World Champions settle themselves in at FEMCA C/ship
With the FEMCA Championship due to officially get underway tomorrow morning, today’s open practice at the GDC track in Foshan, China, was a day for World Champions Bruno Coelho and Naoto Matsukura to get settled in on this their first visit to the impressively sized indoor facility. Fresh from his World Championship win in the US, Coelho, who is in China as part of a 2-week trip that will also see him race 1:8 Offroad at next weekend’s annual SIGP race in Xiamen, was pleased with the data he has gathered from his time on the track with his Xray. While this evening saw the track and pits get much busier as more local drivers arrived for one of Asia’s most important touring car races, Infinity’s Matsukura felt he has a bit more work to do to get a handle on the differing traction he experience each run over the day.
Asked his first impressions of the track Coelho replied, ‘I was pretty surprised by the facility, it is my first time here. I was not expecting such a good facility. Big shout out to Gavin (Kwok) for everything he has been doing in looking after us on our first visit here and for also introducing us to the culture here.’ Visiting a major local tourist site yesterday as PR for the FEMCA Championship and the GDC track, the Portuguese driver continued, ‘The track is really good, it is really big, I was expecting much smaller. The traction is really good and the layout is not that difficult which is good for the customers and for us Pro drivers so yeh I am looking forward to the next two days of racing’. Admitting himself to the fact he has had plenty of track time since arriving in China, he said, ‘we could test a lot and everything is going good and we have also been busy with many questions from customers and been able to help them too which is really good.’ His first time back racing on carpet since his historic 3-in-row World title win at the Worlds last month, he said, ‘yes its our first time on carpet since the Worlds’ before laughing the fact ‘and our last time this year’.
Asked to sum up how open practice had gone, Matsukura said, ‘This is my first time here and the track is good. The size is big which is also good and the layout is enjoyable to drive.’ He continued, ‘the traction is every time is different, in the morning to lunch, from lunch to afternoon, so it has been a little bit difficult to understand if the car is good. If the car does feel good then after 30 minutes it has a different feeling so we will kind of have to gamble with set-up tomorrow.’ Asked when he last raced Electric Touring Car race he replied that it was at the TITC at the beginning of March this year. The 2014 ISTC World Champion said while he hasn’t raced for the car for more than half a year it is ‘nice to drive again’ an electric touring car. A racer who competes in multiple disciplines both on & offroad, his last race was the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship 2-weeks ago in Thailand. Only his second attempt at the FEMCA Championship, a race that crowns the Champion of Asia, he said the last time was at the Yatabe Arena in Japan a number of years ago where he finished second to Ronald Volker, the German the winner of FIRC race here at GDC this time last year.
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