Following on from the bad reception that the recent EFRA rule clarification received, which stated that pit stops would become mandatory in 7 minute qualifying heats, EFRA 1/10th section chairman Franky Noens has retracted the clarification. This means the rule will remain as it was originally drafted.
Click here to read the full statement
Day one of the Polish round of the Much More backed Euro Touring Series has come to close and in the final practice session it was Trinity team driver Paul Lemieux who posted the fastest lap time, the third fastest lap of the day. The Xray driver posted an 11.11 second lap to top the session from Andy Moore who also improved with a 11.16. Lemieux says he is pretty happy with his car but admits that he needs a good nights sleep, the long 20 hour three stop flight from Milwaukee now catching up with him. The US Champion is confident that his pace will allow him to battle for TQ honours come qualifying.
Read the full report on the ETS site here.
The third round of the Much More backed 2008/2009 Euro Touring Series has arrived in Poland where a World Class entry has descended on the capital city Warsaw. After a three month break, the ETS reaches its mid point with defending Champion Jilles Groskamp facing his toughest line up so far in the second edition of the series. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver won Round 2 in Hungary back in December and leads the current standings from fellow countryman Bart Wubben who took a podium finish at last weekend’s 1:12 Stock Euros.
Read the full report on the ETS site here.
Multiple US National Champion Josh Cyrul has been in touch to let us know that he has departed Motonica, a manufacturer with which he has much success in the past year. Josh had to the following to say about the move:
Last year saw wins at the Motonica GP, Byron’s Challenge and Great Lakes Challenge with Motonica but as we tried to work into 2009 we weren’t able to come to an agreement to continue on so I have decided to move on to find a better solution for the 2009 season. I would like to thank Motonica and especially Garen at Motonica USA for all the hard work and effort. I wish them the best of luck and sucess with their new cars in 2009 and beyond. Soon, I should have details of my new sponsor looking forward to the 2009 season and World Championships.
The first round of the Italian regionals took place last weekend in Paternò, and it was multiple Italian national winner Giusepppe D’angelo that took the win. Racing for his new team with Mugen Seiki, SM engines and Matrix tyres he took the win from former European B Champion Alessio Mazzeo, the Serpent driver racing for the first time with his new JP Racing powerplant, having previously raced for Max Power. The battle for 2nd was a close one and Mazzeo just beat Novarossi powered Team Magic driver Raimondo Gilletti who ended up in 3rd.
ABEC35 have signed three Thai drivers to their team during the recent TITC race. The drivers, Meen V., Tanit K., Charlee P. are not just impressive drivers but are also good ambassadors for the sport. They will be using the company’s full line of Type-X ceramic bearings, ceramic balls, thrust bearings and engine bearings during 2009. Meen V. and Charlee P. finished 5th and 10th in 1/10 touring A main modified class. Tanit K. finished 5th in 1/10 touring B main modified class, and TQ’d & won overall in 1/10 2WD mini class (M chassis) ahead of Atsushi Hara and Marc Rheinard. According to these drivers, the Type-X bearings really make a difference giving smoother performance, stronger acceleration and the main advantage being that the car rolls further when off throttle.
Source: ABEC35 [abec35.com]
Last weekend, the MACH indoor track in Haarlem, The Netherlands, played host to the European 1/12th scale Stock Spec Championship, an event that had a last minute change of venue to Haarlem and something that the well organised club took in their stride. The 62 racers that attended the event where presented with a tight and technical track on new good quality carpet and which offered little rest throughout the lap, with the drivers having to contend with fast sweepers, tight hairpins and a tricky right left chicane in the centre of the track. Following a day of practice on the Friday, the first qualifying round of 6 was run and immediately it looked like German Corally racer Marc Fisher was the man to beat, setting a new lap record and ending up heading the time sheets from Xray driver Bart Wubben in 2nd and Serpent S120 developer Markus Mobers sitting in 3rd.
Following some apparent confusion over the new EFRA ruling that sees the length of European Championship and Grand Prix qualification heats to 7 minutes, EFRA 1/10th section chairman Franky Noens has issued a clarification on the rule 2.4 of these new guidelines. The updated ruling states that ‘a pitstop, refuelling is mandatory’ in a 7 minute heat, wording that was not initially included in the rule.
Click here to read the full clarification
