Mother Nature finally shows up, Coelho one hand on TQ

It was what everyone was expecting to wake up to on the Day 2 of the EP Touring Car World Championships and thankfully didn’t, but when the bad weather did decide to show up in showed up in spectacular style with lightening for added dramatical effect.  With it looking very like Q4 was going to make the history books, drops would start falling as the top heat took to the track.  Unfortunately as we got to within a minute of getting the round done, the drops got bigger and cars started sliding around with the call coming from race officials to stop racing – the heat was cancelled.  As soon as it stopped, so too did the light rain. However, in the distance it was visible that this was only a little warning of a lot worse to come and for drivers pitting at the edge of the large covered pit area to move their stuff if they didn’t want it to get wet.  While discussions went on about heat re-runs and new timetables, when Mother Nature turned up it was quickly clear Day 2 that was done, the rain bouncing off the track.  While there still is the opportunity to run 3 more rounds of qualifying, it is looking very like job done for Bruno Coelho in terms of becoming Top Qualifier, with more mixed weather being forecast for tomorrow.

‘It is a pity the weather is like this and we couldn’t finish the round’, said Coelho, who like in the opening three rounds was the name at the top of the timing screens when the heat was stopped.  Before the top heat went out on track Alexander Hagberg was setting the pace, the Swede having 2 seconds and a 3rd from the opening 3 qualifiers despite being seeded in the second fastest heat.  Holding P2 for the round, Ronald Volker was left very frustrated by the cancellation of the round, the Mugen driver saying, ‘I just have no luck’. While expecting to start the finals from the TQ, Coelho said he is ‘pretty happy’ with his performance up to now but was quick to add, ‘wet finals can change everything’.

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Video – Modified Qualifying Rd3

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd2

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd1

Sparks fly as Coelho takes Q1

Sparks literally flew as Bruno Coelho took the opening round of qualifying with darkness falling on the opening day of the ISTC World Champions.  The top seed after practice, the reigning Champion would lead an Xray 1-2 from Alexander Hagberg, no one more surprised than the Swede with his P2 having been seeding the second fastest heat.  Finishing off practice with an ever improving performances, Christopher Krapp would set the third fastest time for Yokomo ahead of Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski, another driver running in the slightly less dark second fastest heat.  As cars went to the grid there was calls to not run the top heat as drivers complained about being unable to see.  Legendary mechanic Masayuki Miura would make a direct call to race officials for the qualifying not to go ahead saying his driver could not see.  Unfortunately that driver, Naoto Matsukura, struggled with the lack of light saw him crash out just two corners into the qualifier.

‘The sparks were the best thing we could see’, joked Coelho after his TQ run.  Asked about having to qualify in such low light, he said, ‘I have driven in worse conditions in the past but for sure this was not the best lighting’.  Topping the times by a massive 6-seconds, he said, ‘this was the first time to see how everyone was on 5-minute pace because of running 2 cars and tyre strategy in the practice.  My car was working pretty good and I was really focused on making no mistakes for the 5-minutes’.  Asked about tomorrow’s qualifying action he simple replied, ‘It will rain tomorrow’.

A very pleased Hagberg, said, ‘to be honest I was a bit concerned about qualifying because I couldn’t string 3-laps together in practice and because I had to drive conservatively for the tyres I had no idea what to expect over 5-minutes’.  The Swede felt the dark conditions meant he ‘drove a little cautious’ but overall it was ‘a really good start to qualifying’ that he had expected.  Admitting running in the second fastest heat meant they had a little more light he was more than happy to take the result.  Looking to Day 2 of the World Championships, the Swede said, ‘I will wake up tomorrow and see what the sky looks like.  It’s outside our control’.

Commenting on his P3 time, Krapp said, ‘I am happy with the position but it could have been 2nd.  I lost a place with traffic when Viktor held me up so I missed P2 by 2/10ths. I think Bruno is already away, but it is a strong start for us and now we just wait to see what the weather is tomorrow.  Hopefully it is dry because I have nothing prepared for the wet’.

‘Just lucky. It was dark but not as dark as the top heat where a few drivers made mistakes’, was Orlowski’s initial view on Q1.  The Polish driver then added, ‘I don’t want to take from our performance as we did improve the car so I am quite happy with P4 in the first one’.  He continued, ‘we don’t know what to expect tomorrow so we will play it by ear. I have Andy’s wet car all ready to go and we will use his (wet) experience to our advantage’.

Posting the fifth fastest time, Viktor Wilck described the opening qualifier as ‘very difficult’, adding, ‘the right side of the track you were driving almost just by feeling it was so dark’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘all the way in the hairpin you could not see the car. Our heat had the disadvantage of being more dark’.  Third fastest of those running in the top heat he said the performance of his car, which features prototype parts here in Gubbio, ‘was still really good’. Keen to build on that for Q2 he said, ‘we see what happens tomorrow in the rain’.

One of three Yokomo’s in the Top 10 for Q1, Nicolas Lee would complete the Top 6.  The Singapore driver said, ‘It was really hard to see but anyway the result is good points to start with’.  Only 20th fastest in seeding, he explained, ‘we changed a lot (the set-up) during the day and in CP2 we found a good balance which gave me a good car for Q1’.  Lee’s team-mate Yannic Prümper would set the 8th fastest time.

Setting the 7th fastest time and separating the two Yokomos, Jilles Groskamp was happy to take the result giving the difficult lighting.  The former World Champ said, ‘It was just too dark and I had too many small mistake’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘the end of the straight was just a guess and I had a few rough laps there.  The pace was really good but the conditions just made it so difficult to be consistent.

Top Qualifier at the last World Championship in South Africa 4 years ago, Ronald Volker would finish Q1 in 10th behind young Slovakian Xray driver Matus Benetin. The Mugen driver was on a Top 3 run but spun putting his hand up and admitting it was a driver error as it took place on the brightest section of the track.

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Coelho top seed for World Championship qualifying

Bruno Coelho will kick off qualifying at the ITSC World Championship with the No.1 on his car after the Xray driver set the fastest time of the two timed practices. The second seeding round saw the reigning Champion again set the fastest 3-consecutive laps improving on his Free Practice pace by more than 3/10ths of a second. Behind him an improved Akio Sobue was 2nd fastest having earlier rounded out the Top 6 for Free Practice. Also improving was Viktor Wilck as the 2014 and 2016 podium finisher completed the Top 3 in Gubbio, Italy.

Reacting his his performance Coelho had little to say other than that his ‘car is working good’ and agreeing everything was going to plan so far. Asked about Q1, which will bring Day 1 of proceeding to close on a cooling evening track, the Portuguese driver replied, ‘we don’t really know what the conditions will be but they should not change much’.

‘The driver is still so so, but the car is now better’, was how Sobue summed up his P2 seeding. The TITC Champion said his 3-laps that counted had a small mistake and he believes it will be a different story over 5-minutes adding ‘I just can’t say if it is going to be good or bad for me’. With rain forecast for tomorrow Q1 could prove crucial for drivers with the Axon driver saying he will just check over his car for the first qualifier and leave the set-up as is.

Wilck said, ‘I don’t read too much into the 3-laps but it is very close’. Asked about his improved pace over free practice, the Infinity driver said he changed body shell from Xtreme’s Speciale to Twister and this suit the conditions. ‘I normally prefer the Speciale but the Twister was faster for the conditions.’ He added, ‘I think it also helped us (Infinity’s car) that it was a little cooler conditions for CP2’. Planning to ‘leave everything for now’ in terms of his set-up, he said the goal for Q1 is to ‘get some good points’ from the run. Pulling up early like the majority of the drivers the Swede described the rule on having to use a set of tyres from controlled practice for Q1 as a ‘silly rule’.

An upbeat Christopher Krapp would set the fourth fastest time. While Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prümper had problems with an out of balance front tyre, Krapp explained, ‘we didn’t really touch the car and just worked on adapting to the circuit’. The German continued, ‘We are over the 3-laps and have been focusing on 5-minutes. We didn’t slow after the first minute. We didn’t practice here so we have no time to do this shit’. He concluded, ‘lets see what the night conditions bring but so far it is going really well for us’.

‘It was better than the 1st run’ was Jilles Groskamp’s description of the final practice. ‘Honestly we didn’t change much so I think it being a little cooler suited our car. My 3-laps was Ok and I was one of the few to finish the 5-minutes so I am happy with that also. Bruno is too far away (on pace) but the 5-minutes without problems comes down to the dots. The light of the evening is also different now so let’s see’.

Dropping to P6 having been Coelho’s closest challenge in Free Practice, Marc Rheinard said, ‘it felt like I had no grip at all. The car was really good for the final free practice but now no grip with the same set-up, it’s a bit weird’. Asked about 5-minute pace the multiple World Champion said, ‘I don’t push because for the (tire) rule so I don’t know if it is any better’.

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