It was third time lucky for Jilles Groskamp as he converted his third European TQ position into overall victory at the 2009 EFRA Electric Touring European Championships to claim his first ever European title with another dominant performance in the third leg of the A-Main here in Luxembourg.
Full report to follow.
After his dramas in the opening leg Top Qualifier Jilles Groskamp made it look easy in the second to take the win over Ronald Volker. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver lead from start to finish on the dry track with the only challenge coming from his teammate Wilck but that ended when the Swede hit tyre problems. There was a few tense moments for Groskamp after the race when scrutineers found one of the four tyres on his TRF416WE was registered to title rival Volker. Under the rules this would have meant exclusion for the Dutch driver but the Yokomo team came to the rescue and produced all of the tyres registered to their star driver proving Groskamp had done no wrong and the error was down to the incorrect marking of the tyres by officials. Asked about the run Groskamp replied, ‘Tyre worked so car was great.’
Taking second Volker said his car was a little more difficult to drive this time round and it was hard to follow Groskamp and Wilck. The German was handed second when Wilck spun at the end of the straight but the Team Yokomo driver spun himself in the same spot next time round. Luckily for him Wilck who was struggling with his tyres did the same and he was able to keep the position to put himself in contention for the title going into the final leg.
Leg 1 winner and the defending champion here in Luxembourg Marc Rheinard took third for the round. Contact with Losi driver Lucas Urbain at the start meant he couldn’t repeat his blistering Leg 1 start but the German said a new set of tyres had made his car very difficult to drive. One of four drivers left in the hunt for the title, the World Champion said, ‘the Final is going to be a lottery’. Struggling home in fourth ending his hopes of a first European title Wilck’s response to his tyre problem was simple, ‘what can I say’. Austrian Hupo Honigl, the fourth driver in with a chance of the title, finished fifth with Urbain’s Losi completing the Top 6.
Leg 2 results
1. Groskamp Jilles – 17 laps in 5:05.099
2. Völker Ronald – 17 laps in 5:08.014
3. Rheinard Marc – 17 laps in 5:10.870
4. Wilck Viktor – 17 laps in 5:11.193
5. Hönigl Hubert – 17 laps in 5:12.659
6. Urbain Lucas – 17 laps in 5:14.578
7. Graversen Steen – 17 laps in 5:17.418
8. Krapp Christopher – 17 laps in 5:17.610
9. Hagberg Alexander – 12 laps in 3:37.399
10.Prümper Yannic – 11 laps in 3:25.411
Full results from the event can be found here.
View our event image gallery here.
Shown to us earlier in the week by Oscar Jansen of Team Orion, but asked not to publish it until today, is the company’s all new brushless competition motor called the Vortex Race 2010. Starting with a clean sheet of paper the new motor sports a shorter can than the previous version and is now made from a much thicker material allowing for better heat dissipation. Other new features include high speed, small diameter, bearings that along with a new smaller diameter rotor shaft ensures higher RPM. The sensor unit has also been changed with the connector for the cable moved to the centre of the motor, which not only keeps the wire away from getting caught while on track, but allows a simple and wide adjustment of the timing. The changes don’t stop there, with an extra thick wire connector ring and solder tabs for getting the power from the ESC to the motor with less resistance, and the solder tabs are now also open ended for easier soldering of the wires to the motor.
Also new in the pitlane is the latest version of the Robitronic Avid touring car which is due for general release later this year. The car which is still in development is almost completely new with new chassis plate, top deck, front and rear bulkheads and the car is now much lower than the previous version for better centre of gravity.
View our event image gallery here.
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.
View our event image gallery here.