Marc Rheinard leads ETS Daun after day 1
The first full day of Round 2 of the Euro Touring Series is taking place in Daun, Germany, this weekend. With an additional practice day added on Thursday due to the 410+ entry count, the event officially got underway on Friday with Seeding Practice and the opening two Qualifying rounds. After the two rounds were completed late on Friday evening, it is Marc Rheinard who sits atop the standings with a TQ in the opening qualifier, backed up by a second in Q2. The driver, now officially working for and representing Tonisport, is piloting an Awesomatix chassis this weekend with support from the factory team. Obviously happy to be back on top of the standings following being dismissed by Infinity just before Christmas, the multi-time World Champion will have his work cut out for him tomorrow to remain at the top of the standings.
Fellow German, Ronald Volker, holds second overall overnight, with a third place in the first round, after he rolled his car off the track kerbs whilst leading, followed up by the fastest time in the second round. Ronald’s Yokomo team mate, Christopher Krapp, sits in third place with a fifth and third place scores to make it all Germans in the top three at the end of Friday. The Xray pairing of defending ETS champion Bruno Coelho and Alexander Hagberg are in fourth and fifth places currently; the drivers who were dominant at the opening round of the championship in Vienna last October seeming to struggle a little as the grip increased throughout the day. Awesomatix’s Freddy Sudhoff sits in sixth, ahead of Japanese Serpent talent Yugo Nagashima, whilst the top ten is rounded out by Patrick Gollner (Xray), Eric Dankel (Mugen) and Loic Jasmin (Yokomo).
Over in the Pro Stock class, Jan Ratheisky made it a clean sweep with two TQ runs, to head Lukas Ellerbrock and Ollie Bultynck in the top three. Behind, Alexandre Duchet holds fourth after Friday’s action, whilst Leo Arnold, who took second in Q2, is fifth overall after a number of errors in Q1. Ratheisky also leads the Formula division with two TQ times, ahead of long-time rival David Ehrbar and Ollie Bultnyck sitting in another third place overnight. Front Wheel Drive is the largest class at this event, with close to 100 entries, and long-time ETS supporter Henrik Heitsch had a perfect start to qualifying, setting the fastest times in both rounds. He leads the way from Marwin Riedelbauch and Jan Gehrig. The Masters class has been dominated by Alexander Stocker, both last season and this, and whilst he officially leads after today’s two rounds, an error-filled Q2 has allowed the field to close up, with Werner Schmitzer second and Gregor Konig in third after Friday. Finally, the 17.5 Stock class saw Joachim Altenhof take the first round, before Alexander Muller took Q2. Joachim has a second place from Q2 to lead at this point, with Muller second and Marwin Riedelbauch doubling-up on classes and holding third overall.
Two more rounds of qualifying take place on Saturday, before the day concludes with the first round of the finals.
Source: ETS [eurorcseries.com]
