Sunday’s competition at the Estering near Hamburg has started with the second Qualifying Heats at 10.00h, won by Michaël De Keersmaecker.
Sunday morning has started with the usual warm-up at 8.00h. The sun is shining bright, but the temperatures have not crossed the 10 °C mark yet. The fastest drivers of the warm-up sessions were Kevin Hansen (in JRX Cup), Roger Enlund (in TouringCars), Joni Wiman (in Super1600s) and Mats Lysen (in SuperCars).
The second Qualifying Heats started at 10.00h with Swede Kevin Hansen setting another fastest time of the JRX Cup contenders, ensuring himself of the pole position for the A final already. Next out where the competitors of the TouringCars class, Swede Robin Larsson driving his Škoda Fabia Mk1 to the fastest time, closely followed by his compatriot Anton Marklund in the Ford Fiesta Mk7. Norwegian Ole Håbjørg made it to third place with his new Opel Corsa D while his fellow-countryman Tom Daniel Tånevik in the Mazda RX-8 finished on fourth place. Belgian Koen Pauwels scored a fifth position, Roger Enlund made it to sixth place. 2010 ERC winner Derek Tohill, who today is celebrating his 37th birthday, forgot to take the Joker Lap detour to get a 30 seconds time penalty that dropped him down to the last place (21st). Yesterday’s first heat winner Lars Øivind Enerberg jumped the start, therefore got 3 seconds added to his time and after a spin found himself back on 19th place.
In the Super1600s category that young Finnish Set Promo man Teemu Suninen claimed another fastest time and has now the right to start the A final from pole position. His compatriot and teammate “Juspe” Leppihalme made it to second fastest time, German René Münnich bagged the third fastest time. Joni Wiman, Andreas Bakkerud and Sergey Zagumennov made the half-a-dozen frontrunners full.
The SuperCars class witnessed Michaël De Keersmaecker producing a very good drive with his Ford Focus Mk2, being the only driver to complete four Estering laps in under 2:50 minutes. Second fastest was Davy Jeanney, third fastest Peter Hedström. Morten Bermingrud became fourth fastest, fifth was Liam Doran and sixth “Stecka” Walfridsson. Norwegian Hansen Motorsport youngster Alexander Hvaal had to throw in the towel before reaching the finish line, due to a defective gearbox in his Citroën C4.
