Xray Racing Series Germany Rd4 – Report
The fourth and final round of the 2018/19 Xray Racing Series Germany was held at the Arena33 in Andernach recently. 66 drivers had made their entry for the fourth round of the series and which is a new all-time high with a total of 169 drivers attending the whole season. The weekend kicked off with the official presentation of the new Xray T4F 1/10th FWD touring car with the following race being won by Oliver Kaufmann in front of Ronny Hoffmann and Andreas Jacob. In the Touring Car Stock class, run with 13.5T Hudy motors and Hudy C3 hand-out tyres, Tobias Hoefflin (Xray) surprised with the best qualifying time. Melvin Diekmann came in 2nd, four tenths of a second behind, with Jannick Namyslo (Xray) coming in 3rd. As much as Diekmann fought and stuck to the rear of Hoefflin’s car, Hoefflin prevailed in all three finals and, after spectacular races, relegated Diekmann to 2nd overall. Namyslo completed the podium.
The best 40+ driver was Joerg Baldes, the best youth driver Max Montermann and the best junior eight-year-old Thilo Baldes. The XRS title in the touring car class (29 participants) went to Marc Stuebben with Joerg Baldes 2nd and Philipp Kremer 3rd. Behind Jens Haller in 4th place overall, the best youth driver Lukas Fecher and the best junior Thilo Baldes finished 5th and 6th respectively.
In keeping with the presentation of the new Xray T4F, FWD was the strongest class in the XRS finals. In qualifying, Oliver Kaufmann retained the upper hand over Jacques Libar, who had built up his car only during training day, with a lead of around one second. Xray development driver Harald Schmittgen took the 3rd position. Destiny pilot Kaufmann won the first final even more confidently ahead of Libar and Schmittgen. In the second final Libar turned the tables, took the lead in the first lap and never looked back to take the win in front of Kaufmann and Schmittgen in 2nd and 3rd. That meant that the third final had to decide. This time Libar passed Kaufmann in the second lap, but from the seventh lap MTS pilot Henrik Heitsch came back as the new front runner. While he narrowly saved the victory, Kaufmann was able to pass Libar again in the penultimate lap. The 2nd place was enough for Kaufmann to catch the day’s victory ahead of the tied Libar. With one final win, Heitsch as overall 3rd denied Schmittgen the podium. Harald Schmittgen was honored as champion in the FWD class (27 participants) and best 40+ driver ahead of Dirk Keller and his wife Bianca Schmittgen.
In the Formula class, Daniel Schober not only conquered the clear pole position, but also celebrated two final wins in the fight for the day’s overall victory against Michal Milanowicz. Johannes Fecher jumped onto the podium as 3rd, making it an Xray 1-2-3. Overall and for the third time Daniel Schober won the XRS title in the Formula class. Johannes Fecher became 2nd and best youngster, followed by Alexander Olah as the best 40+ pilot.
In 1/12th Stock, Jacques Libar took pole position with a one-lap advantage and was also able to prevail with at least one lap advantage in all three final races. With two second places, Niklas Maehrle took 2nd overall ahead of 40+ driver Heinz Dewald. The XRS title in the 1/12th Stock class went to Alexander Seitter, who was also the best 40+ driver. 2nd place went to Niklas Maehrle ahead of Jacques Libar.
The class 1/12 GT experienced an equally astonishing and pleasing development which 15 participants at the final round. Alexander Seitter took pole position, followed by Benedikt Neubert and Haroun Schobner. After being out of contention in the first final, Seitter (Xray) came under pressure, but prevailed twice in the finals two and three, earning a deserved overall win in the class. With his victory in the first final, Schobner (Godspeed) laid the foundation for 2nd overall, while Neubert (Roche) came in 3rd on the podium. The XRS championship in the 1/12th GT class (22 participants) was taken by Haroun Schobner ahead of Benedikt Neubert and Alexander Olah. As the best junior, Jody Mueller finished 5th behind Rene Meissen.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
