managing only seventh this time round.

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In Pro Stock Tommy Bergfeldt bounced back to deny Alexander Stocker from wrapping up the overall Top Qualifier honours early.  The defending champion, who was the class of the field on the opening day of the 2010 DHI Cup, increased the flex on his Red Bull sponsor Cyclone, a change which allowed him to top the winner of the opening two qualifiers.  Behind the two Hot Bodies drivers it was Finland’s Henry Salmen who completed the Top 3.  Runner up to Bergfeldt here in Odense last year, the Tamiya driver said Q3 was the first time his car was drivable. A change of additive was the key to the huge improvement and he plans to leave the car as is and focus on his driving for the final two heats.

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