Report from A-main practice session

The practice session for the A-main racers in both classes, that is run during the first round of lower finals, has just taken place and there was drama already before the start as front row man Jimmy Maddison had his car collected on the starting grid as a racer failed to slow. The crash took the rear corner off the car but some quick work by his pit crew meant he as able to make the start. Once on the track he was straight on the pace and eventually crossed the finish line first with the fastest lap of the race, a 17.57 second lap, in front of Tommy Bergfelt in 2nd an Dennis Fadtke in 3rd, while on lap times alone, pole man Christoph Thiele was 2nd fastest with Hennig 3rd.

Fastest lap times in Stock A-main practice
1. Jimmy Maddison (GBR) – 17.59
2. Christoph Thiele (D) – 17.67
3. Bastian Hennig (D) – 17.80
4. Marcus Horn (D) – 17.88
5. Marc Assmann (D) – 17.99
6. Tommy Bergfeldt (SWE) – 18.03
7. Dennis Fadtke (D) – 18.04
8. Miek Niemann (D) – 18.06
9. Florian Ring (D) – 18.09
10.Luke Hobson (GBR) – 18.86

In the modified class, it was pole main Teemu Leino who made his intentions clear from the start leading from the grid being followed closely by Viktor Wilck for the first few minutes. Leino eventually traction rolled coming off the infamous bump on the right side of the track, but he had proven his point, turning a 15.66 second lap, 2 tenths quicker than the joint second fastest, Martin Hudy and Andy Moore. Once passed Viktor was able to stretch his lead over Graversen before slowing in the final moments and letting Steen through to cross the line first. Jilles Groskamp used this run to bed in his tires, which are working better after one run on this track, the reason why he couldnt break into the 15 second lap times.

Fastest lap times in Modified A-main practice
1. Teemu Leino (FIN) – 15.66
2. Martin Hudy (SLO) – 15.86
= Andy Moore (GBR) – 15.86
4. Ronald Völker (DE) – 15.90
5. Viktor Wilck (SWE) – 15.93
6. Marc Rheinard (DE) – 15.94
7. Steen Graversen (DK) – 15.98
= Alexander Hagberg (SWE) – 15.98
9. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 16.03
10.Juho Levanen (FIN) – 16.05

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Teemu Leino is Modified class TQ

In a blistering run that saw him make the fastest qualifying run of the day, a 19 lap run in 5 minutes 03.03, Finland’s Teemu Leino has snatched TQ in round 5 to start from pole position in tomorrows final. In typical Finnish style the Xray/ Team Orion driver showed little emotion but stated he was pleased with his qualifying performance. Tamiya racer Viktor Wilck, who had a crash in the final round dropped to 2nd position and in the same incident, the marshall who was attending the crash was hit by Jilles Groskamp who was on pace to take the round win and TQ but instead will start tomorrows final from 4th.

Early pole sitter Steen Graversen from Denmark ended the day in 3rd position with 2nd to 4th all covered by the same points. Noticable absentees from the final are Steven Weiss, who will start from pole position in the B finals and Atsushi Hara who ended qualifying all the way down in 24th after a dismal run.

Final modified class Qualifying order
1. Teemu Leino (FIN) – 19L 303.03 463 [153 (147) 155 (151) 155]
2. Viktor Wilck (SWE) – 19L 304.49 460 [152 153 (151) 155 (144)]
3. Steen Graversen (DK) – 19L 309.80 460 [(149) 155 152 (145) 153]
4. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 19L 315.23 460 [155 152 (145) 153 (89)]
5. Andy Moore (GBR) – 19L 306.89 454 [151 150 153 (124) (132)]
6. Alexander Hagberg (SWE) – 19L 306.11 452 [(145) (149) 150 150 152]
7. Martin Hudy (SLO) – 19L 306.20 449 [(137) (146) 149 149 151]
8. Juho Levanen (FIN) 19L 312.37 449 [150 151 (148) (139) 148]
9. Marc Rheinard (DE) – 19L 306.19 445 [146 (145) 147 152 (145)]
10.Ronald Völker (DE) – 19L 314.28 442 [148 148 (94) (94) 146]

Download the final qualifying results for both classes here (PDF).

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Maddison wins the round Thiele on pole

Qualifying for the stock class is now complete and it is Christoph Thiele that is the class TQ, as confirmed after the 3rd round of qualifying. The big surprise of the round is that Thiele did not win the 5th and final round, that honour went to Jimmy Maddison, the Schumacher racer put in the quickest time of the the day with a 17 lap run in 5:04.01, a second quicker than the best time of Thiele. Jimmy who is running some prototype parts on his Mi3 has now become one of the favourites for the tomorrows event. “Yeh I am really happy. The cars has been great. I had a difficult opening round which put a lot of pressure on me but it came together in the end and I’m very happy with second. I have a lot of people back home supporting me and keeping me motivated and it would be really nice to win tomorrow to reward them.”

Christoph Thiele put in an amazing run in qualifying, winning 4 of the 5 heats, with his lowest position today being 2nd. “I am very very happy. I’m really happy to be here at the DHI Cup, but to be TQ is great. I hope tomorrow I can also do well but for sure Maddison and Hennig will be tough competition in the finals”. Reigning Champion Bastian Hennig from Germany lines up in 3rd spot, just ahead of his Xray team mate Florian Ring.

Stock top 10 qualifying results
1. Christoph Thiele (D) – 17L 305.05 465 [(155) 155 155 155 (153)]
2. Jimmy Maddison (GBR) – 17L 304.01 457 [(116) 150 152 (149) 155]
3. Bastian Hennig (D) – 17L 314.45 455 [151 153 151 (144) (123)]
4. Florian Ring (D) – 17L 308.26 454 [(150) 151 (150) 153 150]
5. Dennis Fadtke (D) – 17L 309.48 453 [(143) 152 (146) 152 149]
6. Tommy Bergfeldt (SWE) – 17L 306.09 450 [147 (143) (143) 151 152]
7. Marcus Horn (D) – 17L 310.02 449 [(121) 148 153 148 (131)]
8. Miek Niemann (D) – 17L 308.44 447 [(120) 149 (142) 147 151]
9. Luke Hobson (GBR) – 16L 301.11 446 [153 (140) 145 (143) 148]
10.Marc Assmann (D) – 17L 310.30 438 [(130) (44) 147 150 141]

Wilck goes fastest to take provisional TQ

In the 4th round of qualifying it was Viktor Wilck that set the fastest overall qualifying time of 19 Laps 5:04.49 to top the qualifying standings with one round left to be run. It was a great run for Tamiya in heat 21 with Groskamp getting 2nd position with 19 Laps in 5:05.76 and Marc Rheinard in 3rd with a 19 Lap run in 5:06.19. The Tamiya team are working very closely together working with each others settings, Groskamp and Rheinard using the same springs as Wilck had done in round 3. Heat 20 had seen young Swedish Xray racer Alexander Hagberg get TQ with a 19 Lap run in 5:06.91, beating out Martin Hudy and Toni Rheinard.

Viktor Wilck and Jilles Groskamp now head the qualifying placings after 4 rounds with Teemu Leino up to 4th with early TQ sitter Steen Graversen down in 4th .

Modified results after 4 rounds
1. Viktor Wilck (SWE) – 19L 304.49 460 [152 153 (151) 155]
2. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 19L 315.23 460 [155 152 (145) 153]
3. Teemu Leino (FIN) – 19L 306.34 459 [153 (147) 155 151]
4. Steen Graversen (DK) – 19L 309.80 456 [149 155 152 (145)]
5. Andy Moore (GBR) – 19L 306.89 454 [151 150 153 (124)]
6. Juho Levanen (FIN) – 19L 312.37 449 [150 151 148 (139)]
7. Alexander Hagberg (SWE) – 19L 306.91 449 [(145) 149 150 150]
8. Marc Rheinard (DE) – 19L 306.19 445 [146 (145) 147 152]
9. Martin Hudy (SLO) – 19L 307.43 444 [(137) 146 149 149]
10.Simo Ahoniemi (FIN) – 19L 309.98 434 [(134) 144 144 146]

Click here (PDF) to view the Mod and stock results after round 4.

Thiele stamps his Authority on Stock

Once again it was the 28 year old SMI and Orcan sponsored racer Christoph Thiele from Germany that won the 4th round of stock qualifying to make it 4 wins from 4 and confirm his place as one of the favourites to take the stock title in tomorrows finals. In 2nd place it is defending Champion Bastian Hennig (below), 10 points behind the confirmed pole sitter, following a bad run in round 4. The 3rd spot now belongs to Florian Ring, making it a trio of Germans at the front of the stock field. Moving from nowhere to 4th is Jimmy Maddison, the IIC winner from the UK, who had a bad first run but now with 3 good results counting and his lowest score dropped he has moved up.

Stock results after 4 rounds
1. Christoph Thiele (DE) – 17L 305.05 465 [(155) 155 155 155]
2. Bastian Hennig (DE) – 17L 314.45 455 [151 153 151 (144)]
3. Florian Ring (DE) – 17L 308.26 454 [(150) 151 150 153]
4. Jimmy Maddison (UK) – 17L 310.07 451 [(116) 150 152 149]
5. Dennis Fadtke (DE) – 17L 309.48 450 [(143) 152 146 152]
6. Marcus Hirn (DE) – 17L 310.02 449 [(121) 148 153 148]
7. Luke Hobson (UK) – 16L 301.11 441 [153 (140) 145 143]
8. Tommy Bergfeldt (S) – 17L 309.68 441 [147 (143) 143 151]
9. Miek Niemann (DE) – 16L 300.99 438 [(120) 149 142 147]
10.Palle Hornum (DK) – 17L 315.03 438 [146 144 148 (142)]

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Teemu Leino goes quickest in Rd3

Teemu Leino has gone quickest overall in mod class and now moves into 3rd place in the overall qualifying standings. With a run of 19 laps in 5min 06.34 he took the round win in front of Andy Moore, who once again set the new TQ in heat 20. In the final heat it was round 2 winner Steen Graversen that set the early pace and was the first driver to drop into the 15 second bracket with a 15.98 second lap. Early on he was followed by the Tamiya pairing of Jilles Groskamp and Viktor Wilck, but Groskamp rolled and this allowed Leino to move in to the second position behind Graversen. Later on in the race with Steen slowing slightly and Leino going quicker, getting a 15.84 second lap on his way to the quickest qualifying run of the event.

After round 3 of qualifying Steen Graversen moves into the provisional pole position in front of Swedish racer Viktor Wilck in 2nd with Teemu Leino now up to 3rd.

Modified Results after 3 rounds
1. Steen Graversen (Denmark) – 19L 309.80 456 [149 155 152]
2. Viktor Wilck (Sweden) – 19L 311.41 456 [152 153 151]
3. Teemu Leino (Finland) – 19L 306.34 455 [153 147 155]
4. Andy Moore (England) – 19L 306.89 454 [151 150 153]
5. Jilles Groskamp (Netherlands) – 19L 315.23 452 [155 152 145]
6. Juho Levanen (Finland) – 19L 312.37 449 [150 151 148]
7. Alexander Hagberg (Sweden) – 19L 309.33 444 [145 149 150]
8. Marc Rheinard (Germany) – 19L 310.69 438 [146 145 147]
9. Martin Hudy (Slovakia) – 19L 309.84 432 [137 146 149]
10.Helge Johannessen (Norway) – 18L 306.73 423 [143 141 139]

Click here (PDF) to download the full results for both modified and stock after 3 rounds.