Two a piece as Orlowski TQ’s Q4 at ISTC Worlds
With two rounds of the qualifying remaining it is two a piece for the two key players at the 12th running of the IFMAR ISTC World Championship as Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski TQ’d Round 4. The Polish driver who took the previous round as Q1 & 2 pace setter Bruno Coelho rolled his Xray, again capitalised on his arch rival struggling with the increasing traction levels. With the defending back to back World Champion coming away with a P5, it was a resurgent Ronald Volker armed with Mugen Seiki’s brand new MTC3 who was best of the rest a second off Orlowski. Opening Day 2 of qualifying with two DNF runs, a calculated & safe Q4 effort would see Marc Rheinard complete the Top 3 and collect valuable qual points. After two rough opening qualifiers, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg added another P4 to his tally, the Swede 4/10th faster than his team-mate. Running Serpent’s upcoming 2025 kit release, former Nitro Touring Car World Champion Dominic Greiner completed the Top 6 and hold eight overall in the qualifying ranking just behind Jacob Cruz, the youngster having bad Q4.
Asked how his Q4 run was, Orlowski replied, ‘It was good but the car is too easy now. We made a small adjustment but I think small changes make a big difference on the track in the ever changing conditions. Now the car was easier than in Q3 but still quite quick ad I could pressure Bruno and I know I didn’t get the fastest time but it is nice to start behind Bruno and put him under pressure than start in front. The next round will be different again. We always have ideas on what to do but it’s just a matter of risk management and trying to expect what the track will do. I think our car is very strong when the grip gets higher where for them it is the opposite. Also in the warmer conditions we are very strong where they aren’t strong in these conditions. It changes the balance towards one car depending the temperature and track conditions. I hope the grip keeps going up because my car is very easy to drive and I am never on two wheels where that is what they are struggling with. It looks like the grip will be going up.’
Putting in the fastest lap time of Q4, a very pleased Volker said, ‘It started off a bit understeering, maybe I was a bit to slow on the warm-up lap, but suddenly I got more grip and confidence and I surprised myself I was able to hang on, this is something I haven’t felt all summer. We suffered with pace since TITC but now thanks to Robert (Pietsch) for the new car we are able to come closer & closer to both Michal and Bruno.’ Asked if his confidence is growing with every run using the new car he replied, ‘We improved the car, we changed again something on the steering and I feel more & more comfortable. I think this automatically leads to reducing the gap, both (Coelho & Orlowski) have really upped the bar so I surprised myself during the run that I was able to hang on and that is all credit to Robert as this wouldn’t be possible with him.’ Looking to the final qualifier of today as he sits third overall he said, ‘we hope we can stay P3 and keep on improving the car but overall it is a way better day than I expected.’
Reacting to his P3 run Rheinard, who is the ISTC World Championship’s most decorated driver, said, ‘I was just trying to get a result, so I didn’t take any risk so I kept it easy. I don’t know where the limit of the car is to be honest so I just try not get close to it. I think it wasn’t bad but I lost for sure a lot because of driving safe but at least I have an OK result so I just need one more but that is going to be difficult in the colder conditions now.’ The reigning European Champion added, ‘I think it is still a fight with the car on the track. You can see also Bruno now is off the track many times. It seems the Xray cars work good when it is cold and now in the heat they struggle more, and for us it is kind of the opposite. I think no one knows exactly what to do.’
‘It was a pretty consistent run with no errors so decent points’, was how Hagberg summed up the round. He continued, ‘We need to work a little bit on the car balance the next couple of rounds and try move up the order. The car is pretty easy to drive now but I need to find a little more speed.’ Asked about his rough start to qualifying here in Bakersfield, the former 1:12 and Nitro Touring Car World Champion said, ‘I had a mistake in the first qualifier that set me back, had a roll, and the second one as well, now at least I have three results and I can afford to experiment more with the set-up and see where it brings us. Consistency is good now we just need to find more speed.’
In the Spec Class, after a mistake in Q3, it was Simon Lauter who resumed business at the top of the time sheets with a third TQ run ahead of Xray drivers Jan Ratheisky and Matus Benetin. Asked about the only glitch in his impressive performance at these World Championships, on the Q3 mistake Lauter said, ‘You could call it a glitch or you just also could call it a mistake. I drove just slightly over the the curb and it was just enough to flick. I think going even harder on the curb would have helped because then it would just jumped but like this it traction rolled but all good, it happens.’ The European Champion continued, ‘Q4 was important to come back, the car was perfect, it was also in Q3 because the change we did for Q3 worked quite well. It was very important because I think this can be the fastest run but we will see what happens in the evening but I am happy’. Asked about changing the car for the penultimate qualifying round this evening, the German said, ‘I don’t think we will change a lot because the car right now is super good, there is no need to take too many risks.’
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