No change at the Top in Q2 – And the rain is back

The second round of qualifying here at Gulf Coast Raceway produced little change at the top of the time sheets with Shinnosuke Yokoyama’s time from this morning still the time to beat.  The Xray driver was again fastest for Q2 but in a slower time of 34 laps in 10:03.868 due to the hotter track conditions.  The biggest improvement in Q2 came from Italy’s Giuseppe D’Angelo who set the second fastest time.  Having failed to finish Q1 due to radio problems, the factory Reds Racing driver took his Mugen around in a time of 34 laps in 10:06.991 which puts the Italian National Champion 8th fastest overall.

Third fastest for the round and another driver to break into the Top 10 overall was Japanese teenager Takehiro Terauchi.  The factory Mugen driver, who is running ZAC Project tyres, said he ran too small a diameter tyre in the opening qualifier but with the correct size on for Q2 everything went well and he plans no changes to his Novarossi powered MTX-4R for the next qualifier.

Electric Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard was much happier with his Shepherd Velox V10 in Q2 and managed the 4th fastest time to move into 10th overall.  The German, who broke his car in Q1, said considering the hotter track conditions it was OK but they are still some bit away from a good overall balance.

Second fastest this morning, Dirk Wischnewski was 5th fastest with his Orcan powered Xray.  The German said changing the rear roll bar had made his NT1 very different to the morning but it was slightly better however overall he wasn’t happy with his own driving, making a number of mistake during the 10-minutes.  Fellow Xray driver Ralph Burch completed the Top 6 for the round with a time that puts him 12th overall behind Team Magic’s Dario Balestri.

Having watched the first of the groups in Q2, defending World Champion Daniele Ielasi saw the track was slower and opted to use his run to test different wheels. Having run IDM carbon rims in Q1 he tried harder Matrix disc wheels but plans to revert back to his own brand of wheels for Q3.

Unfortunately just minutes after the completion of Q2 the forecasted rain arrived and we now have a very wet track.  The staff of Gulf Coast Raceway are busy trying to clear the circuit of the water but it look like we will have a repeat of yesterday and will see further changes to the schedule.

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