Volker takes charge in early MIBO qualifying
Having topped seeding at the third edition of MIBO International, Ronald Volker’s Mugen Seiki MTC3 continues to be the benchmark in the Czech Republic with the German taking the opening two rounds of qualifying. In the first of the 5 scheduled qualifiers, Volker was fastest from the Schumacher of defending champion Michal Orlowski by 8/10ths of a second with Xray’s Adam Iszay maintaining status as the third fastest driver. In a slower Q2, a mistake from Orlowski would give Volker an easier repeat TQ run, Yokomo’s Christopher Krapp his closest challenger over 3-seconds down on the 2016 World Champion. Again Iszay completed the Top 3 ahead Patrick Gollner and the recovering Orlowski.
Summing up his performance after the completion of two rounds, Volker said, ‘points wise it was very good and I am happy to get the first two qualifiers but I need to change something for more overall grip.’ Asked if the track was starting to change, he replied, ‘It felt like less grip than controlled practice so I will try a different tyre prep for Q3.’
Asked what happened in Q2, Orlowski responded with the straight answer, ‘I was pushing too hard and crashed.’ He continued, ‘Ronald is very fast and I need to drive hard to try keep with him. This has also led us going in a completely different direction with set-up.’ He concluded, ‘we having to work hard, but that is what we are here for.’
Another MIBO regular having been to all three MIBO International races, Krapp said, ‘P2 in the last one was good and the gap was a little less but still well behind Ronald. Realistically I am fighting for the third spot this weekend.’ Asked where he felt he was lacking compared to his rivals, the 2022 World Championship podium finish explained, ‘we need to work on the rotation of the car in the corners. In the fast sections it is good but in the slow corners I have no rotation so that is what we are searching for.’
In the other two touring car classes Xray’s own Martin Hudy TQ’d the opening Pro Stock 17.5T qualifier from defending FWD Champion Stefan Schulz as top seed Izsay suffered two bad laps that cost him over 10-seconds. The Hungarian bounced back to take Q2 from his team boss. In FWD Phil Langer went two from two taking Q1 ahead of Gergö Valent and Q2 from Schulz.
