Another TQ run for Andersson

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.

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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Rheinard ups the pace in Denmark

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.

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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On-form Andersson takes Q2

Last month he won the Italian Grand Prix and before that the official warm-up race for the Indoor European Championships, but now the on-form Christer Andersson has moved right in contention here at DHI Cup with a TQ run in the second qualifier.  Taking his Associated to a new fastest run of 19 laps in 5:05.752 the young Finnish driver headed home defending Champion Marc Rheinard and Q1 pace setter Teemu Leino.  Andersson, who brought the fastest lap seen here so far in Denmark down to a 15.836, put his new found pace down to a fresh diff which he said made a huge difference around the long sweeper.  Running a 5 turn version of LRP’s new Octa motor in his TC5R, some suspension changes had also made the car more consistent to drive and for now he plans no further set-up changes focusing instead on reducing the number of mistakes he made during the run.

All the top drivers made mistakes during the run.  Rheinard flipped his Tamiya which he said is starting now to push and he plans changes to give him more steering.  Team Xray’s Leino also made mistakes but not just on the track. After the run the former European Champion discovered he hadn’t correctly tightened the rear shock tower on his T3 following his routine maintenance between runs.  Behind the Top 3 the next three found themselves covered by just 4/10th with Yokomo’s Ronald Volker taking fourth from up & coming German talent Yannic Pruemper and leading local hope Steen Graversen.

In Pro Stock Alexander Stocker repeated his Q1 result setting a new fastest lap time of 16.561 but overall the run was slower due to errors.  Local Tamiya driver Thomas Larsen knocked almost 9 seconds of his time to take second thanks to a clean consistent drive.  Defending Champion Tommy Bergfeldt had two costly incidents in his run and had to settle for third ahead of Finland’s Henry Salmen and former Japanese Champion Yukijiro Umino.

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Leino fastest in opening Qualifier

Formula One may have lost its Iceman but 190mm Touring Car racing hasn’t and in the opening round of qualifying here at the 10th Anniversary of the DHI Cup it is Team Xray’s Teemu Leino who has set the pace with a 19 lap run in 5:07.111.  Leino, who prefers to do his talking on the track, described his run as good and other than looking over his 5.5T Team Orion motored T3 chassis, plans no changes for the next round. Closest to the Finn was defending champion Marc Rheinard.  The German was very happy with his Tamiya in terms of the set-up but a loose rear belt meant he was not able to drive at 100% for fear of stripping it.  Chasing his third DHI Cup win Rheinard, apart from fitting a new belt, plans no changes to his 416X for Q2.

Steen Graversen was clearly delighted about his run to the third fastest time.  Also running a 416X chassis but fitted with a self designed motor mount, the former factory Kyosho driver said his car was very easy to drive, maybe too easy to drive.  The Dane feels he could have probably pushed hard and maybe that second for the round would have been possible.  His first international race with the 416X, Graversen said he is still learning the car and runs a very different set-up to that of Rheinard and Wilck but that he is very exited about the potential of the car.

Top Swedish touring car driver Alexander Hagberg was much happier with his Xray T3 this morning. Having improved the corner speed he lacked in practice yesterday he said it now feels a little nervous and will make some small changes to the suspension geometry ahead of the second round.  Behind last year’s Top Qualifer was fellow countryman and 2008 Champion Viktor Wilck.  The Tamiya Racing Factory driver was not happy with his car which is very nervous and is also unsure what direction to take in terms of changing the set-up.

Sixth fastest was another of the four former winners competing in the 2010 race, Ronald Volker. Part of a major presence by Japanese manufacturer Team Yokomo, he said his BD5 was quick but difficult to drive and as a result he made a lot of mistakes.  The German will run less droop next time to try and make the car easier to drive.

In Pro Stock the opening round of qualifying was the first time we haven’t seen Tommy Bergfeldt’s name at the top of the time sheets as German ace Alexander Stocker set the pace with an 18 lap run in 5:06.213.  Stocker struggled yesterday in practice but a complete change of set-up last night on his Hot Bodies Cyclone, better gearing to suit his prototype LRP SXX Stock Spec speedo and a change to CS tyre additive have made the former Euro Touring Series Champion a real contender for the 2010 DHI Cup title. Stocker says his car is still not perfect but he is going in the right direction now in terms of his set-up and is hoping to find even more speed.

Bergfeldt, who is also running a Hot Bodies but fitted with an Advanced Electronics Black Diamond speedo, said his car was suffering from understeer this morning, something he hopes can be cured with a change of roll bars. The Swede also admitted to a few driver mistakes, one of which cost him over 3 seconds. Third fastest was 18-year-old local driver Thomas Larsen who was the only other one of the 88 runners to record 18 laps.  Driving a Tamiya TRF416WE he said he was happy to open qualifying with a Top 3 run but hopes a diff rebuild will give him a better car for the second of the five qualifiers and allow him to close on the gap to Stocker and Bergfeldt.

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