Top Qualifier Coelho puts in fastest run in Q5
Having sewn up the overall TQ at the World Championships yesterday in the fourth round of qualifying, Bruno Coehlo would lay down the gauntlet in the final qualifier this morning in Japan posting the fastest time of the event to claim his 4th TQ of the five rounds. With the 1:10 Offroad World Championship’s Rookie already decalred Top Qualifier, Q5 was all about determining the starting order behind the Xray driver. The driver most expected to challenge Coelho for the win, Naoto Matsukura went into the concluding qualifier needing a second or better to put his Kyosho second on the grid but it wasn’t to be. A number of mistakes would leave him only 12th for the round, meaning Michal Orlowski would hold onto his overnight second overall with him ending his qualifying with a P2 run. Having sat 12th at the end of yesterday, Jared Tebo would complete the Top 3 in Q5, his best qualifying run securing the former champion a spot in the final. Starting 7th, the Kyosho driver is the best American starter with Ryan Maifield the only other US driver to make the A-Main in 9th. Having been the best represented manufacturer in the 2WD A-Main, a noticeable absence from the grid will be defending 4WD champions Team Associated, their biggest hope Ryan Cavalieri having a bad final qualifier.
‘Perfect, the best of all my qualifiers’, was how Coelho summed up his performance. Also setting a new fastest lap for the Astro Turf track, with a 17.046, the 22-year-old said his LRP powered XB4 was ‘again really good’. Asked about the grid behind him the Portuguese driver, whose only previous electric Offroad accolade is a TQ on his EOS debut last month, said ‘its better to have Michal starting behind me, Naoto is more aggressive’. He continued, ‘Michal is a very good driver and for sure he will be a strong challenger but Naoto and me share the same aggressive driving style so its better he is starting a little further back’. Looking to keep his driving clean for the 5-minutes, he added ‘its a final so anything can happen’. Coelho’s Xray team-mate Martin Bayer is also in the A-Main with the former European Champion starting his first Worlds from 6th.
Despite managing a P2 in Q5, Orlowski said his Schumacher was ‘really difficult to drive’ with him getting on two wheels a number of times which ‘lost (him) lots of time’, the gap to Coelho over 4-seconds. The reigning European Champion will fit a thicker front rollbar to his CAT K2 for the A-Main practice which he said should get rid of some of the steering. Having wanted Matsukura to get second on the grid, saying after Q4 that it was better to follow the Japanese driver rather than have him behind you, the 14-year-old said of his rivals P3 starting position ‘see how it goes’. Expecting a harder race as a result of starting between Coelho and Matsukura, he said his focus would be to make ‘no mistakes and wait for mistakes (from the others)’ adding there would be ‘no crazy 17.0 laps’.
Describing his Lazer ZX6 as ‘difficult to drive’ in Q5 with it ‘easy to flip’, Matsukura will ‘change a little’ his set-up for the first A-Main. The reigning Touring Car World Champion feels the speed is still there and with the car a little easier to drive starting from 3rd on the grid would be ‘no problem’. Runner up at the last 4WD World Championships in Chico where he showed he takes no prisoners, the 22-year-old said his approach for A1 would be to ‘wait a little and see how the race is developing’.
Starting fourth on the grid, David Ronnefalk had a costly mistake through the chicane before the straight on his opening lap that cost the HB driver over 4-seconds. Ending Q5 23rd fastest, the 19-year-old is confident for the final but added the key is going to be patience and with mistakes easily made said he feels the race is wide open. Starting behind Matsukura, he joked ‘hopefully Naoto gets everyone out of the way’. Behind Ronnefalk, Tom Cockerill will start 5th, who along with former 2WD World Champion Hayato Matsuzaki are the only Yokomos to make the final at the manufacturer’s home track.
‘I did kind of what I needed to do’ was Tebo’s reaction to his Q5 run. Runner-up in the 2WD finals, he said ‘The car is so good but I got a little nervous and had two costly mistakes and needed to be marshalled’. Improving his previous best by over a second despite losing 4-seconds due to his errors, he said ‘to still get a 5:01, I’m happy with that’.
View the final overall qualifying standings after Rd5 here (PDF).
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