Coelho & Quek are SIGP Champions
Bruno Coelho has taken the overall win in the Modified class at the 2019 SIGP in Xiamen, China. The Xray driver took his 2nd win in A2 to complete the perfect weekend and claim the SIGP title and with it the 20,000 RMB prize money. Never really challenged in the deciding second A-main, it was Akio Sobue who took the runner up spot ahead of Dominic Quek and Meen Vejrak, but in A3 it was the Thai driver that took the win, as Coelho started from the back of the grid, with Akio finishing in 2nd, the result meaning that Vejrak would finish 2nd overall with Sobue completing the podium. Asked about the deciding A2, Coelho said it was a very similar race to A1 with the time spent waiting on the grid the only reason for concern forcing the World Champion to be quite cautious on the opening lap. Once up to speed he could pull a gap to Sobue and once control the race.
Having had a difficult A2, deciding to run used tires, Meen said he struggled for the first 3 laps before the Sweep control tire came up to temperature. At that stage it was too much to ask to catch those ahead especially when combined with the drop in performance but he could get up to 4th after Nicholas Lee spun ahead of him on the last lap which let him through. In the 3rd and final A-main it was a different story as the Thai driver would start in what was effectively 2nd and from the start he was applying a lot of pressure on the Japanese driver forcing a mistake from Sobue on lap 8 that put him through to the lead. The win combined with his 3rd place in A1 meant that he was tied on points with Sobue but his 1st place finish in A3 gave the Yokomo driver the tie break and with it the runner up spot.
Another to run on old tires for A2 to save a fresh pair for A3, Sobue looked set for his plan to work before losing the back of the car on a curb in the centre section of the track which allowed Vejrak passed. Regaining his momentum the Infinity driver closed on and tried to pass the ‘Meen Machine’ on the right side hairpin making slight contact but he was not able to make it stick. Continuing to pressure the leader, Akio’s race would finally come undone when he lost the back once again, this time coming onto the main straight which allowed Meen to break clear at the front and his team mate Viktor Wilck to close up and put pressure on him. The OneTen Series champion was able to remain calm and bring the car home in 2nd to give him the final podium spot.
Winner here last year, Viktor Wilck could only manage fourth this time around as he lacked the ultimate pace of the leading trio, his 3rd position in A3 boosting his overall points score significantly and giving him the 4th spot, just ahead of the driver who replaced him at Serpent, Yugo Nagashima in 5th.
In the Hobbywing Stock class it was an exciting battle between the Xray of Dominic Quek and the Awesomatix of Max Machler. With the German taking the win in A1, it was Quek who resisted the pressure in A2 to win to set up an epic showdown in A3. Unfortunately the pair got into each other on the opening lap of the deciding final and with Quek trying to wait for Machler, Max got caught up on the curb and was dead last at the end of the first lap. Stick King was the early leader but Quek was on a mission and managed to catch the Hong Kong driver and make a pass for the lead with two laps to go while Machler could only recover to 3rd. Dominic would take the overall win ahead of Max with Stick King completing the podium, just ahead of Salton Dong in 4th and Jindong Bai in 5th.
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