Controversy hit Worlds but Volker still fastest

Major problems with technical inspection as the first round of controlled practice had just got underway led to chaos at the Touring Car World Championships that has resulted in a round of qualifying being cancelled although that move has been protested by Japan, the Netherlands and Germany.  Once action on the track did resume it was the morning’s pace setter Ronald Volker who set the fastest lap, consecutive 3-laps and 5-minute run keeping his LRP powered Yokomo at the top of the time sheets.

The problem in technical inspection, which for what is an event that manufacturers invest so much time and money is totally unacceptable, started as the area became over crowded with drivers either returning or collecting their controlled additive free tyres while drivers from later heats went to the tented area to have there cars checked for battery voltage, ride height, etc.  Already congested and with no form of communications coming from officials, the place fell into complete panic when it was discovered some chassis’ had been incorrectly marked earlier in the day and that all 130 cars needed to be rechecked.  With no one taking control of the matter almost 2 hours where lost with no track action happening during this time.  In the end the delay first forced the postponement of the opening qualifier from this evening to tomorrow morning but then in bizarre move IFMAR cancelled the round on the basis of a chance of rain tomorrow.  This move was bizarre because IFMAR issued a controlled wet tyre for the race.

With 3 rounds from 5 qualifiers rather than six now counting driver and teams are up in arms, as with reduced breaks between rounds tomorrow running the full 6 qualifiers would only add an extra 50-minutes to the timetable.

While the arguments and protests continue, in terms of the racing the closest driver to Volker, over 3-consecutive laps which will be used for any reseeding of the qualifying heats, was Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck with Team HB’s Atsushi Hara third.  Defending champion Marc Rheinard, who has been very vocal with officials over the early chaos, used his Speed Passion powered Tamiya to set the fourth fastest time followed by Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and recent ETS race winner Yannic Prumper.

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Pack close gap to Volker

In the fourth & final round of free practice early pace setter Ronald Volker once again set the fastest lap, the Team Yokomo driver’s huge FP3 advantage was much reduced with 3 drivers managing to post a 16 second lap. Posting a fastest lap that was slightly slower than that set in the morning run it was team-mate Naoto Matsukura who was second fastest with defending Champion Marc Rheinard third just ahead of Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck.

Trying two different BD5 chassis’, Matsukura said both cars where a little loose but of the two the chassis he used pre-event testing felt slightly better than the fresh car built for the event.  Happy to run his first 16 second lap the 1:12 World Champion will make a small set-up change for the opening controlled practice to try improve the balance.

Running his pre-event test car in FP4, like Matsukura, Rheinard found the car to be better.  Rebuilt by his Tamiya mechanic Kiyo Suzuki before the event, he said it felt better but very different and he needs a little more time to adjust his driving to suit.  Much happier with his pace now, he said he is looking forward to the first controlled practice when all drivers will run just one car adding that it will be interesting to see how Volker fares over the 5-minutes as while his Yokomo is very fast in the early part of the run it is at the expense of pace later on.  Wilck said a change to the set-up of his Thunder Power motor made for a better package and he will go into CP1 with the car as is.

Posting a 17.019 lap, the fifth fastest of the run, former World Champion Atsushi Hara was very happy with how his factory HB is now running.  The Japanese ace, who has an ETS win at the MACH to his credit, had problems with a power drop off in yesterday’s practice runs.  The problem was eventually sourced to the motor but with a new Reedy motor in his car today which features new types of magnets, Hara said the power, even with practice batteries, is good for 5-minutes and with fresh batteries for qualifying he believes he should be able to find at least 1/10th of a second due to the extra ‘punch’.

Sixth fastest just 6/1000th behind Hara was Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg.  The Swede had a couple of crashes but said his T3, which features lower shock towers and shorter shocks, was better after he switched to a longer camber link.  Having more pace in the opening laps the Snowbirds Champion said it started to push near the end of the 5-minutes and maybe he needs to go back a little with his camber adjustment.

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Volker’s stuns rivals with blistering early pace

Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker has left his rivals scratching their heads in early practice at the Touring Car World Championships in the Netherlands with the German setting a fastest lap time that was over 4/10th faster than that of the next quickest driver which was Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck.  How impressive Volker’s pace is can be seen by adding the time difference between him and Wilck to the Swede’s time which covers the Top 30 drivers, former champion Andy Moore set the 30th fastest lap with a 17.482.

The only driver to run a 16 second lap, with a time of 16.657, Volker was very happy with his early pace but said people shouldn’t read too much into his massive early advantage.  Trying two different cars in this morning’s 3rd free practice, the 7th running of these World Championships starting a day earlier than normal with two practice rounds yesterday evening, he said both cars felt very similar but the second one was faster.  The Euro Touring Series champion said this was most likely due to the fact that at the start of the the 5-minute run the cars stand on the grid for a time and this effects the tyres making the opening lap tricky especially at the new chicane that was added at the start of the MACH’s main straight as part of the conditions of securing the championships and which has been revised just prior to the race and is now much faster that at the Warm-up race.  While Volker said his car has great pace on new tyres they will have to wait till controlled practice to see where they are at on used tyres.

Defending World Champion Marc Rheinard, who is chasing a third consecutive title, said his Tamiya TF417, which features a new steering servo mounting set-up, his car had zero on power traction.  Happy with his car and pace in pre-event testing he said he has no idea why the car has changed so much as he was only able to post a best lap time that was 14/100ths off team-mate Wilck.  Commenting on Volker’s pace he said he believed the Yokomo team are playing games as there is no way of finding 6/10th of an advantage on chassis set-up alone.  With new rules this year that prohibit the use of tyre additive, the German added maybe they got the jump on everyone else regarding tyre prep but added that controlled practice, when the hand out Sorex tyres must be purchased from the host club, will give a better indication of where everyone is at.

Wilck, who said the chicane layout is better than at the Warm-up, said getting through it perfectly was key to a fast lap time.  Having a number of offs during FP3, he said he over drove a little but his Thunder Power equipped Tamiya feels OK.

Fresh from securing a third consecutive 1:12 World Championship title earlier in the week, Naoto Matsukura set the third fastest lap time with the Yokomo driver like most of the front runners, trying two different cars in this mornings practice.

Discovering the sport of r/c racing at this track 20-years ago having grown up just down the road, Jilles Groskamp posted the fourth fastest time with his Orion powered Tamiya which unlike team-mate Rheinard features the standard 417 steering set-up.  The former European Champion says his focus is on a full run rather than single lap times and overall he is happy with his early pace.  Looking to improve his car for over the opening laps he said the real indication on pace will come when everyone is on used tyres.  With 2 sets of tyres for the 6 rounds of qualifying, of which three will decide the grid, he said having a good car on used tyres is going to be important.  Commenting on Volker’s pace he said that in pre-event testing he ran 16.6 laps while the rest ran 16.7 and with traction a little lower now he has just found of way of making his car work for the conditions better than the rest of them.

Warm-up Race winner Paul Lemieux posted the 9th fastest saying afterwards his Xray, which features a number of new parts, was ‘not good but not bad’.  Not feeling comfortable with his driving he said the new chicane is causing him trouble as he is driving it like at the Warm-up when he needs to be driving a straighter line through it.  Summing up practice so far he said there is ‘plenty of room for improvement’.

Drivers have one more round of free practice before the event moves into the more heavily controlled two rounds of ‘Controlled Practice’ with the first of the qualifiers bringing today’s action to a late finish.

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