Groskamp leads the way in Burgdorf at the end of Day 1

European Touring Car Champion Jilles Groskamp has ended the opening day of the IFMAR World Championships in the top spot knocking early pace setter Ronald Volker off the top in the second controlled practice.  With today’s timing based on a drivers three consecutive fastest laps, Groskamp also recorded the quickest time of 5 minutes narrowly missing out on 25 laps around the small technical track.  The factory Tamiya team member said afterwards his Orion powered TRF416 was real easy to drive and he doesn’t have to push hard to get good times.

Rolling his Yokomo twice, Volker was unable to better his time from the opening controlled practice saying his BD5 was difficult to drive.  Having had a problem with the car going off at the end of the run during the the Warm-up race, which he TQ’d, Volker said the car is now bad at the start and good at the end.  Planning a few adjustments that should make the it easier to drive, the German is confident he will have a good car for the opening qualifier.

Atsushi Hara was full of phrase for his Hot Bodies TCX after making changes to the front shocks and the application of tyre additive.  Ending the day third fastest he said ‘the car is much better than me now, it feels really good’.  Feeling a bit tired today, the Japanese ace said he plans to get a good nights sleep and is confident heading into tomorrow’s qualifying.

Viktor Wilck said the switch back to the rear shock tower he ran earlier in the day gave the car a better balance but it still wants to push in the corners.  Asked what changes he planned to make for tomorrow he said ‘I need to talk to my friend Jilles and see what he is doing’.  Just behind the Swede on the time sheets was the youngest member of the Tamiya Racing Factory team Elliot Harper. The 17-year-old, who runs a different basic set-up to the rest of the team, said a small adjustment had transformed his car allowing him to record his fastest lap of the day in the final controlled practice.

Juho Levanen was pleased with his first day as he recorded the seventh fastest time.  The Finn who is running the new Associated TC6 said he hasn’t change much on the car focusing instead on his driving and that appears to be working.  Describing the car as ‘awesome’ he said the car is better than him at the moment but he plans on upping his game at the controls tomorrow.

Defending World Champion Marc Rheinard also failed to improve his time in the closing practice ending the day only ninth fastest behind Denmark’s Steen Graversen.  In Thailand two years ago the German was only seventh fastest at the end of Day 1 so not much can be read into his current pace as Tamiya having been trying a lot of different things today on his car.

Completing the Top 10 was Shin Adachi. The factory Kyosho driver was fourth fastest after CP1  but down the order after failing to improve his time in the evening run. Sitting just outside the Top 10 is American National Champion Paul Lemieux who managed to outpace his Swedish team-mate Alexander Hagberg to be the leading Xray in the field.

Top 20 Practice Ranking List
1. Jilles Groskamp (Tamiya) – 36.869
2. Ronald Völker (Yokomo) – 36.940
3. Atsushi Hara (Hot Bodies) – 37.013
4. Viktor Wilck (Tamiya) – 37.139
5. Elliott Harper (Tamiya) – 37.157
6. Andy Moore (Hot Bodies) – 37.177
7. Juho Levänen (Team Associated) – 37.197
8. Steen Graversen (Tamiya) – 37.222
9. Marc Rheinard (Tamiya) – 37.257
10.Shin Adachi (Kyosho) – 37.274
11.Paul Lemieux (Xray) – 37.300
12.Hagberg Alexander (Xray) – 37.348
13.Christoper Krapp (Kyosho) – 37.370
14.Freddy Südhoff (Hot Bodies) – 37.390
15.Olly Jeffries (Team Associated) – 37.493
16.Hayato Matsuzaki (Yokomo) – 37.496
17.Zdenko Kunak (Xray) – 37.545
18.Zdenek Hamak (Xray) – 37.548
19.Chris Grainger (Schumacher) – 37.604
20.Yannic Pruemper (Yokomo) – 37.604

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Volker heads first controlled practice

After the first of two controlled practice runs that will bring Day 1 of the IFMAR Touring Car World Championships to close it is Ronald Volker and the Yokomo team who continue to be the pace setters. Once again the German ace got the better of Tamiya’s Jilles Groskamp and Marc Rheinard abeit in a slightly slow time.  Volker only completed 10 laps, being one of six drivers to pull up early to save his set of controlled LRP tyres.  Having run for a second time a rear gear diff in his BD5 he again found it made the car difficult to drive in the opening laps.  After that the car felt really good but with new tyres at their best over the first three laps of the run the Yokomo team have now decided to revert back to a ball diff for the remainder of the event.

Groskamp who closed the gap between himself and Volker to just 6/100th in CP1 says his car ‘feels just perfect’ and he is really happy with his pace having not been as close to his rival here in pre-event testing.  Recording the fastest lap for the round the European Champion along with his three Tamiya team-mates were the only drivers to complete the 5-minutes and said this was helpful for building up information on how his Orion powered TRF416 is suited to the hot conditions over a full run.  The weather forecast for the next two days is giving even warmer conditions.  Team-mate Viktor Wilck was fifth fastest but said the run was not good.  Trying a new rear shock tower the Swede said it felt OK at the beginning of the run but quickly went off and so he will revert to back to the original tower.

Having changed his shock settings Shin Adachi posted the fourth fastest time and said while he is not quite as fast as his rivals in outright lap times his TF6 feels very consistent over the 5 minutes.  For the final run of the day he will make some camber adjustments.

Alexander Hagberg continues to be the lead Xray driver setting the sixth fastest 3 consecutive laps.  The Swede ran extra drag brake on his LRP powered T3 but said this made the car more difficult to drive. Reverting back to his FP4 speedo settings for his next outing he said overall the set-up he has now feels alright.

Atsushi Hara and Hot Bodies team-mate Andy Moore were 7th and 8th fastest respectively.  The current 1:8 Off Road World Champion, Hara tried a different set-up to that used in free practice but said it didn’t work.  With his Reedy powered TCX having too much roll he plans to stiffen up the front shocks for what he is calling ‘Happy Hour’ referring to the sixth and final run of the day which will have the benefit of much cooler conditions. Enjoying his best run so far Moore said adjusting his droop and a switch of additive had greatly improved his car.

Japanese Tamiya team driver Kouno Takayuki set the ninth fastest time followed by factory Associated driver Juho Levanen.

Top 10 after first Controlled Practice
1. Ronald Volker (Yokomo) – 36.940
2. Jilles Groskamp (Tamiya) – 37.001
3. Marc Rheinard (Tamiya) – 37.527
4. Shin Adachi (Kyosho) – 37.274
5. Viktor Wilck (Tamiya) – 37.294
6. Alexander Hagberg (Xray) – 37.348
7. Atsushi Hara (Hot Bodies) – 37.415
8. Andy Moore (Hot Bodies) – 37.466
9. Kouno Takayuki (Tamiya)- 37.506
10.Juho Levanen (Associated) – 37.516

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Volker tops free practice

Ronald Volker is the fastest man in Burgdorf with free practice now completed. The Yokomo star had a number of incidents during his FP4 run but still managed to lay down both the fastest outright lap and three consecutive laps.  Recording a 12.129 the Warm-Up race Top Qualifier topped the times sheets from Tamiya trio Jilles Groskamp, Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck.

Volker tried two cars, an old and a new one, in FP4. Although very loose over the opening two laps he said the older chassis felt the better of the two and this is the chassis he will now nominate as his race chassis, something which all drivers must do ahead of the two controlled practice runs which are up next.

Groskamp changed motor for the run, switching to an Orion with a thicker rotor.  The European Championship said this gave him more feeling which in return made the car smoother to drive. Having been the pace setter after P3, defending Champion Rheinard said they went the wrong way with set-up resulting in his TRF416 suffering a lot of understeer which got worse as the run went on.

Two drivers making big gains for the round where Xray’s Alexander Hagberg and Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp who set the 6th and 7th fastest time respectively. Hagberg, who was classified the winner of the Warm-up race, found his car was tweaked after round three and with the car straight again for FP4 is very happy with his LRP powered T3.  Over taking his team-mate shin Adachi on the time sheets, the Japanese driver failing to improve in P4, Krapp said his new speed came from simply reverting to the set-up he ran at the Warm-up.

Elsewhere Marc Fischer is fastest of the Corally team in 14th place while British National Champion Chris Grainger is best of the Schumacher drivers in 21st, two spots ahead of newly crowned back to back 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukara.  The star of last year’s European Championship at which he made the final, French driver Lucas Urbain is once again impressing at the control of his Losi setting the 20th fastest time of the 111 drivers present with the ageing JSX-R chassis.

Top 10 at end of Free Practice
(3 fastest consecutive laps)
1. Ronald Volker – 36.557
2. Jilles Groskamp – 36.804
3. Marc Rheinard – 36.902
4. Viktor Wick – 37.109
5. Atsushi Hara – 37.123
6. Alexabder Hagberg – 37.125
7. Christopher Krapp – 37.256
8. Steen Graversen – 37.343
9. Shin Adachi – 37.389
10.Juho Levanen – 37.391

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