Coelho again in Q2 as young Cruz stars
Xray’s Bruno Coelho picked up where he left off yesterday to open Day 2 of qualifying at the IFMAR Electric Touring Car World Championship with another TQ run but it was Mugen Seiki’s Jacob Cruz whose performance was the highlight of the Q2, the up & coming talent posting the fourth fastest time. The first of 4 rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule, Coelho and Michal Orlowski where once again the class of the Modified field with both drivers upping the 5-minute pace to register 29-lap runs, the pair separated by just half a second. A run which would see Marc Rheinard hit the boards and break his Awesomatix while holding P3, it was the Mugen of Ronald Volker who completed the Top 3 ahead of his young team-mate Cruz. As the ROAR National Champion, Awesomatix’s Sam Isaacs produced a strong run to the fifth fastest time ahead of the Axon of 2022 Worlds Podium finisher Akio Sobue.
Commenting on his second TQ run from as many rounds, Coelho said, ‘Another tough run, very difficult conditions out there, you see so many people flipping. I think it is all about surviving the 5-minutes’. The back to back defending World Champion continued, ‘Me and Michal were the best out there trying to survive on it, I think everyone has the exact same problem that the car is spinning out in the middle of the corner and trying to flip and we need to avoid it. We are trying to work on that and find a solution.’ On the track conditions he said, ‘Every day the track is getting more traction. We never had this conditions at the Warm-up here so I think it’s kind of new for everyone to work on it.’
Reacting the qualifier Orlowski felt they had made their car too easy to drive. The Pole explained, ‘We made a change but I didn’t expect it to make the car that easy to drive so I think that the track also changed but that’s how it is here with the track changing every single round. We are changing the car trying to make it quicker but when the track changes we have no clue if the change went the wrong direction or it was the track.’ He concluded with, ‘It is important we are always fighting at the top with Bruno. I keep running clean runs so that is important for tomorrow.’
Volker summed up his run with, ‘It was an improvement but still it wasn’t a clean run.’ He explained, ‘I struggled a bit on the straight and almost lost it in the sweeper. Then Marc was running behind me and I was close to open for him, I think I didn’t interfere his run, but I was just able to hang on and make a small gap before he made a mistake. After that it was a clean run driving wise but the car had a bit of push, as we anticipated a bit more bite and made it a bit too safe so with that kind of complaint I am happy to get a third.’ The 2016 World Champion was clearly pleased with the team’s result saying, ‘I am pumped for Jacob, it’s absolutely amazing. Nobody expected him, they are living the dream finishing 4th in a Worlds qualifier and it’s the best promotion for himself and our new MTC3’. Asked about the tricky track conditions, Volker replied, ‘You know the track is changing, you anticipate it, but since it’s difficult some get it better, some get it less good, but that’s part of the game.’
A driver who has learned his trade on the tracks of California and who can call Finishline RC Raceway his home track, Cruz summed up Q2 as a ‘Very solid run’, adding ‘the car was great’. He continued, ‘the car didn’t lift on the corners so I could drive it really hard and I was very comfortable with it and it was great to be competing with these guys.’ The 15-year-old’s first World Championship, his 16th birthday coming up on Sunday, asked how he is finding the limelight and mixing it with the best in the World, he said, ‘I’m trying to relax and not be too stressful up there, I think that really helps out. I’m just doing what I do and focusing on my own thing’. With Modified Touring Car having seen few emerging talents in recent years, it now a decade since Coelho burst onto the international scene at the 2014 Worlds in Florida, Cruz’s strong showing here is an exciting boost for the category. Running a similar set-up on the new MTC3 to that which his senior team-mate Volker is running, he said the new car is a ‘huge improvement’ on the previous car calling the difference ‘night and day’.
Running in the second fastest heat of Modified, on his Top 5 run Isaacs said, ‘The car is working really well now, I worked with the team and made some changes. I had one roll that cost me about 2-seconds, other than that the car was good the whole time.’ Asked about his current set-up compared to what he originally came into the event with he said, ‘I am decently far off. I have been just working with the guys to change the roll centre and lowered the ride height some, not too different but a little bit different that it made all the difference for the high grip here.’ Looking to Q3, the American driver plans to try ‘a small change’ and ‘try to make the car a little safer just to make sure I don’t roll it over on the curbs. I’m happy with the car, its 90% there.’
In the Spec class it was also a repeat TQ from Simon Lauter who topped the round this time ahead of his Awesomatix team-mate Max Mächler with Xray’s Michael Gee third fastest. The German said, ‘The track was super hard to drive right now but we managed very well to get a good team result with Max P2. I think it was quite confident, there was a lot going on in the run but we managed to keep it cool and keep it on track for a perfect result’. P3 in Q1 and now registering a P2, Mächler said, ‘I made a least three car changes and they all went in the right direction and gave me a much better car in Q2 so I could end up second overall. I’ve got a few things more to try going this direction which finally seem to work out. I need to make the car more easy so I can send it, the goal is not to have too much steering because it tends to get flippy and edgy.’
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