The Arena33 at Andernach next to the river Rhine welcomed a lot of participants for round three of the XRAY Racing Series (XRS) Germany. After lots of practice on Saturday, the racers were well prepared for race day at this permanent indoor track of Tonisport and the rc family Rheinard, which was opened earlier this year. Bertram Kessler as well as his daughter Anke Kessler were present on both days with a tent and a huge presentation of XRAY and Hudy products but more than that to support all drivers. For qualification, the best of three heats was counted by laps and time, for the finals the points of the best two runs were added to the final ranking. Once again, Uwe Baldes as race director and time keeper made it a smooth event.
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The touring car stock class with hand-out XRAY 13.5T motors once again was the most popular class of this XRS race weekend. Beside the mandatory Hudy C1 tires, the well-known Volante ETS tires were also permitted. Melvin Diekmann who missed the podium at XRS R2 four weeks ago, surprisingly and after some changes on the settings he managed to capture TQ with only a tenth of a second ahead of XRAY racer Sven Soltau. Also, Tobias Hoefflin and Joerg Baldes completed 21 laps in their best heats.
Like at XRS R2, Bernd Wiesenberger showed a dominant performance in the 1/12 stock class with 13.5T motors regarding to the new EFRA rules. Not only that he took pole position with his CRC but he also won all three A-mains in style, the first and third main already with a one-lap advantage. David Ranft brought his Project Godspeed chassis to second spot in the grid after qualification and after the A-mains with some close fights against Michael Holla who finally entered the third step of the podium. Wiesenberger was honored as the best 40-plus-racer. The B-main went to Thomas Steinhage ahead of Alain Levy (XRAY).
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1/12 Stock results:
1. Bernd Wiesenberger
2. David Ranft
3. Michael Holla 4. Alexander Seitter - XRAY X12
5. Jacky Mannes - XRAY X12
Drivers joined the Formula class which saw a battle for victory between 2017 XRS champion Daniel Schober and Jan Bohlen. But in qualification as well as in the finals, it was Jan Bohlen driving his XRAY onto first position giving Schober a hard time in his last race as a bachelor. Henri Mannes from Luxembourg on third spot made it a 1-2-3 for XRAY.
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F1 results:
1. Jan Bohlen - XRAY X1
2. Daniel Schober - XRAY X1
3. Henri Mannes - XRAY X1
4. Jacky Mannes - XRAY X1
5. Reinhard Mehl
The promotion tour for the 1/12 pan cars with original looking GT bodies continued at the Arena33. Tobias Schuster with his Audi R8 took TQ and his second win. Bertram Kessler, at least a former 1/8 nitro European Champion, came on second with his XRAY, changing from Audi to Ferrari and Porsche 911, the best-looking body as well as the one which offered he best handling of the car. His granddaughter Jody Scheckter made it to third place with her deep-pink coloured XRAY - Audi in her first ever electric on-road race.
The second half of the 2017/2018 Xray Racing Series (XRS) Germany will start at Aschaffenburg on 14th o January, before it comes back to the Arena33 on 11th of February. The grand finale will be held on the Eifel-Ring of MAC Adenau next to the Nuerburgring early March.
