April 26, 2019

Q1 goes to Leo Arnold

Continuing on where he left off in timed practice Leo Arnold took the opening qualifier in Bologna ahead of the closely matched Infinity pairing of Jilles Groskamp and Teemu Leino. Alessio Mazzeo was 4th, despite running out of fuel, with Thilo Todtmann putting in a clean 4-minutes to take 5th. Describing his run as ‘pretty clean’ Arnold said he had only one slide and continued to compliment his new Xray saying the ‘car was perfect’, Xray seeming to make a big leap in performance with their 2019 car. Commenting that he needs ‘just one or two more good runs’ the French man’s plan for tomorrow’s remaining 3 qualifiers is to ‘leave the car as is’.

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April 26, 2019

Pietsch ends timed practice as top seed

Despite being one of only 3 drivers in the top 20 not to improve their time in the final timed practice session Robert Pietsch will go into qualifying as top seed. While the advantage he held after the opening practice was substantial, that gap was all but eroded away by the chasing pack with Dario Balestri putting in a much improved run to end up in 2nd just 1 tenth back. The World Champion despite being fast said his car was much too nervous and while it was not bad it was still not perfect. Dominic Greiner ended up in 3rd putting his improvement down to his driving and some tweaks to the OS engine in his Serpent and going into qualifying needs to make the car a bit more stable to have a good 4 minute pace. Despite also improving Simon Kurzbuch dropped 2 places to complete practice in 4th, just ahead of Lamberto Collari in 5th. In the 40+ class it was veteran Italian racer Stefano Solaroli who headed practice by a substantial 9 tenths over 3 laps followed by German Shepherd driver Andreas Giesa in 2nd with Austrian Rudi Scherer 3rd, while reigning champion Arie Manten and Alain Levy complete the top 5.

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April 26, 2019

Leo Arnold tops 1/10th seeding at ENS season opener

Leo Arnold is top seed for the 1/10th scale class at the ENS season opener in Bologna, the Xray driver improving on his CP1 time to go over 2 tenths quicker in his 2nd timed run. The Frenchman put his improvement down to changing to a shorter first gear which improved the drivability of his NT1. His team mate Alessio Mazzeo also improved his time but will stay as 3rd seed, behind Teemu Leino who failed to improve in the 2nd session having tried a different body shell but finding it much slower. Jilles Groskamp who was continuing experimenting with setup took 3rd in CP2 but being slightly slower than his CP1 time he ended practice 4th and will now revert to his setup from the final free practice session. The Shepherd trio of Melvin Diekmann, Eduardo Escandon and Thilo Todtmann complete the top 7 after practice.

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April 26, 2019

Robert Pietsch heads first timed practice by large margin

In the opening timed practice for the 1/8th scale class it was former world champion Robert Pietsch who was the clear leader, the Mugen driver some 5 tenths up on his nearest rival over 3 laps. Francesco Tironi was the best of the rest, the Italian driver heading another former World Champion Simon Kurzbuch in 3rd, with Andrea Pirani and current World Champion Dario Balestri completing the top 5. Asked about his rather large advantage on his rivals, the German put it down to a number of factors such as his good working relationship with his mechanic and new engines from sponsor OS which he says has more power which together makes for a better overall package. Looking ahead he doesn’t plan to make any changes to his Mugen, instead focusing on his driving saying ‘the track is easy, but it also very easy to push too much and go wide, losing a lot of time’, continuing ‘my main focus is stay calm and drive smoothly’.

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April 26, 2019

Teemu Leino tops CP1 in Bologna

Teemu Leino has topped the first of two controlled practice sessions here in Bologna for the 1/10th class, the Infinity driver making up one of a very close trio that was competed by the Xray pairing of Alessio Mazzeo and Leo Arnold. Split by less than 7/100ths, behind the top 3 was reigning class champion Jilles Groskamp, followed by the Shepherd trio of Melvin Diekmann, Thilo Todtmann and Eduardo Escandon completing the top 7 with the difference between first to seventh less than a second over 3-consecutive laps. Asked about how his practice has been so far, Leino simply said ‘good’, before elaborating saying that they have changed the car every run, but now it is the best it has been. Feeling there is still a little bit still to come he said his IF15 is very easy to drive and the setup they have is perfect for the final.

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April 8, 2019

Sudhoff finally joins ETS winners club

He has come close in the past but today Freddy Sudhoff delivered on years of promise to finally take his first ETS win and add his name to the championship’s exclusive Winner’s Role of Honour. Having secured his first ever TQ yesterday in Spain, the Awesomatix driver converted that into his first win with a repeat dominant performance in A2, again ahead of Ronald Volker.  A hugely popular win for ‘Fabulous Freddy’, the Round 3 win also marks the first for Awesomatix in touring car’s premiere category and puts their long time lead driver now firmly in title contention.  The first outdoor races of the ETS season, Sudhoff’s success is also a significant boost for the Russian brand who previously struggled against their rivals on asphalt.  Finishing runner-up at the Asoger RC track today, Volker retains his championship lead but it is down to a single point with Sudhoff’s maximum points haul  moving him up to second spot.  With reigning champion Bruno Coelho having a tough weekend following his win at the previous round, ending up 7th, the podium was completed by Viktor Wilck ahead of Infinity team-mate Marc Rheinard.

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April 7, 2019

Sudhoff dominates A1 at ETS Spain

Freddy Sudhoff put in a dominant performance in the opening A-Main this morning at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series. Starting from a career first TQ, the Awesomatix driver immediately pulled clear of the field in the cold conditions helped by a slow starting Ronald Volker from second on the grid who stacked the field up behind him.  Marc Rheinard would be the only one to find away passed the Yokomo, driving around the outside of his fellow countryman. Setting about chasing down Sudhoff, Rheinard would unexplainably spin off the track at the loop, dropping him back into the clutches of Volker and Christopher Krapp with a second spin at the end of the straight allowing both to go by to battle it out for second as Rheinard struggled with his car and dropped to last. Afterwards the Infinity driver said everything on the car appeared fine so the only other explanation he could think off was a possible issue with his set of tyres.  Seeing off the challenge of his team-mate Krapp, Volker would hold onto second with Akio Sobue fourth, almost 3-seconds back.

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April 6, 2019

Sudhoff claims first ever ETS TQ in Spain

Freddy Sudhoff is the Top Qualifier at Round 3 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Spain.  The Awesomatix driver claimed both his and his team’s first ever ETS TQ when he topped Q2 this evening in Madrid.  With bad weather causing qualifying at the Asoger RC track to be reduced to just two rounds, Sudhoff would take advantage of improved track conditions to top the Q1 TQ time of Ronald Volker by seven & a half seconds.  With the Yokomo driver starting 2nd on the grid, a P2 in both rounds gives Marc Rheinard 3rd in the grid ahead of his Infinity team-mate Viktor Wilck.  For Bruno Coelho, the second qualifier saw another mistake from the reigning champion and the Xray driver will start 5th with team-mate & last year’s winner Alexander Hagberg facing an even tougher prospect tomorrow starting from P10.

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