Coelho again in Q2
Having concluded yesterday’s action by taking the opening round of qualifying, Bruno Coelho continues to be the man to beat at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in China. With four rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule, the Xray driver opened the third day of the event with a second TQ run again having the edge over Yokomo Ronald Volker. With Volker setting the early pace, it’s a blue sky sunny morning in Beijing, Coelho would put in a strong second half to top the times by 1.4 seconds. Behind them Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3, the Swede getting ahead of Q1 P3 finisher Viktor Wilck.
‘A good start to the day’ was Coelho’s reaction afterwards but the Portuguese ace was less impressed by his own start to the qualifier. He said, ‘the first three laps I had some mistakes as I forced a little too much’ adding it is ‘harder’ today as ‘the track is super hot’. Commenting that pushing too hard early on will leave you struggling with the tyres by the end, he said as his driving improved he was able to make back the time he lost early, adding his T4 ‘was ok to the end’. Leaving his car unchanged despite the much warmer conditions compared to the evening time Q1, he plans to again keep it the same for Q3.
Volker summed his second qualifier as ‘a similar story to yesterday’. ‘Matching Bruno’ and ‘probably a little ahead’ over the first two & a half minutes, the German said ‘half way through I start to loose overall grip’. Making a set-up change after Q1, he said while it was better it left his new BD8 ‘difficult but fast’ and with drop off still a problem they ‘definitely need more set-up changes’. He concluded, ‘P2 is OK but I want more’.
Having reported a drop off in motor power after his P4 time in Q1, Hagberg said, ‘we solved the motor problem and I had consistent power for the whole run’. With a new motor the solution to the problem, the Xray driver felt there is further improvement to come from his driving. Finishing little over a second off Volker, the former European Champion said, ‘I was driving too cautiously at the start which lost me time’.
With the P3 and P4 order the reverse in Q1, the drivers appear to have also swapped issues. Losing out to fellow countryman Hagberg in the second half of the qualifier, Wilck reported a motor problem for Q2. Declaring it an ‘ok’ run, the Serpent driver added, ‘my motor slowed down too much the last minute’. Having lacked power due to a conservative speedo setting yesterday, turning up the power setting this morning he said while ‘a little better’ it was ‘still slow’. Feeling the hot track temperature may have been a factor, talking to 4X designer David Ehrbar, he will fit a new motor and also gear up for Q3.
Going one better than Q1 to post the 5th fastest time, Akio Sobue would be the top Tamiya for the second qualifier. With team-mates Marc Rheinard and Christopher Krapp P9 & 10 behind former Champion Andy Moore, the Japanese said changes to his TRF419X had improved the car over the first 2-minutes but he had a big drop off. The 22-year-old said, ‘I can’t save the tyres so we will make a small change to try and get it more consistent (over the 5-minutes)’.
With Yokomo using these World Championship to launch their new BD8 platform, running prototypes of the upcoming kit release, Nicolas Lee put his example in the Top 6 ahead of team-mate Loic Jasmin. P7 in the opening round when a diff bearing issue left the belt tension loose, the Singapore driver ‘just fixed that’ and ran the set-up unchanged for Q2. Saying the ‘car is good’ he added ‘I just need to drive better’. Running a P4 pace in the top heat, the 25-year-old said he ‘got a little nervous’ causing him to drop a little off the pace.
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