Coelho pulls off ISTC World Champion Hat Trick

10-years and 1-month after his father took the gamble on bringing him to the 2014 IFMAR ISTC World Championships in Florida, Bruno Coelho has today become one of RC racing’s greatest drivers of all time after pulling off a hat trick of consecutive electric touring car World titles.  Travelling to Finishline RC Raceway in Bakersfield, California, for the 12th running of the Championships two years after dominating the last World Championship in Italy, this time round the Xray driver faced a fierce competitor in Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski.  With the duo the class of the field from the getgo, they would battle it out right through the week and into a title deciding A3 showdown.  After they clashed in A1, handing touring car legend Marc Rheinard the win, A2 would see Top Qualifier Orlowski lead home the defending Champion and the stage was set for four days of action to come down to the very last 5-minutes of a very well executed Worlds.  Leading away A3, Orlowski looked in control but after the first minute the Polish ace was struggling and making a small mistake on his 10th lap, Coelho didn’t need a second invitation to take advantage and go to the front.  Still it was game on, the next lap however, Orlowski had another moment which dropped him back to 5th, Coelho now with a clear lead he was never going to relinquish.  While Orlowski fought back, contact with Alexander Hagberg on the penultimate lap as they battled over second sealed the deal for Coelho as he also ran the fastest time of the three A-Mains meaning his 29th lap was a victory lap for his latest World title.  Having both had an outside chance of the title going in the closing race former Champions Marc Rheinard and Ronald Volker would come together in A3 resulting in P7 and P8 finishes respectively.  Overall however Rheinard would complete the podium ahead of his fellow countryman, itself an impressive result for a driver who won his first World title 20-years ago also on US soil.

Reacting to his record breaking World title, joining Offroad star Davide Ongaro as a back to back to back World Champion, Coelho said, ‘I think there is no better way than finishing the Worlds like this.  We worked super hard, we struggled during the race, we were able to find out the road again, we were able to make the set-up work again and then the finals were just amazing.  Removing that first final that of course I was unfortunate to touch Michal which is what it is when we fight and are nervous and so close together but then the other two finals were amazing we give it all there was no more drama, they were clean runs, we still respect each other like we did all the time and at the end the fastest won, I think I was the fastest at the finals.’  Asked his feelings on the achievement the now 31-year-old replied, ‘for sure it is impressive.  You know it is a lot of hard work and people cannot really understand how much we put into it, how much these moments mean for all the team and all the people at home supporting.  That we miss so many days at home working hard to make this happen, it is for sure a moment that is like nothing else.’  Reminded it is a decade since he turned up in Florida, him speaking almost no English at the time and his dad Cesar having to translate for our Red RC coverage of that WC, he said, ‘It is very special this Worlds that it is 10-years ago when I showed up to the world, showed my talents, and showed to the world what my father was investing in giving up his life in term of time and economics, and it’s paying off now.  At the end of the day it is all about that, the people who believe in you and invest in you in many different ways, this is for all of them.’

Asked for his reaction on the finals, Orlowski replied, ‘I have mixed feelings right now.  It was a good race and good result and my first time fighting for the Touring Car World Championship.  It isn’t easy.’  A driver The finals start off really tough and I think after A1 it is pretty impressive how well we got back up with a good A2.’   The 23-year-old continued, ‘Going into A3 I had a good feeling but struggled a bit with the car over rotating mid corner.  I made a small mistake and Bruno went by but my plan then was to just follow him around and try and put him under pressure and tie and take the tie break but in the next few corners I couldn’t keep it going straight and got pushed back behind Ronald Marc and Alex.  After that I still had a chance and tried my best but it wasn’t enough this time.  I’m sure there will be many more opportunities in the future.’

Turning 38 during these World Championships, Reinhard felt he was robbed of an opportunity to added a fourth ISTC World title.  The German who came into on the back of a confidence boosting European Championship win, summed up his third place finished with, ‘I am clearly disappointed.  I was pretty much in second which would have been enough to win the Worlds.  I actually could have challenged Bruno but when I passed Ronald he tried to come back online which was not possible in this corner so he kind of took me out and this was it for me.  For sure this was my problem that he just clearly cost me a realistic change of the Worlds.’

The last driver to hold the World title since Coelho began his reigning in 2018 in South Africa, Volker was also frustrated by how A3 went.  He said, ‘I’m disappointed because there was a shot to win, even if it was a small chance.  Four of us had a chance to win the Worlds.  I got by Michal and was trying to chase down Bruno cause I know if I can will this run cause the track was fast I could have won but then Marc unintentionally tapped my rear on the front straight sending me to the dust.  I tried to hang on for the couple of corners with dirty tyres and when I send it on the inside I just tried to recover cause my goal was to win but then I touched him, I didn’t check the replay but I cause it was too hard from my side but at the same time I was struggling to get back into the rhythm with dirty tyres.  I really felt it was possible to chase Bruno as the car was fantastic in A2 & 3 thanks to Robert (Pietsch).  Overall I can happy with our new car, but at the moment 4th feels like a disappointment.’

View our event image gallery here.

Lauter ‘Spec’ World Champion after dominant display

Awesomatix’s Simon Lauter is the new ISTC ‘Spec’ World Champion, the German putting on a dominant display of driving at Finishline RC Raceway in California to secured the title in A2.  Only the second running of the World Championship for the 17.5 Spec class, having finished runner-up to Alexandre Duchet 2-year ago at the inaugural event in Italy, Lauter made the trip to the US with just one goal in mind and executed a near perfectly campaign.  Securing the TQ and winning A1 with ease, the back to back European Champion once again pulled clear of the field in A2 with one onlooker commenting that his race was the definition of the ‘perfect driving’.  The only driver to top Lauter over the 6 qualifiers, Max Mächler would win A3 to make it a 1-2 for Awesomatix, the latter having given the manufacturer their first World title when he won the 1:12 Spec title in Florida last year.  As the outgoing ‘Spec’ Champions Xray would complete the podium in Bakersfield with Jan Ratheisky, the German driver chasing home Mächler in A3 having taken P3 in the second A-Main after his body tuck in A1.

Summing his World title success the 29-year-old said, ‘I’m just super happy everything worked out, we did a lot of practice, a lot of preparation, we worked hard for this, and I think the performance of the week showed it is quite deserved.  The last Worlds were quite unsatisfying with an unlucky A3 in Gubbio, but this was kind of a redemption and exactly the result we worked hard for for 2-years.  As I said before it was clear it was going to be my last Stock race so that is the perfect end.  We are the World Champion, two times European Champion in a row, 1:12 Stock (European) Champion, that is it, now I can fully focus on Modified and I am looking forward to this a lot.’  Asked about his dominant performance he said, ‘It always helps if I have Max behind me because we get along very well and I can trust him 100% all the time.  Usually we stand next to each other in the driver stand as well to have a little exchanges on what is doing on and calculate or whatever.  This time with all this stuff going from P3 and upwards it was quite confident that we could roll it home but still you need to keep the focus.  I am super happy for the team and super happy for Max scoring the P2 and in the end even Marc could have finished even higher in Modified which shows that the car was excellent at week and the team result is quite impressive.  I think we had 7 cars in the Spec A-Main.  Even though we are not one of the biggest teams we are one of those teams that can perform under pressure and do a very good job.’

View our event image gallery here.

Orlowski wins uneventful A2

After the drama of A1 at the ISTC Worlds in California, A2 was to be a very straight forward affair with Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski taking the win ahead of defending World Champion Bruno Coelho.  The biggest moment of the race would be the bad start by the Awesomatix of A1 winner Marc Rheinard, the multiple World Champion getting off line and dropping down the order to 6th before eventually recovering to his P4 starting position.  As Orlowski was again shadowed by Coelho, the Portuguese however not looking as racy this time round, Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker joined the mix at the front.  Looking very competitive, unfortunately the 2016 World Champion would go wide coming off the end of the main straight drop off the lead battle.  While Orlowski would have 1 or 2 bobbles he maintained station to win and set a showdown for the third & final A-Main here at Finishline RC Raceway in Bakersfield.

Clearly putting the A1 incident to the back of his mind, on A2 Orlowski said, ‘With the help of my team we fixed the broken chassis and that was the main thing that when I started driving I had confidence in what I was driving with.  After such a big impact, not only with Bruno but also when I had the body tuck that broke some things on my car, from the first lap I had the confidence more than before and the car was awesome.’  The reigning 1:12 World Champion, a title fight that went to A3, he continued, ‘I could have a comfortable gap to Bruno which allowed me to have the gap to make a small mistake because with the driver presentation the racing line was super narrower than usual so went I went slightly wider I could hold onto the lead.’

Summing his his A2 race Coelho said, ‘It was a clean run.  I tried to keep a little more away from Michal, I saw that he was doing some bobbles at the front.  I was trying to save some points because the round before I didn’t have any good points for the win so I just tried to save 2nd position and don’t try to make any crazy move.’  Asked about his car for A2, he said, ‘that time I think it was very good, just he last minute it started to lose the rear, other cars seemed to struggled too, but I am positive for the last final.’

With Mugen coming here with their all new MTC3, it was great to see Volker back in the mix in A2.  Asked about the race the German explained, ‘We made a car change which made it too safe for A1 so we went back to our quali set-up for A2 and it was spot.’  He continued, ‘but trying to close the gap to put them under pressure I got a bit wide at the end of the straight and that was basically it.  I think it is still a four way game, I don’t have the best chances but anything can happen.  The car was great so all I can do is go out and give it my best.’

Rheinard wins A1 after Coelho-Orlowski contact

Awesomatix’s Marc Rheinard has taken the opening A-Main at the Electric Touring Car World Championship, the 3-time ISTC World Champion capitalising on contact between defending champion Bruno Coelho and Top Qualifier Michal Orlowski.  With the Top 2 initially pulling clear, as they scrapped over the lead Rheinard closed in to make way it a three way flight of RC titans, the closeness of the action generating plenty of ‘ooohs’ from the onlooking crowd.  Having got alongside leader Orlowski a number of times, Coelho would attempt a pass in the corner coming on to the main straight but contact was made with Orlowski ending up in the corner with a body tuck as Rheinard slipped through unscathed for a comfortable lead he will hold to the finish ahead Ronald Volker and Akio Sobue with Coelho finishing back in fourth.  Orlowski would finish P8, his car suffering damaged in the incident.

‘I couldn’t ask more’, was Rheinard reaction on taking A1.  The reigning European Champion said, ‘I knew something was going to happen up front so when I could get by Ronald I could see that my pace was actually really good.  I tried to show them I am there so they don’t have breathing room so I tried to get close to Bruno and then also backed off a bit cause I saw they were fighting, but still not too far away from him.  Then, actually I don’t know what happened, but they contacted and I went through and from this moment I tried to control it.’  On his car’s performance today, he said, ‘I made two small changes and it seems it works better now but maybe also the 1-hour break (no track action) made it better for us and definitely the heat’.

Asked about his race,  Coelho replied, ‘The car was I think finally very good.  I was able to keep up with Michal, I was trying to go all around like inside, outside, but over here I need to watch the reply, I don’t really know what happened, if is 100% my fault or not.  I think I touched him on the side and not really from the rear so for me I think he was a bit wide but as I said I need to watch the replay.  The result was looking very good but in the end it was a disaster.’

Asked for his reaction to the race Orlowski’s reaction was brief, ‘My chassis is broken now so that’s pretty much it.  We now need to fix it, that’s it’.

In Spec, there was no problems for Top Qualifier Simon Lauter, the Awesomatix driver easily pulling clear of the field to take a very comfortable win over the Xray of 5th place starter Matus Benetin.  Any early mistake from second place starter Max Mächler caused some the field issues on the main straight but the 1:12 Spec World Champion recovered to P3 helped by Benetin’s pass on Jan Ratheisky cause the German a body tuck that ended his challenge.

View our event image gallery here.

---