Rheinard top seed at TITC, Orlowski posts identical time
Marc Rheinard is the top seed at the TITC, the Awesomatix driver improving from P2 in the first controlled practice to jointly top CP2 with the Schumacher of Michal Orlowski. After tyre gluing issue on his first timed attempt, on tie break Orlowski will be seeded No.2 for this evening’s opening qualifier. With the first official day of the event normally dedicated to practice, unusual weather has forced the organisers to bring forward the timetable to ensure they get at least one qualifier in the timing system should the rain they have suffered over the last few days return. After topping the first seeding round, Lucas Urbain would improve on that time but so did everyone else and he ended up third fastest ahead of Bruno Coelho, this the order they will line up for Q1. Overall it was again Coelho who had the best 5-minute pace with only Rheinard, Orlowski and Aki Sobue able to join him on 21-lap runs. While 3rd fastest over 5-minutes, Sobue’s Axon was again 4th fastest over the counting 3-consecutive laps ahead of his team-mate Hayato Ishioka meaning the Japanese duo will carry the No.4 and 5 race numbers in qualifying.
Reacting to topping seeding, Rheinard said, ‘The 3-laps were ok but over the 5-minute run I was not so happy, Bruno really caught me in the last 2-minutes. My car is fading off at the end. I changed something for this run but I think I will go back to what I had before but anyway the track is going to be so different in 3 hours so we have no idea.’ Asked what he changed, he replied a ‘different top deck’. On his equal time with his good friend Orlowski, the German said, ‘I think for me it would have been better to be behind him because now I know he gets faster and faster especially when the track comes up so maybe I need to open. Let’s see.’
Orlowski summed up his effort with, ‘It was quite funny to get identical times to the thousands of the second. I was quite nervous about being in the C heat but I was able to get the 3-laps, the 5-minute was always good during the week of testing.’ The Pole continued, ‘As I was in a different group I wasn’t not sure of my pace against the top guys, I was a tiny bit behind on 5-minutes but I guess we’ll see in Q1 where I really am compared to everyone else but I am feeling good because during testing I was always very strong on 5-minutes. I think my car drops off not so much. I am looking forward to Q1.’ Asked if he is doing much to his Mi9 in terms of set-up changes he said, ‘No we are just doing a little refresh. I think the track is a little bit different and has a little less grip. They didn’t sugar the track and didn’t make the maintenance the same as before so a tiny change for the cooler temperature, less traction, and that’s it.’
Asked if the track was quicker second time round, Urbain replied, ‘A bit quicker, not much, but a bit quicker but I am not too happy with my run. I think the conditions suit my car a bit less and I also drove a bit worse. It’s a bit more difficult to drive in this conditions and a bit edgy in some places, so I need to fix that, so it meant I had to open twice on track so the 5-minutes is more like P5, P6 this time. Even though being seeded P3 is good, I am happy with that, but I have Bruno behind me who probably one of the quickest on 5-minutes so if I don’t find something I am going to have to open which is not ideal.’ Asked what he needs to find in his car, he explained, ‘it’s actually hard to tell, that’s why I have been stuck the whole week, my car does that when the traction comes up and I am yet to really figure out what to do in the conditions. I have a few ideas.’ As the traction up he said ‘the rear gets snappy for some really which is totally the opposite to what happens in Europe when the more grip the more locked in the rear feels.’
A little miffed about how his run started, Coelho explained, ‘The first 3 laps were pretty tricky, I don’t know why but the car was a bit loose in the rear. It felt like the tyres weren’t ready but then after 3-laps the car was back again and I started to recover, recover, recover and again the pace in 5-minutes was very good. Just at the beginning something was wrong. Before I was really careful and the car was good but this time I just had something wrong on the tyres I believe.’ Reacting to his all his rivals highlighting how good his 5-minute pace is, Coelho said, ‘yeah 5-minutes is pretty solid, it’s easy to drive but we still need to work on it to get a little more pace and especially from the beginning.’
‘My fastest lap was not so fast but it felt super consistent on the 5-minutes’ was Sobue’s reaction to his second seeding run. The former TITC winner added, ‘Bruno is more consistent over the 5-minutes and the last minute is more difficult for me as the car gets loose and I see other cars are loose too but Bruno seems to be able to take more care of his tyres.’ Asked if his own tyre management was something he could work on, Sobue replied, ‘Yes. The first qualifier the temperature is maybe lower but I think I need to fix my driving to not over work the tyres. The balance of the car is good so I don’t touch that.’
In Open Brushless, Soren Sparbier will be the top seed thanks to his CP1 time. With drivers limited to four sets of tyres for the entire event, the class is very much a tyre game with drivers completing minimal required laps including both Sparbier and second fastest from CP1 Olivier Bultynck opting to not run CP2. Running just 2-minutes on track Natthawat Rungcharat had the fastest 3-laps to put himself second in the seeding in between Sparbier and Bultynck.
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