Orlowski Top Qualifier at ISTC World Championship
Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski is the Top Qualifier at the IFMAR ISTC World Championships in California, the Polish driver securing pole position with his fourth TQ run of the event in this morning sixth & final qualifier. With only back to back defending World Champion Bruno Coelho in a position to deny Orlowski pole position at Finishline RC Raceway, the Xray driver looked on target to take the overall TQ as his Xray sat at the top of the timing screens. With Orlowski having a moment and loosing time to arch rival with a moment on lap 11, things looked to be going in the favour of Coelho but with 2-minutes to go his Xray would have two moments getting up on two wheels. With the Portuguese driver needing all his skills to save it, the moment was enough for Orlowski to go to the top and lock in the overall TQ as he chases a first ISTC World title to go with the 1:12 title he won in Florida last year. While Coelho would end up with a P3 for the round behind the Mugen Seiki of Ronald Volker, he will start his quest for a record three in a row from second on the grid. With Orlowski and Coelho the class of the field, behind them a resurgent Volker will line up third followed by the Awesomatix of Marc Rheinard with the Axon of 2022 podium finisher Akio Sobue making it five different manufacturers at the front end of the grid.
My car was perfect this time round, I made a mistake at the end of the straight but luckily got back on my wheels and lost around a second. After this my car was absolutely perfect and I had very good pace and could catch back up to Bruno and pressure him into a mistake and then cruise around towards the end.’ He continued, ‘I am looking forward to the finals. The car felt perfect so we will leave it the same so we will keep an eye on the temperature. My car was best yesterday when it (temperature) went up so I am looking forward to racing it out in the finals.’
Reacting to his final qualifying effort, Coelho said, ‘It was another tough run. I was very close leading with Michal and then after like 2-minutes the start again to traction roll and I needed to deal with that trying to fight with the car and at the same time fight with Michal so it was difficult so we try something different for the finals.’ Asked about the conditions for the finals, the temperatures rising over the day here in Bakersfield, he said, ‘It can be a positive thing for us like the grip like maybe go low a little bit but I am not really confident about that. The track has been pretty the same during the days the grip getting higher and higher so it will be a tough finals for sure.’
In Spec, having already secured the overall TQ yesterday, Simon Lauter let his rivals know he means business on finals day as he again topped Q6 ahead of the Xrays of Shin Sawada and Jan Ratheisky. Overall however it will be Lauter’s Awesomatix team-mate Max Mächler who lines up 2nd on the grid with Ratheisky and US racer Craig Xavier.
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