Another TQ run puts Volker on target for pole in France

Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker is proving to be very much the man to beat here at the European Championships in France after backing up his fastest time in the opening qualifier with another TQ run in Q2, albeit in a slightly slower time.  The German, who is looking to regain the title he won in France in 2007, set the pace over the Tamiya’s of Elliot Harper, Jilles Groskamp and Viktor Wilck, and putting himself in a strong position to wrap up pole for Sunday’s final.  After the run Volker said despite not changing anything on his BD5 it was a little loose for the run but he still managed a new fastest lap for qualifying, recording a 19.796. Asked if he planned any changes for the morning the German said he would wait til the morning to see how the weather plays out with rain being the most common prediction here in the pits.

Changing the camber links on his TRF416, Harper said his car was still easy to drive with the change making no noticeable difference.   Improving his time by 2/10th, the 17-year-old believes that his car is good enough to match Volker’s Yokomo and that the difference will have to come through his driving.  Groskamp echoed that view.  The defending Champion, who didn’t get to do any pre-event practice in Aniche, said he is still learning that track and his lack of consistency is where he is losing out.  Happy with his car, the Dutch Pro believes if he can get into a good rhythm tomorrow he should be able to challenge Volker for the overall TQ honours which he took on his way to winning his first ever European title last year in Luxembourg.  The other two members of the Tamiya Racing Factory remain unhappy with their cars.  Changing back to the set-up he ran in practice Wilck set the fourth fastest time but is far from comfortable with his car.  Marc Rheinard crashed in Q2 and tried to rejoin but said his tyres were ruined by the large amount of dust offline.

Yannick Pruemper enjoyed his best run setting the 5th fastest time but once again the German teenager made a mistake.  Behind him Loic Jasmin was again fastest of the French drivers despite being hit by Rheinard as he tried to rejoin the track after his off.  Costing him around 1 second in time the incident didn’t cost Jasmin a placing.  Having raised the central bulk head on his Tamiya the French Champion said the car had more traction and better steering following the change.  Finishing just 6/10th adrift with the seventh fastest time was fellow countryman Cyril N’Diaye.  Running LRP electrics in his Tamiya, N’Diaye said his car is perfect and he just needs to push more as a driver.

Eight and ninth fastest for the round were German pairing Steven Weiss and Marc Fisher.  Small set-up changes had improved Weiss’s Yokomo and the former Euros Top Qualifier is happy he now has something to build on for tomorrow when he plans to change tyre additive.  Factory Corally driver Fisher said a change from Trinity Tyre Tweak to Marc Rheinard additive had made his car better over the full 5-minutes but he was annoyed by the driving of fellow countryman Freddy Sudhoff after the pair clashed despite the Hot Bodies driver being a lap down on the field.  Completing the Top 10 was French driver Jérôme Carpentier while Losi star Lucas Urbain recorded his first full run to set the 11th fastest time.

Qualifying resumes in the morning when hopefully we will be able to continue with four dry rounds of heats.

Qualifying standings after 2 rounds
1. Ronald Volker (DE) – 0pts (Yokomo/LRP)
2. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 5pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
3. Elliott Harper (GB) – 5pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)
4. Victor Wilck (SE) – 9pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)
5. Yannick Pruemper (DE) – 13pts (Yokomo/Speed Passion)
6. Loïc Jasmin (FR) – 13pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
7. Cyril N’Diaye (FR) – 16pts (Tamiya/LRP)
8. Andy Moore (GB) – 19pts (Hot Bodies/Nosram)
9. Steven Weiss (DE) – 20pts (Yokomo/LRP)
10.Marc Fisher (DE) – 26pts (Corally/GM)

Full results can be found here.

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Volker TQs opening Qualifier at 2010 Euros

Ronald Volker has carried his practice pace through to qualifying taking the opening round from defending champion Jilles Groskamp.  The Team Yokomo driver was happy to be fastest but was annoyed with himself for an early mistake when he carried too much speed and over shot the entry to the chicane costing him over 1 second.  Like many of the top drivers, the 2007 Champion felt the traction was off a little compared with this morning, most likely due to the opening ceremony which was held on the track after the completion of practice.  Happy with his BD5, last year’s Top Qualifier plans to run the same set-up again in the second round of qualifying which will bring Day 2 of the championships to a close.

Groskamp described his run as not so bad. The Dutch ace said over the opening laps his Team Orion powered Tamiya didn’t feel too good but as the run went on it got better and better, his fastest lap being his last one.  Encouraged at being able to reduce the gap to Volker, he said that having tried anti-dive for the round he will return to the normal set-up for the second qualifier this evening.  Making it the same Top 3 as we had after practice, TRF team-mate Elliot Harper set the third fastest time.  The young British driver said he had a pretty consistent run and was happy to open the event with a solid run.  Running Speed Passion electrics he felt his motor, which he had advanced for the round, lost power slightly near the end of the run as he hadn’t allow for the hotter conditions.  This effected his line off the narrow straight with his last lap being his slowest.  Elliot plans to reduce the timing for Q2.

Setting the fourth fastest factory Hot Bodies driver Andy Moore said his run was steady.  The former World & European Champion had a slight problem with understeer on his TCX in the slow chicane but was otherwise pretty happy with the car.  Team-mate Freddy Sudhoff made it two Hot Bodies in the Top ten, the German taking his TCX to the 10th fastest time.

‘Pushing like a truck’ was how Viktor Wilck described his run to the fifth.  On advice from his TRF team-mates the Swede changed the camber link set-up on his TRF416 but said it felt terrible and he will revert to his own set-up for Q2.  Finishing 1.1 seconds behind him was team-mate Marc Rheinard who continues to struggle with the set-up of his Speed Passion powered Tamiya.  Managing the sixth fastest time, the World Champion is very open about not liking the track here in France but also admits he is lost as to what to change to get the car to work.

Holding up local honours with a very solid opening run is Loic Jasmin.  Driving a Tamiya, the French National Champion said he felt there was a little less traction but it was a good clean run and he was pleased to start the championships with a Top 10 run.  Suffering a small amount of understeer he will try moving shock positions for his next outing.  Another French driver to make the Top 10 was Cyril N’Diaye.  Also at the controls of Tamiya he was ninth fastest behind Yannic Prumper.  The reigning European Junior Champion Prumper said his Yokomo was really good but a stupid mistake three laps from home, when he put the BD5 on its roof, had cost a lot of time.

Setting the 11th fastest time Britain’s Olly Jefferies was fastest of the Team Associated drivers, followed by 2007 Top Qualifier Steven Weiss and Alexander Hagberg who was best of the Xray team drivers.

Qualifying results after round 1
1. Ronald Volker (DE) – 15 Laps in 5:01.977
2. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 15 Laps in 5:03.231
3. Elliott Harper (GB) – 15 Laps in 5:03.434
4. Andy Moore (GB) – 15 Laps in 5:04.029
5. Victor Wilck (SE) – 15 Laps in 5:04.600
6. Marc Rheinard (DE) – 15 Laps in 5:05.515
7. Loïc Jasmin (FR) – 15 Laps in 5:08.087
8. Yannick Preumper (DE) – 15 Laps in 5:09.213
9. Cyril N’Diaye (FR) – 15 Laps in 5:10.309
10.Frederic Sudhoff (DE) – 15 Laps in 5:11.184

Full results can be found here.

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Volker sets practice pace in France

France is the venue for 12th running of the Electric Touring Car European Championships with the small town of Aniche in the northern tip of the country.  The third time that France has hosted the EFRA organised championship, only 106 drivers have made the trip but among those are 8 of last years Euro finalists and 7 of the finalists from last month’s World Championships in Burgdorf, Germany.

For defending Champion Jilles Groskamp yesterday’s practice was his first time to sample the track as his participation on the Nitro Touring Car World Championships in Texas meant he was unable to fit in any pre-event testing.  The Dutch ace, who is suffering with a head cold since returning from the US, said considering his lack of mileage on the very technical track he is pretty happy with his practice pace, which is based on each drivers best five consecutive laps, ending up fourth fastest.

Setting the pace over the 6 rounds of controlled practice is the last man to win a European title on French soil Ronald Volker.  The 2007 Champion, who did 2 days testing here last week, said while the track layout is quite difficult he actually likes it. With Team Yokomo’s R&D man Yukijiro Umino engineering his LRP powered BD5, the German ace said he is very happy with how his Yokomo is working saying it is easy to drive and still capable of fast lap times.  Although he struggled with the gear diff Yokomo introduced for the World Championship he is back running it here having got to terms with the change of feeling it gives.  The Top Qualifier from at the 2008 Euros in Spain he will be hoping to carry his practice form into the first of today’s two qualifiers.

Volker’s team-mate and defending European Junior Champion Yannic Prumper also likes the track layout but the 16-year-old said the curbing gives little room for error saying ‘if you make a mistake your car is going to end up in the next country’.  The 16-year-old German struggled yesterday but in the final controlled practice managed to set the 6th fastest time and he is now more confident that he can repeat his 2009 result when he finished 6th in the Main final.  Yokomo also have the Top Qualifier from the last French Euros in Steven Weiss but the German said while his BD5 feels really good his lap times are well off the pace.

For World Champion Marc Rheinard yesterday was his first time on the narrow track due to his busy race program which saw him finish on the podium in Texas last weekend. The German was far from complimentary about the track and ends practice with the 7th fastest time.  His team-mate Viktor Wilck, who tested here last week along with Elliot Harper, was best of the Tamiya team with the second fastest time.  The Swede said its going to be a though event as mistakes are very costly around the track due to the curbing and lack of run off area.  The Speed Passion driver said Yokomo have found something that is giving them a big advantage and believes they must also make a big discovery if they want to be able to mount any sort of challenge to Volker.  Still on a high from his podium finish at the World Championships, 17-year-old Harper is happy with his car despite the big gap to Volker.  The TRF driver said the number of corners make the track hard but unlike his team-mates he doesn’t find it too bad, getting more and more used to it with each outing. Another of last year’s finalists running Tamiya, Steen Graversen has taken time out from r/c since the Worlds and while the Dane says he feels really fresh he is struggling for pace at the moment.

Heading the Hot Bodies challenge is 2006 European Champion Andy Moore.  Fifth fastest in practice the British ace was happy with how his new TCX chassis, which went on general sale last week, has been working.  The former World Champion is debuting his own LiPo battery here in Agile which is the first in a range of products he will launch under the Moorespeed brand which he has taken full control of himself.  Pitting alongside Moore is new team-mate Freddy Südhoff.  The German, who outpaced both Moore and Atsushi Hara on his Hot Bodies debut at the Worlds, said due to the bumps on the track you have to be very careful with choosing your lines but he is enjoying working alongside Moore.

Not the freshest looking team in the paddock having just claimed their first ever World title in Texas last week, Xray will be counting on Alexander Hagberg and Teemu Leino for success this weekend.  The Slovak team didn’t get to test here due to their busy summer racing schedule and their drivers are having to re-adjust their driving from nitro to electric.  A finalist last year, Hagberg said practice has been difficult due to his lack of track knowledge but if it rains tomorrow, as is being forecast, things could be a lot more interesting.  Former European Champion Leino said he could have done with a Satnav fitted to his Team Orion powered T3 for the opening practice.

In the Associated camp former two time European Champion Juho Levanen said he is getting faster with each run on the track having not tested here prior to the event.  The Finn, who travelled to England last week to join team-mate Olly Jefferies for testing at the Cotswold track as part of the development program for the new TC6, said he has focused on driving yesterday rather than car set-up.  One concern for the Associated team is that running a prototype car on a track that gives little room for error they have to be careful as spare parts are limited. Jefferies said he thinks they still have to find the right additive and plans to try Xenon’s offering once the owner of the Japanese company, Terutaka Hanaumi, arrives at the track.

Having made the final last year with his ageing Losi, Lucas Urbain will be hoping to bring local success come Sunday evening.  The star of Luxembourg, he has good knowledge of the track having raced in the French National Championship rounds that have been held here for the past two years.  Urbain said in yesterday’s practice the traction levels were already higher than at the end of a French National.  Happy with his car he said his driving has so far been far from perfect.  One noticeable absentee from the event is factory Kyosho driver and fourth place finisher at the Worlds Christopher Krapp who due to starting a new job was unable to get time off to attend.

Currently the opening ceremony is underway which will be followed by the first of the six scheduled rounds of qualifying.  Four of those rounds are scheduled for tomorrow when the weather is giving rain so in the pits drivers are busy preparing their wet cars.

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