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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Volker takes Q1 from Dankel at MIBO International

Ronald Volker has taken the opening round of qualifying at the MIBO International Race, the German topping the times from fellow Mugen driver Eric Dankel.  Behind, No.2 seed Antoine Brunet would set the third fastest time from Xray team-mate Oliver Havranek, the latter having been at the top the timing screen for the early part of the heat.  Third fastest in seeding Christopher Krapp suffered with his driving in Q1, report his Yokomo as working fine he made three mistakes that left him only 15th fastest.  Summarising his run, Volker said, ‘it started off slow, I’m not sure why, but then I had a nice clean run’.  Topping the first of the five qualification rounds by 1.1 seconds from Dankel, the former World Champion plans to try a different tyre prep for his second attempt in the hope of getting his car to to speed quicker than in Q1.  He said, ‘Unlike other races the additive and cleaner here is open so I will slightly change my tyre prep plus I will also switch to a harder diff.’

‘A solid run’ was how Dankel summed up Q1 adding, ‘I had almost no mistakes,  I just overshot twice’.   Pleased that the ‘gap to Ronald is not too much’, he will run his car unchanged for Q2.  ‘I can run super consistent laps and the car is the same from the start to the finish so I just need to drive it’.

Setting the fastest lap of Q1, Brunet said he ‘lost a lot of traction in the last minute’.  The French driver said as a result of the lack of grip he pushed harder leading to make a mistake that cost him close to 1-second.  For Q2, he will change his tyre prep in the hope of preventing the drop over in traction towards the end of the run.

Havranek was pleased with his efforts but was at loss to explain a spin that cost him the TQ.  ‘It start quite good, I started fast even though I had an overshoot on the first lap.  I was leading but then I had a mistake, I did hit a dot but must have been a bump and it caused me to spin’.  The 18-year-old continued, ‘4th place is OK but the car is perfect so I will just check over it and try again’.  Behind the Slovak driver IRIS Racing’s Dionys Stadler completed the Top 5.

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Volker tops seeding at MIBO International

Ronald Volker has topped seeding at the inaugural MIBO International, the factory Mugen driver quickest from Antoine Brunet and Christopher Krapp on a track all drivers are finding challenging.  Opening the second day of action in Hrotovice with two rounds of controlled practice, Volker put together the fastest three consecutive laps in both with his second attempt quicker by over 2/10ths.  Running a test version of Mugen’s next kit release, the German said they are ‘doing well’ and ‘testing every run new things with the flex’ of the car.  Looking to qualifying he added ‘a clean 5-minutes will not be that easy’.  He continued the end of the straight is only boards which is not forgiving, so a mistake here can cost you the whole run’.

Brunet summed up his morning as getting ‘better & better’.  The 25-year-old from France said the most significant change he has made so far is to switch from Xtreme’s Twister Speciale body to the original Twister resulting in more grip and in turn him having more confidence on the track.  On his chassis, the Xray driver said he has only made small adjustments and if he could now get a little more rotation mid corner the car would be perfect’.

Asked about his timed practice Krapp replied, ‘I’m still adapting to the track and conditions. We have lots of new parts on the car here so we are trying many things to get new data’.  Running a a new top deck and mid motor mount set-up on the car,  the Factory Yokomo driver said the key area needing work at the moment was a ‘lack of overall steering in the 180 corners’ adding the car is ‘lazy’ and resulting him lacking the pace to the two ahead of him.  The German added he also made a mistake by running his new tyres too late.  While they are getting better by the end of the final practice, he feels he should have run them earlier.

Seeding P4 for Qualifying, four of the five rounds on today’s schedule, Eric Dankel said his Mugen was ‘easy to drive, which is important for 5-minutes’.  Like Volker, he said track layout is challenging.  He said, ‘some spot are very dangerous if you want to go fast.  When you see the top guys like Ronald and Krapp making mistakes you know it is a challenging track’.  In saying that the German said his plan for Q1 is to change nothing on the car and just try to put together a clean run.  He said if the car proves difficult to drive them he will put glue on the tyre wall.

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