Free practice started, as track dried out
After having a wet track in the morning, all drivers were able to start free practice at around 11 o`clock. Once the asphalt dried out, the track at Arena33 provided a good amount of traction immediately. With the track crew had to focus on cleaning and drying the curbs, the weather looked dry and solid for the whole Thursday.
With another unsafe weather forecast for Friday, all drivers tried to use todays runs as efficient as possible to prepare themselves and the cars for the upcoming 4 rounds of Qualifying. With controlled practice scheduled for Friday morning, a well-prepared car with a perfect setup will be the key to make it into a good qualifying heat.
Matrix Modified
In the Matrix Modified class we saw a Mugen 1-2 in front, with reigning ETS champion Ronald Volker 0.35 seconds ahead of Mugen Onroad Designer, and former 1:8 scale nitro World Champion Robert Pietsch. With Volker collecting his 3 fastest laps in practice round 5, Robert Pietsch was able to improve in the last session of the day.
Behind the Mugen duo, a great performing Antoine Brunet (Xray) will sit in third position overnight, directly in front of Christopher Krapp (Yokomo). Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix), who suffered from small problems in round 5, is closely behind the Top 4 and will try to improve his 5th place tomorrow.
Yannic Prümper (Yokomo), Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix), Michal Orlowski (Schumacher), Tim Wahl (Awesomatix) and Marco Kaufmann (Xray) are the guys completing the Top 10 in the Matrix Modified class.
We expect a super close Qualifying and we are looking forward to the controlled practice sessions which will be up right before on Friday.
Link to the Results on MyRCM:
https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/de/58419/269596?key=200
Xray ProStock
The Xray ProStock class saw last years race winner Alexandre Duchet (Xray) with the best pace over 3 consecutive laps. He was followed by Enrico Jung, who looked strong after his move to Team Yokomo. Anyway, Duchet`s gap of 0.3 seconds showed that his car is really strong for tomorrow`s start into Qualifying.
Behind Enrico, it was Jan Ratheisky (Xray), Tim Benson (Mugen), Lars Hoppe (ARC) and Max Mächler (Awesomatix) with P2 to P6 in about a tiny little gap of only 0.080 seconds. As this is almost nothing, it shows how close the top guys in the Xray ProStock class are at Arena33.
Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix), Simon Lauter (Awesomatix), Frederik Mikkelsen (Awesomatix) and Alex Kunkler completed the Top 10.
Link to the Results on MyRCM:
https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/de/58419/269589?key=200
Hobbywing Frontwheel
Fastest in the very competitive FWD class was Steven Olsen who nailed his fastest 3 consecutive laps in the sixth and last practice run in the evening. He was 0.15 seconds ahead of a triple pack with Henrik Heitsch, Stefan Schulz and Kevin Sparbier.
Olsen, who TQ`ed the first ever ETS FWD race 2019 in Vienna, will try everything to keep up the pace against the best FWD drivers of last season including current champion Heitsch. Behind them, the Top 10 were completed by Patrick Müller, Jaques Libar, Caspar Morgen, Manuel Stankowitz, Sören Sparbier and Karsten Bartsch.
Link to the Results on MyRCM:
https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/de/58419/269595?key=200
Stock 17.5
The free practice sessions of the 17.5 Stock division included almost every top driver of the class from last season. Only Luis Moreno and Tony Mur were not able to make the trip from Spain (Covid-19 restrictions).
After today`s free practice it is a very strong looking Dominik Reile with a super small gap of 0.052 seconds in front of the current 17.5 Stock champion Daniel Pöhlmann. Another 0.012 seconds back – last years Arena33 race winner Thomas Bemmerl. Felix Schneider and Maximilian Unterschütz completed the Top 5, still being in striking distance to the Top 3.
The Top 10 were completed by Joachim Altenhof, Dominik Ruf, David Kuschnarew, Klaus Waldmann and Niclas Storm.
Link to the Results on MyRCM:
https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/de/58419/269593?key=200
Infinity 40+ Masters
“Old but gold” as we say here at the ETS about the class for the guys with an age above 40. In the last years, the 40+ Masters class was totally in the hands of Alexander Stocker. He won every single race since the start of the class at the ETS and earned some well-deserved ETS titles. With Alex not racing here at Arena33 this weekend, we will see a different winner on Sunday – that`s for sure.
In todays free practice Caspar Morgen impressed with the fastest 3 consecutive laps, leading the field into Friday. With a gap of 0.7 seconds Mirco Thalheimer is in the hunt, followed by Manuel Stankowitz, Werner Schmitzer and Ulrich Dinger who completed the Top 5 today.
Behind them we will see an intense fight for the A-Main spots which are occupied by Thorsten Baggendorf, Ingo Braun, Christian Müller, Christian Drießle and Karl-Heinz Moritz who is rounding up the overnight Top 10.
Link to the Results on MyRCM:
https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/de/58419/269594?key=200
Scorpion Formula
The Scorpion Formula class saw the reigning champion David Ehrbar leading with the fastest car on track, followed by his all-time Formula rival Jan Ratheisky. As mentioned in our ETS preview report, these two drivers are the guys to beat for everybody who wants to win a race in the F1 class at the ETS. David was a little quicker (compared to Jan) in all practice rounds and it will be exciting to see if Jan can find something to get closer in Qualifying.
Behind the leading duo, Renè Kölbel, Olivier Bultynck, Tim Benson, Herbert Weber, Michal Wojcik, Patrick Sadrinna, Chris Grenz and Luka Jovicic made it into the Top 10 of our Formula class.Will David and Jan control the field in Qualifying, or can Olivier and Renè challenge them in the fight for the win?
Link to the Results on MyRCM:
https://www.myrcm.ch/myrcm/report/de/58419/269592?key=200
Friday forecast
Friday morning will see an hour of open practice on track for all the guys who were not able to be with us on Thursday. After that, there will be another round of free practice for everybody. With the expectation of a slightly slower track in the morning (after some expected rain showers in the night), the 6 rounds of today`s free practice seem to be really close to the overall free practice result we will see tomorrow.
With all cars very close together on the timing sheets, controlled practice and qualifying should be something you should not miss.
Follow us during the whole weekend and check out the LIVE section on our website. There you find the livestreaming from ETS RD1 Season #14 2021/22 at Arena33 in Andernach / GER via pullstart.tv!
