The first Round of the ETS 2016/2017 took place on this weekend in Hrotovice, Czech Republic. It was the last international race of the year for me. After a few days of practice at Hudy Arena testing some new setups and also new parts for the new T4 for next year, our car felt amazing and we were very happy and confident for this race.
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After the first practice our car was working very well and proving that our hard work was compensated. We TQed and won the race winning every time that we race on the track. The way that our car worked was impressive and I want also to congratulate Alexandre Duchet for his great race in Stock class starting 3rd on the grid and finishing 1st at his first ETS race.
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Touring modified A-Main results:
1. Bruno Coelho â“ XRAY T4
2. Viljami Kutvonen
3. Ronald Völker
4. Marc Rheinard 5. Alexander Hagberg â“ XRAY T4
6. Frederik SĂĽdhoff
7. Akio Sobue
8. Yugo Nagashima
9. Naoki Akiyama
10. Elliott Harper
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Race report by Jan Ratheisky
Last weekend the RC family met each other in the Sport V Hotel in Hrotovice, Czech Republic for the first Round of the ETS. After my journey to the famous Yatabe Arena with some cool days of practice with the team I felt well prepared for the race.
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For some reason something strange was going on and most of the drivers just had almost no traction. I changed my T4 and X1 setups for maximum rear traction. With just 3 practice runs I struggled to find a fast setup, so I ended in the 2nd fastest stock group. After Two Quallies I was still struggling very hard to be fast. Luckily we had a well working team and we found a way to prepare the tires and make them work a lot better.
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Formula 1
A1: The rear tires went crazy after just a few laps and were sliding a lot. For some reason some guys crashed in front of me and I got a lucky 2nd place.
A2: I tried to solve the tire struggle with less flex on the car which ends in a drift challenge once again.
A3: With all in or nothing I decided to try something crazy. Never got the traction for the whole race. I got multiple traction rolls in the last final and finished 4th. I'm sure I would find a good setup now but sadly, the race was already over. I was happy to see my new teammate Rene finished 3rd on his first big race in the team. Well done!
A1: Starting from P5 was very difficult but I know my power to stay away from huge crashes. So after some laps I find myself on P3. Sadly, I got crashed into in the last lap so I finished 4th. To be fair, it was just a race incident. This can and will happen. Some nice words and a sorry and I accepted that - no problem :)
A2: finally my car worked super great and I was pushing to hunt the leaders. I found myself in P3 after I got blocked by Noah very well and I could not overtake without the risk to get crashed into or my mates. Well done Noah! And WELL DONE ALEXANDRE DUCHET! First ETS and boom... a win! Well deserved!!!
A3: Gave my car a bit more steering which resulted in a little less side traction. I could stay once again out of crashes and was 2nd closely before the end. Unfortunately, I got crashed into once again and the race was done. It happens. I'm still happy with my result overall which opened me a good window for the overall ranking
