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| Race report by Alex Hagberg |
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| The annual LRP Touring Car Masters is one of the highlights of the year and especially of the indoor carpet season, as most of the top drivers join and the race has a really good atmosphere. As always, the race was held in the small village of Eppelheim, just outside Heidelberg in southern Germany. The track layout was same as in 2011, which meant a very technical and rather slow layout which is really challenging for all drivers where a precise driving line is required as well as very good turn-in from the car. |
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| Throughout practice I used the opportunity to try both of my well prepared race cars, which uses different set-ups. For example, one has the standard 2.5 chassis where the other one uses the new optional 2mm chassis. In the end it was the car with the soft chassis which was the fastest. It had more overall traction and also mid corner steering. The car felt really good at the end of practice and I was pretty much on the same pace as Ronald, who always seems to be the guy to beat on carpet over the last two years. The only big change that I made in practice was to put on front anti-dive. This made the car enter the corner a bit flatter and thus I was able to push a lot harder, which suited my driving style very well. I knew that no matter of the track conditions changed a bit or not, I would have a fast car for Saturday morning. |
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| In qualifying, I enjoyed a strong first run, where I finished close to Ronald on 2nd place. In the following two rounds, Marc was a bit stronger and I had to settle for 3rd overall. Throughout all qualifiers, it was very close between us three drivers and also Freddy SĂĽdhoff in 4th position. My best run was the last one where I beat both Ronald and Marc, whom both made mistakes, and I was able to TQ the run which put me 2nd overall on the grid. The car was handling very well at the end of qualifying and I was really feeling confident for the finals. In qualifying I tried the 1.6mm topdeck which made the car drive more direct and have more initial response. For these conditions, this was the right choice. |
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In the finals, it was going to be a battle between the top three drivers who were very close on pace. I was able to keep up and challenge Ronald in both A1 and A2 but perhaps I was trying a bit too hard as I made costly mistakes in both those finals which would send me back the order to 3rd overall just behind Marc. As Marc had two 2nd positions and I had only 3rd, I had to win the last final to finish 2nd overall. I knew that I had a good chance since I started first, as Ronald would not start. I immediately pulled away as the others got tangled up in the first few corners. I could cruise to victory in front of a hard charging Dominik Fleischmann. This final win would award me the 2nd overall, and runner up position. I was fairly happy with this result as I was close to the pace of the top runner Ronald Völker all weekend, perhaps closer than I ever was before. Actually I think that I had the chance to win but that my driving let me down. I am looking forward to the upcoming races, as the touring car category seems to be closer and more exciting than ever.
Mod final results:
1. Völker Ronald
2. Hagberg Alexander XRAY T3'12
3. Rheinard Marc
Stock final results:
1. Wohlgemuth Daniel
2. Streit Tony XRAY T3'12
3. Franke Oliver
4. Okonski Piotr
5. Asmer Jan
6. Wiessmann Felix
7. Christiansen Björn
8. Leinburger Steffen
9. Vogel Tobias XRAY T3'12
10. Hettrich Valentin XRAY T3'12 |
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