Sparbier takes Open Brushless TQ at TITC
Mugen Seiki’s Soren Sparbier is the Top Qualifier in the Open Brushless class at the TITC, the German taking the fourth & final qualifier of the Bangkok race’s largest class. With the opening three rounds of qualifying producing three different winners, it was all to play for in Q4 with Sparbier, who was fastest in yesterday’s third round, leading them away in the decider. From the front, the 18-year-old would edge out a 1.4-second advantage to top the round from Q1 winner Lukas Ellerbrock and Q2 winner Olivier Bultynck P3, this the order they will line up for the finals. Runner-up last year, Xray’s Adam Iszay starts P4 the first of the A-Main being run this evening at the Infinity RC Addict track.
Reacting to his TQ, this the German’s first time attending the TITC, Sparbier said ‘I’m so happy, the car was really good. I hope we can continue this way.’ Asked about any changes to his car for the later in the day than usual final qualifier, he replied, ‘I don’t know, Robert (Pietsch) looks after the set-up and I drive it and that’s worked well so far.’ The designer of the soon to be released MTC-3, Pietsch explained, ‘Soren started the event with the old car just to get used to the track and we figured out the set-up for the new one and then 2-days to go he started with the new one and it has been working everytime well. We just did some small changes, we are still working the ride height a little bit but basically the set-up is the same no matter the time of day of the run. We will leave it unchanged for A1.’
Having to start the final qualifier at the back of the pack due to his car destroying crash in Q3, Ellerbrock summed up his effort with, ‘It was alright. I had a bit of bad luck because I was starting in the back after I crashed into the standing car in Q3. Lap 1 someone spun in front of me and cost me approximately 7 to 8/10ths, the car was good, I am driving a different car than yesterday because the other one was destroyed. I think midway in the run I had one spin which again cost me a second so that was the time gone.’ On his car setup he said, ‘The qualifier was pretty late in the day (compared to previous rounds) so we didn’t really know the conditions but I think the car felt pretty much the same as the other car.’ Looking to the finals the 27-year-old said, ‘We will go with he same again and put a lot of pressure on Soren, I think we are equal or maybe I am a little bit faster so I think I can definitely put some pressure on him because I would say the car behind is always the faster one and I just hope for a gap.’
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