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Groskamp wins ETS Luxembourg

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 09:51 AM PDT

Jilles Groskamp has won the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg, the event marking the 50th running of a round of the world famous championship. An instrumental supporter of the championship in its founding years and becoming its inaugural champion, the win is only the 2012 World Champions’ 5th and his first since winning a second ETS title in 2009. Behind the Infinity driver, Marc Rheinard kept his title hopes alive by finishing second ahead of Bruno Coelho who completed the podium at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”. Having initially thought his incident with Groskamp in A2 had ended his quest for a 6th consecutive title, an unexpected fourth overall after winning A3 keeps Ronald Volker in with an outside chance of retaining his crown.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

Groskamp wins ETS Luxembourg

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 09:49 AM PDT

Jilles Groskamp has won the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg, the event marking the 50th running of a round of the world famous championship. An instrumental supporter of the championship in its founding years and becoming its inaugural champion, the win is only the 2012 World Champions’ 5th and his first since winning a second ETS title in 2009. Behind the Infinity driver, Marc Rheinard kept his title hopes alive by finishing second ahead of Bruno Coelho who completed the podium at Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”. Having initially thought his incident with Groskamp in A2 had ended his quest for a 6th consecutive title, an unexpected fourth overall after winning A3 keeps Ronald Volker in with an outside chance of retaining his crown.

‘I wanted to make a nice 3rd final and finish the race in a nice way. It’s nice to win at ETS again’, was how Groskamp summed up his first win in the championship in 7 years. His first ETS outing the season, the Dutch driver who won his 2009 European Championship title at the same track added, ‘I feel especially bad for Ronald and that I ruined his championship and I really apologise for that. I didn’t know it as I am not in the championship’. Recalling A3 he said, ‘I didn’t want to challenge Ronald and my main focus was on Marc but when he rolled I knew the pressure was off but then I flipped but it was OK, I knew I still had the overall win’. As his car lay upside down Coelho would collect it causing the body shell to invert which is how he would finish the race losing a place to Rheinard. Commenting on his performance over the event having chosen to run an Xray chassis, he said, ‘all weekend the car has been really good for me and it’s a good option for the World Championship’. Set to also race at the ETS season finale, with Infinity planning to have its own car for next season, he plans to also bring a Tamiya to the Hudy Arena event saying ‘I guess the Xray will be fast there as it’s their own track but Marc’s car looks good so I will try one’.

‘I knew I had to win to have a chance of overall victory today. It didn’t happen but 2nd overall is still OK, we had the pace and the car was good’, was how Rheinard summed up the day. Having clashed with Coelho in A2, the German complimented his rival saying, ‘Bruno made a nice pass on me’ but the Portuguese driver would hand it back with a mistake later in the race. In third he said he ‘tried to catch Groskamp saying ‘Jilles was not that fast’ but catching the curbing and rolling his Muchmore powered TRF419X he said his chance of the overall win was gone. While today’s result reduces his deficit in the championship from 5 to 4 points, Rheinard said his options for the the season finale very straight forward, ‘I have to TQ and win the last one’.

With today’s result moving him one step closer to the title, Coelho’s biggest concern after A3 was to work out the various scenarios based on either of his rivals winning at the Hudy Arena. Having already given Xray their first Euro Offroad Series title this year and now looking to give them their first ETS Modified title, second today would have done that but he said after getting caught in mistakes of both Rheinard and Groskamp in A3 ‘there was no chance to get him’, him being Volker. With his Hobbywing powered T4 ‘again really impressive’ he would first lose time when Rheinard spun in the Laguna Seca section and he collected him and then again later when Groskamp rolled and made heavy contact with his car, both surviving to finish the race. Having won in Slovakia last year and needing only a second in case either of his rivals win to lift the title, both Rheinard & Volker agree given the points scenario and that the title is to be decided at the track where his car was developed that he already has one hand on the champion’s trophy.

‘I was surprised to end up 4th overall with a 1 (in A3) and a 7 (in A1). I thought before A3 I was out of the championship and that I couldn’t even make Top 5 this event. I didn’t care too much about A3’, said Volker. While a TQ and win at Round 6 could secure him the title, the TQ the key as he would have one more than Coelho should it go to a tie breaker, he said ‘I’m still very disappointed because it is not in my own hands anymore like I was hoping for yesterday’. He concluded, ‘there is a little chance and I know what I have got to do’.

With the Xray Pro Stock and Serpent Formula winners decided in A2, the third A-Main would determine the rest of the podium. Belgian Olivier Bultynck would win both encounters to finish runner-up to Lars Hoppe in Pro Stock and David Ehrbar in Formula, Jacques Libar adding local interest to the podium with third. In Pro Stock after a great A3 battle with the Schumacher of Nicolai Lindegaard, Tamiya driver Christian Donath would take the final step on the podium.

View the complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – Modified A-main Leg 3

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 07:40 AM PDT

Video – Pro Stock A-main Leg 3

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 07:24 AM PDT

Video – Formula A-main Leg 3

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 07:09 AM PDT

Rheinard wins Controversial A2

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 05:47 AM PDT

Marc Rheinard has won a controversial second A-Main at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg, the race determined by two key incidents the first of which means we will see the crowning of a new ETS champion for Season #9. A better first lap than A1, it was the second lap when the race would be turned on its head. With Top Qualifier Ronald Volker leading from Jilles Groskamp, as the pack exited the Laguna Seca section for a second time the reigning champion would get hit by Groskamp sending the Yokomo driver back to last as the Dutch continued as the new leader. Moments later the second incident would see Bruno Coelho attempt a pass on Rheinard, but there would be contact with the championship leader’s Xray flying off the track. No penalties called for either incident, Groskamp would lead from Rheinard before a spin from the Infinity driver allowed the Tamiya driver into a lead he would hold to the finish. With Coelho and Volker finishing 6th and 10th respectively it would be Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who would benefit most to finish 3rd behind Groskamp.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

Rheinard wins Controversial A2

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 05:43 AM PDT

Marc Rheinard has won a controversial second A-Main at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg, the race determined by two key incidents the first of which means we will see the crowning of a new ETS champion for Season #9. A better first lap than A1, it was the second lap when the race would be turned on its head. With Top Qualifier Ronald Volker leading from Jilles Groskamp, as the pack exited the Laguna Seca section for a second time the reigning champion would get hit by Groskamp sending the Yokomo driver back to last as the Dutch continued as the new leader. Moments later the second incident would see Bruno Coelho attempt a pass on Rheinard, but there would be contact with the championship leader’s Xray flying off the track. No penalties called for either incident, Groskamp would lead from Rheinard before a spin from the Infinity driver allowed the Tamiya driver into a lead he would hold to the finish. With Coelho and Volker finishing 6th and 10th respectively it would be Xray’s Alexander Hagberg who would benefit most to finish 3rd behind Groskamp.

‘It was side by side in my opinion’, was Rheinard’s reaction to his incident with Coelho. Having got caught up in Volker’s first lap spin in A1, he continued, ‘It was a pretty ok start for all of us until Jilles & Ronald touched which gave me second coming onto the straight. Then Bruno tried to pass me on the inside at the end of the straight. I kept my line and we touched and for me it wasn’t my fault’. Taking the lead on the next lap after Groskamp spun his Xray he said once his former team-mate spun again having caught him back up ‘it was easy to the end’.

‘I feel bad about the second final, I’m not sure what exactly happened’, said Groskamp afterwards. Trying to explain the incident with Volker he said, ‘He took a different line, I didn’t even take the opportunity to pass. It was a racing incident but I am angry with myself for what happened and I’m really sorry to Ronald’. Commenting the rest of the race, the former World Champion said, ‘I didn’t want to win the race after what happened, I drove pretty bad afterwards’. He continued, ‘I want the race to be decided fair & square in the third final’.

Visibly upset by the incident, Volker said, ‘This decided the championship, I’m out’. Having been chasing a sixth consecutive ETS Modified title, he continued, ‘after the trouble in A1 with tyres of course I didn’t drive 110% on the first lap but I felt my car was good to win but Jilles didn’t let me’. He added, ‘The line I drove is always the one I drive and he took me out badly from behind. Jilles is know for good sportsmanship so I feel very disappointed by this and the fact he yelled at me that it was my fault. It also frustrates me no stop & go was given. When it’s side by side I understand it’s difficult but this wasn’t even close to having any doubts over it’. Volker concluded, ‘it was definitely a tyre issue in A1 as my car felt great and my fastest lap proves this incident cost me the chance for the championship’.

Asked for his view of the race Coelho replied, ‘It easy to explain. I was taken out by Rheinard’. He continued, ‘We were fighting for 3rd and I was overtaking him in the inside. He had the curb on the right side but decided to turn left, maybe he had radio problems’. The Portuguese driver added, ‘the crash was so big I ended up in the middle of the straight and my race was done’.

Having had a massive off at the end of the straight in A1 that ‘completely destroyed’ his car when a rear tyre came unglued, Hagberg was happy to finish third. Having to rebuild his car, the factory Xray driver said, ‘it felt weird’ in A2 adding he was ‘not 100% sure it’s fixed but I was still able to defend my position’. The European Champion added ‘I benefited from the drama up front and maybe I can do the same in the next one and finish up front’. Behind the Swede, Freddy Südhoff would again finish 4th. Having missed A1 due to work, local star Lucas Urbain would complete the Top 5 with his VBC from 7th on the grid.

In Pro Stock and Formula, there would be no dramas for the A1 winners as they repeated their earlier successes to sew up early the overall wins in Luxembourg. In the Xray supported touring car class Lars Hoppe claimed his first ETS win of the season with a perfect race from the TQ. David Ehrbar would do the same thing in the Serpent Formula class to also claim his first win of the season becoming only the second winner of Season #9, newly crowned & absent champion Jan Ratheisky having won the previous four encounters.

View the complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – Modified A-main Leg 2

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 05:17 AM PDT

Video – Pro Stock A-main Leg 2

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 05:03 AM PDT

Video – Formula A-main Leg 2

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 04:46 AM PDT

Groskamp takes A1 from Coelho

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 02:19 AM PDT

Jilles Groskamp has won the opening A-Main at the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg. Starting from second on the grid the Team Infinity driver took an early lead when Top Qualifier Ronald Volker did a 360 on the opening lap with Marc Rheinard falling victim to the out of shape Yokomo. With this allowing Bruno Coelho through to 2nd, the championship leader would close the gap on Groskamp in the closing laps but each time he looked set to mount a challenge he would make a small error. Getting by Volker on his third attempt, the arch rivals making contact each time, Rheinard would recover to finish 3rd while Volker would end up seventh.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

Groskamp takes A1 from Coelho

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 02:13 AM PDT

Jilles Groskamp has won the opening A-Main at the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg. Starting from second on the grid the Team Infinity driver took an early lead when Top Qualifier Ronald Volker did a 360 on the opening lap with Marc Rheinard falling victim to the out of shape Yokomo. With this allowing Bruno Coelho through to 2nd, the championship leader would close the gap on Groskamp in the closing laps but each time he looked set to mount a challenge he would make a small error. Getting by Volker on his third attempt, the arch rivals making contact each time, Rheinard would recover to finish 3rd while Volker would end up seventh.

‘Same as last year, now I have to keep it together’, was Groskamp’s reaction to A1 referring to last year when he won the opening A-Main but then rolled in A2. The Dutch ace, who is running an Xray chassis in Luxembourg, said, ‘Unlike Ronald I had good grip from the start and when he spun I was able to get around him but Marc hit him giving me an early break’. Setting the fastest lap of the race on his 3rd lap, the 2012 World Champion continued, ‘I then just tried to maintain the gap to Bruno but I had one moment when I lost the rear so was careful after that’. His first ETS outing this season he added, ‘It was nice to bring it home’.

‘Not so bad after starting from 4th’ was Coelho view on finishing second. The Xray driver continued, ‘there was trouble in front and I was able to pass Ronald & Marc but Jilles pulled away over the first four laps’. Describing his T4 as ‘a little loose in the beginning’ he said when it came in he was able to close but on both attempts to set-up a pass ‘(he) made mistakes and touched the curbs’. With his car ‘much better than yesterday’, last year’s race winner said they just need to ‘try to improve (the car) for the start of the race’.

Showing just why he is a four time World Champion with the passes he made on his recovery back through the field, Rheinard said, ‘my car felt pretty good but I was unlucky Ronald spun and my car rolled over. It was not his fault’. Making his way back to the the top, the Tamiya driver said “I knew Ronald’s car was not good but I still lost too much time fighting to get by him’. Eventually getting by on the front straight when they glanced off each other and Volker spun out, he said by ‘it was too late to catch the others’. Looking to A2 Rheinard said, ‘I’m pretty sure I can fight for the win if I can get a normal start’. Outside the Top 3, Freddy Sudhoff would take his Awesomatix to fourth ahead of Serpent’s Viktor Wilck and the Capricorn of Marc Fischer. For P5 starter Alexander Hagberg his race would end with a huge bang as his Xray failed to turn into the sweeper at the end of the main straight.

‘I have no idea why but I had zero traction’, was how Volker summed up a difficult A1. The reigning champion added, ‘at a quick glance the car looks fine so I can only blame the set of tyres’. With no balance in the car he added, ‘It was bad for the entire race and was just drifting around’. With A-Main drivers having a new set of tyres at their disposal for each of the 3 mains, he said hopefully the next set will be good adding ‘if we do change anything on the car it will be only small as the car worked all the times before’.

In the Xray Pro Stock class there were no issues for the Top Qualifier as Lars Hoppe took a tone to tone victory. The big battle of the race would be for second which would go to the Tamiya of P4 starter Christian Donath who demoted Olivier Bultynck to third. In Formula, Serpent designer David Ehrbar took the win in a race that would see no change in the top 3 starting order with Jacques Libar 2nd and Mike Gosvig 3rd.

View the complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – Modified A-main Leg 1

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 02:10 AM PDT

Gravity RC B5 & B6 ceramic-coated steel bearing kit

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 01:21 AM PDT

New from Gravity RC comes a ceramic-coated steel ball bearing kit for the Team Associated B5, B6 and B6D. This upgrade kit has a total of 14 ceramic-coated steel ball bearings which replaces the gearbox and four corners of the Team Associated B5 and also the newest B6 and B6M off-road buggies. The bearings come lightly oiled and will reduce the drivetrain drag for upped acceleration and top speed especially in stock racing classes.

Source: Gravity RC [teamgravityrc.com]

Norwegian National Cup Rd3 – Report

Posted: 26 Jun 2016 01:14 AM PDT

Round three of the Norwegian National Cup was held at the Hverven Raceway off-road track in Oslo in several categories including a recruit and senior class. In the 2WD class, Yokomo’s Daniel Kobbevik was on fire right from the start, winning both reseeding rounds and all four qualifiers to grab the overall TQ from Xray’s Malin Karlsen and Yokomo driver Eirik Andreassen. In the opening A-main, Daniel instantly pulled a gap to the rest of the field and he would have opened a gap of about half a lap until a last lap incident, a marshal crossed the track to recover another car, had Daniel crashing into him. Daniel was able to recover though and he managed to bring home the win with a very small margin on Malin on the runner-up spot.

The second A-main was pretty much a blueprint of A1, minus the unfortunate crashing part, allowing Daniel to bring home the overall win from Malin and Eirik. For A3 Daniel opted to sit out the leg to not disturb the battle for the runner-up spot. At the start it was Malin who took the lead but Eirik was able to get past and when the young lady would run wide at a later stage, Eirik was up and away, taking the win and with it the runner-up spot from Malin. In the recruit class, Alexander Gemble made a clean sweep to take the win from Elias Neverdal and Iver Krogstad.

Report: Way To Win

Volker claims vital TQ in Luxembourg

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 01:38 PM PDT

Ronald Volker has claimed a vital TQ at the penultimate round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg tonight. Coming into the event third in the standings, the reigning champion needed the bonus championship point for the TQ and achieved it with a P2 behind Jilles Groskamp in Q3 which due to rain would become the final qualifier. With racers having to sit out most of the day due to the wet conditions the sun finally broke through the clouds at 18:00 allowing just enough time for a third round of qualifying with a number of drivers needing put in a faultless run as 3 qualifiers meant that 2 counted for the grid. One such driver was championship leader Bruno Coelho, who after taking the opening qualifier yesterday pulled off in Q2 after struggling with a bad set of tyres. Managing only a P6 he will start fourth on the grid behind both his title rivals with Marc Rheinard securing third despite a bad final qualifier.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.