On form Brunet takes Q2 & 3 at MIBO International
France’s Antoine Brunet is the man on form at the MIBO International Race this afternoon, the Xray driver posting TQ runs in the second and third rounds of qualifying at the Czech event. Having opening the day with P2 behind Ronald Volker, Brunet went one better in Q2 as Volker struggled with a set-up change before crashing out. Oliver Havranek would make it an Xray 1-2 with ahead of the Yokomo of Christopher Krapp and Eric Dankel who had given Mugen a 1-2 in Q1. Finding his form even better was to come from Brunet in Q3 as he set a new fastest time bettering that of Volker by over a second. Again it was Havranek who was second fastest as he got to within 1/10th of a second of his team-mate. Back after his Q2 crash but struggling with his new body shell, Volker would complete the Top 3 ahead the IRIS One of Dionys Stadler.
While struggling with how nervous his car was at the start of the second qualifier, Brunet said a change to his tyre prep had overall given him a much more consistent car over the 5-minutes and he was delighted to take Q2. Going with the same tyre prep for Round 3, he found the track conditions ‘more oily’ and that resulted in his car feeling ‘sticky mid corner’, something he plans to make a small adjustment for in his car set-up ahead of the penultimate qualifier. Despite the track conditions he was able to bag his second maximum points of the day describing it as a ‘clean run without mistakes’.
Setting the fastest lap so far in Q3, Havranek said he again made a very fast start to the second heat to lead early on just as he had done in the opener. A few mistakes ‘hitting dot here and there’ dropped him from the lead with the Slovak driver complimenting his team-mate Brunet for being the more consistent driver. Feeling he was ‘calmer over the 5-minutes’ of Q3, he said this was ‘a really good qualifier’ and with no mistakes he could get closer to Brunet with just 1/10 separating them in the end. Motivated for the fourth of the five scheduled qualifiers he said, ‘we will see what we can do in 4’.
Asked about his Q3 exit, Volker replied, ‘I told you about changing my diff, well it was the wrong choice’. Suffering a fast crash and contact with the boards this broke his car with just 1:30 run. Also breaking his body, he said having fixed the chassis, the fit of the new shell was slightly different leading him to suffer understeer. Despite this the Mugen driver managed a P3 and is hopeful with a different body he can get back in the mix for Q4 which will bring Day 2 of the inaugural MIBO International Race to a close.
Sixth fastest in Q3 after his third in the previous round, Krapp said, ‘we are going a little backwards set-up wise’. Happy with the points of P3 in Q2 he said it was 1 to 2 seconds off where they needed to be. He said Q3 started better but then he had a ‘big mistake’ but admitted even without this they are still not there. The World Championship Runner-up concluded, ‘the driver and the set-up are still not on point’.
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