Bruno Coelho – Can the TITC Champion make something ‘Speciale’ happen in Bangkok?
The 2025 TITC or Thailand International Touring Car Championship, to give it its full title, is looking like a special one in the history of the legendary race but there is one driver who could achieve something very ‘Speciale’ come Sunday. Already tied with Atsushi Hara as the most winning driver of the Bangkok based race, Bruno Coelho is back at the Infinity RC Addict track looking to make it win number 5 of the race the 3-time consecutive World Champion himself calls the most difficult in the world. A statement all his rivals are happy to agree with him on, a fifth win from the Portuguese driver would, however only be part of the story of the 21st edition of the TITC given the scale of everything else he has going in getting to this weekend. Gone are the blue t-shirts that have been a key part of his wardrobe for the last decade, replaced with Infinity t-shirts. Previously a driver with one of the busiest race schedules of all time, racing across multiple onroad and offroad classes, it is now two months since he last raced, his Xray touring car farewell being the FEMCA Championships in Foshan, China, in December. The longest racing break of his professional career, apart from Covid lockdowns, his highly anticipated debut with the Japanese manufacturer also brings something new to the table in the form of the ‘Speciale’ project, a brand new prototype car that he and his team-mates have had just two months to hone and master. While testing appears to be going well, nothing unearths any weaknesses in a car better than straight up racing against your opposition and given this year’s occasion they have not only turned up at the TITC but they have come with the best of best each aiming to claim the biggest annual title on offer in Electric Touring Car. While time ultimately tell, we grabbed a rather late night call with Bruno to get his take on where he feels he and this brand new project are at as the TITC race weekend has finally arrived.
Starting the conversation by asking Bruno how was the break, he replied, ‘honestly I cannot remember the last time I had a 2-month break apart from during Covid. If you remove Covid it is already many many years ago that I don’t have a race for 2-months but it was needed break to prepare everything. A break is probably making it out like the last two months has been a holiday but it’s been far from that, ‘We have been super busy getting everything ready, changing brand is not like changing shoes that you remove and put on another pair, it’s a lot things happening in the background that people cannot see and people can’t imagine and when those things start to work it involves a lot of people. When we work on such a big project like this with such importance we need to make sure everything is work properly before we come out to any race.’
Asked how progress with the Speciale project has been, he responded by saying, ‘It’s not that I have any doubts about the project itself but again my mentality coming here was of course to win the race and to make the best result possible but we need to be realistic. This is a brand new project, we are coming here with a full prototype where most of the parts are prototype parts and not production parts competing against the competition that comes here with full market ready cars. Of course they may have one or two prototype parts but they are working on a basis they know for many years coming to TITC and coming to many other races. We on the other hand are working on a brand brand new car so we have a lot to learn, a lot to know, and coming to such a difficult race that for me is the biggest and hardest race in the world for touring car it’s very complicated.’
While all the top drivers at Infinity will race the new car, known in prototype form as the Speciale, asking Bruno if much has changed on the car since he first drove it in Thailand shortly after the official news of his switch from his only previous career chassis sponsor Xray to Infinity, he said, ‘there are small differences and changes made but the base is exactly the same, just small adjustments. Again when you have a new car many things work well, many things don’t work at all and you need always to make adjustments. The market doesn’t stop, the calendar doesn’t stop and we need to constantly work for this. I think the best case would have been to start work in October than starting in January but because of the contracts and everything you can’t do it so we had a very short time to prepare everything when only starting in January. So we needed to make everything in a rush for the most difficult race in the world. It’s very complicated but up to now it has been really really motivating and enjoyable with the new team and everything.’
Asked how he was finding working in a new team having spent that last decade working with the same people, he replied, ‘of course it is nice to be with the new people. On one side it is kind of weird to look at team-mates from the past, it’s strange to wear a different t-shirt to them now but it have been really good. There is a different mentality and a different way to approach stuff. They have a different opinion to what we have and vice versa and we start to know each other which is nice.’ On the specific build up to his TITC title defence weekend he added, ‘everything is working really really good, we are really happy with the car. The track is changing everyday so we need to adapt to everything and are still trying to find out new things on the car. We have a disadvantage over our competition as we don’t have the full package for the car like all parts in different compounds but this is not an excuse for us, we are here to work and give our best. We are fighting with the guns we have and until now it is going very very well.’
Asked about the resurfacing of the track that happened after last year’s TITC and if it made any noticeable difference he replied, ‘not really, honestly everything is maximum bumpy which is very particular to the TITC, I have never known to the TITC to be flat. When we come here we know what we are coming here to. I think that’s what makes this race so particular because it is so different than everywhere else, the traction is crazy high, it’s super hot and super humid, and everybody is working every day to make and find that small 1/10th at the end of the day. That’s what makes the TITC so special.’
With his key World title rival Orlowski making his TITC debut this year asked what he thought the Schumacher driver can expect, Bruno said,’of course even though it’s Orlowski’s first time you expect him to be on the top. I don’t expect Orlowski to be in any other position. The top will be the usual guys but every year the track is completely different which makes it so hard. Everyday you see some heats some guys are super fast, other heats nothing special. Even today (Monday) Hara was super fast, I was super happy to see Hara on the top and it’s a very good moment for all of us to have Hara suddenly ‘boom’ on the top. I think this also added to how special the TITC is.’
