Defending Champion wins Leg 1

Marc Rheinard has opened his European title defence in the best way possible by winning the opening Leg of the A Main from fourth on the grid. The factory Tamiya driver made a blistering start moving into second at the first corner behind Top Qualifier Jilles Groskamp.  Later in the lap the German was handed the lead when teammate Groskamp spun 360 degrees due to bad set of tyres and once in front the World Champion cruised to the win followed home by Hupo Honigl.  Afterwards Rheinard said his TRF416WE was better than yesterday but put it down to a good set tyres something his Speedpassion teammates Groskamp & Wilck didn’t have on this occasion.

‘Super lucky’ was how Honigl summed up his race.  The Austrian held off intense pressure from Groskamp and Volker to finish second which he said was much more than he expected.  Ronald Volker said third was an OK result considering his costly mistake which required a marshal to put his Yokomo BD5 back on track. The German said he made a careful start but when he got up into second spot he took too many risks to try catch the man who denied him the title last year and that resulted in his off.  Finishing fourth Viktor Wilck was another to suffer tyre wows with a bad rear tyre causing him to do donuts during the race.

For Top Qualifier Groskamp the race was a very frustrating one.  Over the opening laps the Dutch racer had a very loose car and afterwards commented, ‘Its not fare.  What can I do, the tyres are a lottery’.  Adding to his frustration he caught a curb at the Laguna Seca style chicane on the last lap and beached his car on the grass just in front of the loop dropping him from fourth to eight by the time marshal Andy Moore got to the car.

Finishing fifth Kyosho/Team Orion team driver Christopher Krapp got his chances of becoming Junior European Champion off to a good start heading home fellow German Yannic Pruemper.  Yesterday it looked as though 15-year-old Tamiya Junior driver Pruemper had the crown sown up as the only classified Junior in the A-Main but this was due to an administration error which 16-year-old Krapp brought to the attention of EFRA this morning.  So the A Main will now decided two European titles later today.

Just after the first round of finals the heavens opened up in Luxembourg meaning it is very likely the second Leg is going to be a wet affair.  Currently the second leg of the finals have been declared wet races by race officials but the rain has stopped.

Leg 1 results
1. Rheinard Marc – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 17 laps in 05:07.425
2. Hönigl Hubert – Tamiya/LRP – 17 laps in 05:10.872
3. Völker Ronald – Yokomo/LRP – 17 laps in 05:10.981
4. Wilck Viktor – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 17 laps in 05:11.678
5. Krapp Christopher – Kyosho/Orion – 17 laps in 05:13.143
6. Prümper Yannic – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 17 laps in 05:14.686
7. Urbain Lucas – Losi/GM Racing – 17 laps in 05:14.747
8. Groskamp Jilles – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 17 laps in 05:15.413
9. Graversen Steen – Kyosho/Orion – 16 laps in 05:03.641
10. Hagberg Alexander – Xray/LRP – 16 laps in 05:08.926

Full results from the event can be found here.

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Damp start to Finals Day in Luxembourg

Its finals day here in Luxembourg and conditions are slightly damn after overnight rain. Drivers have just completed a round of practice finals and in the A Main it was Xray’s Alexander Hagberg (16/5:05.658) who was classified first ahead of Tamiya’s Viktor Wilck, who recorded the fastest lap with a 19.268, but with many drivers changing cars during the run the result is not a true indication of form. Top Qualifier Jilles Groskamp ran a wet car in the 2 minute warm-up but said the wet tyres lacked traction on the patchy track. Switching to his dry car for the start the Tamiya/Speedpassion driver was able to pull clear of the field and decided to pull in early as his TRF416WE was really good in the conditions. Defending Champion Marc Rehinard ran two cars in the race to check both freshly built TRF416WE chassis’ were ok but the German thinks it will be better for him if it rains for the real thing.  Wilck, who only has one car registered for the race, said conditions were a little slippery but reckons if the rain holds off the track will be fine for the opening leg of the finals which is due off the line at 12:15. Ronald Volker was another to try both a wet and dry car. The Team Yokomo driver said he was pretty happy with his dry car with only one or two spots on the track requiring caution.  Hagberg who ran old tyres on his dry car said it his LRP powered T2 009 was OK but hopes it rains as that would give him a better change of a good result starting from 7th on the grid.

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Groskamp on pole for 2009 Euros

Jilles Groskamp is the 2009 EFRA Electric Touring Car European Championship Top Qualifier after a dramatic final round of qualifying that saw the big surprise of this event, Lucas Urbain (17/5:18.436), TQ the final round of heats. With 30 seconds to run on the clock it looked as though Viktor Wilck (16/5:01.046) was going to claim his first ever Euros pole position but on the final lap the Swede lost the rear of his Tamiya. With his teammate Groskamp, who he passed during the run, right on his bumper the pair made contact allowing Ronald Volker (16/5:00.335) to win the top heat.  Luckily for the Tamiya team, Urbain’s time from the previous group was faster than that of Volker allowing Groskamp to retain the top spot on the qualification ranking.

Groskamp said afterwards ‘I owe my pole to Urbain, I will have to buy him a drink’. Happy to claim the overall TQ, the Dutch driver had mixed feeling about the round. Having been caught by his Speedpassion teammate he said he felt it was only right to let him through but afterwards he was able to stick with him and when he lost it in the sweeper he couldn’t avoid hitting him. Wilck said his TRF416WE has been on the edge throughout qualifying but with the power dropping off on the final lap he was unable to correct the car when the rear stepped out. Finishing the round third behind Volker, Wilck’s faster TQ run in Round 4 was enough to give him second on the grid tomorrow, one place ahead of last year’s Top Qualifier.

Having already realised his goal earlier in the day by securing himself a place in the A Main, Urbain’s event just got better as became the fifth driver to TQ a round, an achievement that didn’t go unnoticed as he received a round of applause from the onlooking drivers and their teams. The Frenchman said his GM Racing powered Losi JRSX-R was ‘amazing’ after he loosened the diff and further increased the length of time he applied the tyre additive. Asked if he could create further surprises tomorrow, when he will line up fifth on the grid, the 20-year-old said he is normally rubbish in finals but he hopes he can finish in the Top 5 as this would be a great result for him.

Taking fifth for the round Marc Rheinard said his car felt ‘pretty bad’ as he struggled with corner speed. Unsure as to why the sudden drop of in performance, with a bad batch of tyres the suspected cause, the defending Champion & reigning World Champion has decided to build a new Tamiya for tomorrow’s finals in which he will line up fifth. Completing the Top 6 for the final qualifier was Alexander Hagberg and the Swede will be the sole Xray representative in tomorrow’s big race, starting from seventh.

Making up the rest of the A Main grid are Tamiya off road star Hupo Honigl, who will start his last ever touring car race from sixth, 15-year-old Yannic Pruemper, who becomes the new European Junior Champion, and the factory Kyosho/Team Orion pairing of Steen Graversen and Christopher Krapp. The unenviable BQ honours go to former European Champion Teemu Leino.

The big talking point here as drivers leave for their hotels is the weather. While the sun is still shining the forecast for tomorrow is for rain and lots of it.  Our coverage, which is supported here in Luxembourg by Team Orion and LRP, continues in the morning.

Top 10 qualifiers
1. Groskamp Jilles (NL) Tamiya/Speedpassion – 3pts
2. Wilck Viktor (SE) Tamiya/Speedpassion – 3pts
3. Völker Ronald (DE) Yokomo/LRP – 3pts
4. Rheinard Marc (DE) Tamiya/Speedpassion – 4pts
5. Urbain Lucas (F) Losi/GM – 4pts
6. Hönigl Hubert (A) Tamiya/LRP – 10pts
7. Hagberg Alexander (SE) Xray/LRP – 11pts
8. Prümper Yannic (DE) Tamiya/Speedpassion – 11pts
9. Graversen Steen (DK) Kyosho/Team Orion- 12pts
10. Krapp Christopher (DE) Kyosho/Team Orion – 15pts

Full results from the event can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.

Wilck heads Tamiya domination of penultimate Qualifier

The penultimate round of qualifying for the 2009 EFRA 1:10 Electric Touring European Championships was an all Tamiya affair as their drivers set the Top 5 fastest times with Viktor Wilck (17/5:17.016) claiming the TQ even after flipping his TRF416WE. Despite the warmer track condition the Swede was on target to beat his teammate Marc Rheinard’s Round 3 time, currently the fastest run of qualifying, but once again made a mistake at the hairpin flipping his car. Luckily it landed rubber side down but the incident cost him over a second and a half, time that would have moved him in to the overall provisional TQ spot.  Second fastest, Jilles Groskamp (17/5:17.909) reported his run was ok but the hotter conditions had made his car a little loose.  The Euro Touring Series Champion said it was again very close but admitted Wilck was the faster man.  Currently heading the Qualification ranking after 4 rounds, the Dutch racer said its all down to the last heat now and he could easily drop to fourth on the grid with himself, Wilck, Rheinard and Ronald Volker all still in the hunt to become the 2009 Euros Top Qualifier.

Rheinard (16/5:01.445) took third for the round but felt he got a bad batch of tyres as his Tamiya, which he hadn’t changed since the third round, felt terrible. Fourth fastest and completing the Tamiya Racing Factory lock out at the top of the time sheets was Hupo Honigl (16/5:03.294). The Austrian said his LRP powered TRF416 felt a little loose on the left corners but it was faster and was he was delighted that he wont be appearing 11th on the qualification ranking having taken the BQ honours at the indoor European Championship earlier this year, at the Worlds last November and at this same event in Spain last year.

Tamiya Junior team driver Yannic Pruemper ran a new motor for the round and managed his best position with the fifth fastest time. Fastest non Tamiya driver was Kyosho’s Steen Graversen with another sixth placing followed by fellow Team Orion driver Teemu Leino who took his Xray to seventh.

Unfortunately it was another bad run for Round 1 Top Qualifier Ronald Volker. Caught be the faster car of Wilck, the Team Yokomo driver moved off line at the end of the straight to allow the Tamiya driver through but the rear of his BD5 stepped out on the dirty track. Although the former European Champion held the car he lost time and any chance of a good run.

Full results from the event can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.