Coelho hands A2 win to Volker

With one hand on the sport’s greatest prize, Bruno Coelho handed his only real rival of the 2016 World Championship Ronald Volker a lifeline when he rolled out of a comfortable lead over the German.  Having convincingly won A1, A2 would be less easy for the Xray driver but he still had the advantage over the Yokomo of Volker but as the race entered the second half he would catch the curb at the chicane before the front straight and rolled.  With Volker going to the front, the Top Qualifier would rejoin in second such was the pairs advantage over the field but he couldn’t do anything about catching the new leader.  Behind, Marc Rheinard would benefit from Akio Sobue making contact with third place starter Alexander Hagberg to take a distant third.

‘I was driving my f**king ass off trying to beat his time’, was the reaction of the normally PC Volker. With the race having been hurriedly moved forward on the timetable due to the visual threat of rain,  Volker continued, ‘When Bruno rolled I was still driving 100% to try and better his 5-minute time’, to try and have the tie breaker if needed.  While he would go the extra lap as Coelho did in A1, his time would be 2-seconds slower.  Switching to a used set of tyres from qualifying after his struggles with a new set of tyres in A1, the 5 time ETS champion said while he ‘couldn’t put direct pressure on him’ his BD8 was ‘converted and had grip again’.  With the threat of rain looking to have passed even if it does rain this will be the first World’s where a wet A-Main would be run using a controlled wet tyre.

With no doubt among anyone that Coelho still has the edge, his fastest lap of the race proof of that, the Portuguese ace understandably had little to say about the race saying, ‘it was just a really stupid mistake’.  It wasn’t to be a good round for either Xray drivers in the final with Hagberg, who was coming in for huge praise for his clean driving in A1, only able to recover to 7th after his lap 2 contact from Sobue.

Also switching a previously used set of tyres for A2, Rheinard said, ‘this set was drivable’.  Having to avoid the Hagberg & Sobue incident this forced him ‘out on the dust’ but once the tyres clean off he ‘found an ok rhythm’.  With team-mate Christopher Krapp on new tyres for the race, he said ‘Krappy was a bit quicker out of the corners & better under braking’ but he kept him behind, eventually having a 1.1-second advantage at the finish.  Behind the two TRF drivers Serpent’s Viktor Wilck would finish fifth.

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Easy A1 win for Coelho

Bruno Coelho took a dominant win the opening A-Main at the Touring Car World Championship, the Top Qualifier in a different class to his rivals in Beijing. While the win didn’t come as any major surprise,  the fashion in which the Xray driver took charge of the race was still impressive but as he checked out it was the battle for second that provided the entertainment.  Starting P2, but it clearly visible he was struggling,  Yokomo’s Ronald Volker would fall into the clutches of Alexander Hagberg and later Akio Sobue for an epic battle for second.   While Hagberg would throw everything at Volker they would finish as they started, with Christopher Krapp the only driver to finish higher than he qualified taking his Tamiya to 5th.

Managing to go an extra lap over his rivals, Coelho summed up his A1 performance with, ‘everything was perfect’.  He continued, ‘at the beginning I tried to push hard so not to have Volker behind me. I was already starting to pull away and then he made a mistake so I had more space’. Once the threat of Volker was gone he said ‘I just brought the car to the finish’.  Describing his Hobbywing powered T4 2017 as ‘amazing now’ he finished up with, ‘I have nothing else to say’.

‘I have no idea why I had no grip compared to 1-hour ago in the final practice’, was Volker’s reaction after A1, adding, ‘the only thing we changed was tyres’.  The frustrated German continued, ‘even in the beginning it didn’t feel as good as before and every lap it got worse and worse’. Asked about his mistake coming out of the sweeper and which allowed Hagberg to catch him he replied, ‘the small mistake cost me a bit of time but it didn’t change anything.  Credit it to Alex for very clean driving behind me’.  Asked about A2 Volker was quick to point out, ‘for sure this set of tyres won’t be used again’.

Giving his view of A1, Hagberg said ‘as normal is slow at the beginning and then comes in’.  The former nitro Touring Car World Champion continued, ‘Ronald was off the pace and drove really defensively.  I had to keep it clean as Akio was right behind me’.  He concluded, ‘I’ll try harder the next time’.

Lucky to survive a tap in the rear from Tamiya team-mate Marc Rheinard coming out of the second corner, which sent his into a half spin, Sobue’s reaction to the race was ‘super close’.  Describing his TRF419X as ‘a little loose’ at the start he said ‘I think it was the tyres but it got better’.  Catching the battling Volker & Hagberg, the 1:12 Worlds podium finisher said, there was ‘no opportunity’ to attempt a pass.  Looking to A2 the Japanese driver said he’s not sure whether to run the same set of tyres again or change.

Final qualifier in Beijing shows Coelho still in command

Having wrapped up the overall TQ honours yesterday in the penultimate round of qualifying, Bruno Coelho used the final round of qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championships to show his rivals that he is still in command in China.   Coelho would head an Xray 1-2 in the sixth qualifier, topping the time sheets for a fifth time with a 2.5-seconds advantage over team-mate Alexander Hagberg.  With second on the grid already locked up, Yokomo’s Ronald Volker would get 3rd for the closing qualifier ahead of long time arch rival Marc Rheinard, the 3-time World Champion set to start 5th on the grid his worst every Worlds starting position.

Pleased to cap off qualifying with an another TQ, Coelho said, ‘was very good but at the beginning I was struggling a bit to the left side’.   Suffering too small mistakes early on as the rear of his Hobbywing powered T4 got loose, he continued, ‘it was ok after that and I just drove safe to make no mistakes’.  Still managing the fastest lap despite driving ‘safe’, looking to the finals the ETS Champion said, ‘In the final everything can happen. I know I am a little faster but everything can change, the pressure is different now’.

Using the qualifier to test a different set-up as he couldn’t better his grid position, Volker said, ‘we tried a set-up more to Naoki (Akiyama) as he was very fast in practice this morning’.  Describing the set-up as ‘too easy to drive’, the European champion would still be the only driver to get close to Coelho’s outright fastest lap pace, their best laps just 0.059 apart.  With a practice final on the schedule for the A-Main drivers, the German said, ‘we need a more aggressive car so we will try something halfway between my previous set-up and Akiyama’s and test it in the practice’.   Looking to the final the German said the aim is to ‘finisher higher than I start’.  Having qualified P2 in Florida behind outgoing champion Naoto Matsukura, who will race in the C-Main in Beijing,  Volker would concede second to the 2014 Worlds P3 starter Coelho.

With his P2 from Q6 one of three counting rounds, Hagberg was much happier this morning saying things are ‘a lot better today because we got yesterday’s electrics issues sorted’.  He continued, ‘I was able now to push to the end and that shows in my lap times so a big thanks to ORCA for solving my problems’.  Matching his previous best Worlds qualifying position of 3rd in the grid, achieved in Germany in 2010, the Swede concluded, ‘I am very confident for the final’.

Posting the 5th fastest time in the final qualifier, a result he would count, Akio Sobue will be the highest place Tamiya on the grid.  Making a shock-oil change for Q6, the 22-year-old said it left his TRF419X suffering from understeer.  Admitting ‘Bruno is very fast’, the 2014 Finalist who qualified 7th and finished 9th, believes he will be able to race with both Hagberg and Volker for a place on the podium.  He added, the Fengtai R/C Model Area track has ‘many places to overtake’.

‘Still 5-seconds off’ was Rheinard’s reaction to getting a P4 for the final qualifier.  The Tamiya driver continued, ‘the start is good but the drop off is still too much’.  Completing the top half of the grid, the German said for the final ‘there is no pressure on me and what happens happens. I’ll be trying for a podium’. Asked about car set-up changes, he replied, ‘I just hope I get a good set of tyres for the final’, continuing, ‘look at Naoki he was fastest this morning in practice and then he couldn’t even do a lap in the final qualifier’.

Having showed strong in early qualifying but then struggled, the final qualifier moved Viktor Wilck from a dangerous P10 overnight to 6th on the grid.  Posting a P8 for Q6, the Serpent driver said, ‘the car is now good again but I still have a power problem’.  The Swede said, ‘the car loses power in the last minute and that time it cost me three positions’, adding the overheating problem ‘is now worse than before’.  Feeling 3rd on the grid to 6th are all very close on pace, he added, ‘6th is not ideal but my aim is a podium and anything can happen in a Worlds A-Main’.  Behind Wilck the line-up for the title race of the 9th running of the Touring Car World Championships will be completed by TRF’s Christopher Krapp, Capricorn’s Marc Fischer and the Yokomo’s of Nicolas Lee and Naoki Akiyama.

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