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Coelho again in Q2
Having concluded yesterday’s action by taking the opening round of qualifying, Bruno Coelho continues to be the man to beat at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in China. With four rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule, the Xray driver opened the third day of the event with a second TQ run again having the edge over Yokomo Ronald Volker. With Volker setting the early pace, it’s a blue sky sunny morning in Beijing, Coelho would put in a strong second half to top the times by 1.4 seconds. Behind them Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3, the Swede getting ahead of Q1 P3 finisher Viktor Wilck.
‘A good start to the day’ was Coelho’s reaction afterwards but the Portuguese ace was less impressed by his own start to the qualifier. He said, ‘the first three laps I had some mistakes as I forced a little too much’ adding it is ‘harder’ today as ‘the track is super hot’. Commenting that pushing too hard early on will leave you struggling with the tyres by the end, he said as his driving improved he was able to make back the time he lost early, adding his T4 ‘was ok to the end’. Leaving his car unchanged despite the much warmer conditions compared to the evening time Q1, he plans to again keep it the same for Q3.
Volker summed his second qualifier as ‘a similar story to yesterday’. ‘Matching Bruno’ and ‘probably a little ahead’ over the first two & a half minutes, the German said ‘half way through I start to loose overall grip’. Making a set-up change after Q1, he said while it was better it left his new BD8 ‘difficult but fast’ and with drop off still a problem they ‘definitely need more set-up changes’. He concluded, ‘P2 is OK but I want more’.
Having reported a drop off in motor power after his P4 time in Q1, Hagberg said, ‘we solved the motor problem and I had consistent power for the whole run’. With a new motor the solution to the problem, the Xray driver felt there is further improvement to come from his driving. Finishing little over a second off Volker, the former European Champion said, ‘I was driving too cautiously at the start which lost me time’.
With the P3 and P4 order the reverse in Q1, the drivers appear to have also swapped issues. Losing out to fellow countryman Hagberg in the second half of the qualifier, Wilck reported a motor problem for Q2. Declaring it an ‘ok’ run, the Serpent driver added, ‘my motor slowed down too much the last minute’. Having lacked power due to a conservative speedo setting yesterday, turning up the power setting this morning he said while ‘a little better’ it was ‘still slow’. Feeling the hot track temperature may have been a factor, talking to 4X designer David Ehrbar, he will fit a new motor and also gear up for Q3.
Going one better than Q1 to post the 5th fastest time, Akio Sobue would be the top Tamiya for the second qualifier. With team-mates Marc Rheinard and Christopher Krapp P9 & 10 behind former Champion Andy Moore, the Japanese said changes to his TRF419X had improved the car over the first 2-minutes but he had a big drop off. The 22-year-old said, ‘I can’t save the tyres so we will make a small change to try and get it more consistent (over the 5-minutes)’.
With Yokomo using these World Championship to launch their new BD8 platform, running prototypes of the upcoming kit release, Nicolas Lee put his example in the Top 6 ahead of team-mate Loic Jasmin. P7 in the opening round when a diff bearing issue left the belt tension loose, the Singapore driver ‘just fixed that’ and ran the set-up unchanged for Q2. Saying the ‘car is good’ he added ‘I just need to drive better’. Running a P4 pace in the top heat, the 25-year-old said he ‘got a little nervous’ causing him to drop a little off the pace.
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Chassis Focus – Ronald Volker
Chassis – Yokomo BD8
Motor – LRP X20 4.5T
ESC – LRP Flow
Battery – LRP 5600mAh LCG P5
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Highest
Body – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Current European Champion and 5-time ETS Champion Ronald Volker, who along with the Yokomo Factory team, is using a prototype of the all new BD8. The most visible change on the car the centre drive train which sees both belts on the same side of the spur, which along with moving the motor 2mm closer to the centre line of the car, help reduce tweak on power. In terms of geometry there is new front c-hub system and rear uprights, Volker choosing for the rear ARS system, which obviously work to give more steering and rear traction. The chassis plate has also been changed with the car’s flex point now moved to the centre of the car compared to the older car where it was more to the front. With all 4 corners able to be swapped with the current BD7 this gives a large range of options to fine tune the car’s setup for different conditions. Ahead of this race both Volker and team mate Meen Vejrak tested extensively in both Japan, at SRT and Green Park, and China, at ARC Internation Raceway, and have kept that setup, with some minor tweaks, until this point.
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Chassis Focus – Freddy Sudhoff
Chassis – Awesomatix A800
Motor – LRP X20 4.5T
ESC – LRP Flow
Battery – LRP 5600mAh LCG P5
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Lead Awesomatix driver after Q1 here in Beijing Freddy Sudhoff is running the A800, arriving with their base setup from the ETS. Lacking overall traction he has had to adjust their setup to the different tires and have focussed so far on changes to the shock package, going harder with the front and softer with the rear. For Q2 he will try some roll centre changes in an attempt to find that extra pace to move up the order. In terms of configuration they back to back tested the standard top deck with the vertical top deck but settled on the standard top deck. He is also using a new stiffer servo holder combined with the liner steering system.
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Coelho takes opening qualifier at WC
Bruno Coelho has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championship in China. As predicted by his rivals, the Xray driver was fastest as the timing switched to 5-minutes with him topping the first of six scheduled qualifiers. Setting the fastest lap by over 1/10th of a second, Coelho would take Q1 by almost 2.5 seconds from Ronald Volker, the Yokomo driver having led away the top heat after setting the fastest three laps of the final control practice. Topping the two rounds of seeding practice, Viktor Wilck completed the Top 3 a second back on Volker, with Alexander Hagberg opening his campaign with a P4.
Looking rather ragged on his opening lap, Coelho said, ‘the first few laps are difficult anyway but I forced too much and almost lost the car’. Starting the heat fifth, after a mistake on his opening three laps in the final control practice, the Portuguese driver said he knew from his warm-up laps he had a good car and despite his less than perfect lap he knew he still had the pace to be fastest over the 5-minutes. Making a ‘small change’ to his Hobbywing powered T4, he described the track as ‘now perfect’ due to ‘no wind and less temperature’ adding he plans to ‘keep the car same and see tomorrow (if changes are needed)’. With opinions divided over the daily sugar watering of the track, with it having been done each day so far, the ETS champion said it should continue highlighting that it would be needed especially tomorrow following all the drivers walking on it for this evening’s opening ceremony. After this morning’s low traction following the sugar watering IFMAR called a team managers meeting where it was agreed that the procedure would be conducted each morning albeit at an early hour.
‘P2 isn’t too bad and I had a comfortable gap to the drivers behind me’, was how Volker summed up his performance. The German said, ‘it was a good thing starting ahead of the field but half way through I lost a bit of overall traction and we need to figure out how to improve that’. Running Yokomo’s soon to be released BD8, he continue, ‘I was only a few tenths behind Bruno so for tomorrow we will try a different set-up to try to be able to challenge him’.
Having to start the top heat last after having his time disallowed for running an unmarked motor in CP3, Wilck said he ‘just had a safe run’. Forced to change his ESC, and motor, after problems in the final practice the Swede turned down the timing on the ESC after his early issue and as a result said he ‘could have done with a little more speed’. Planning to up the timing for tomorrow morning’s second qualifier, in terms of his 4X’s performance he said, ‘I think the car as good’ but conceded, ‘Bruno has the extra edge right now’.
‘Not so good’ was Hagberg’s view of his first qualifying attempt. Suffering ‘a couple of mistakes’, the 2015 European Champion also reported a motor issue in his T4 saying, ‘the motor faded in the end and I had no power the last couple of laps’. The drivers demeanour after the qualifier gave the impressive the Xray driver felt a strong result was there for the taking had he not lost power.
Heading the Tamiya challenge in the first qualifier would be Christopher Krapp who as the only TRF driver in the top heat posted the fifth fastest time. The multiple Worlds finalist said, ‘I’m happy about the run’ adding, ‘we struggled a little in controlled practice but worked together and improved for Q1 but it seems we can get the car working for colder conditions but must focus now on a set-up for hot conditions’. With Q1 bringing Day 2 of the championship to a close with temperatures noticeably lower than those of the second controlled practice when the sun managed to break through the clouds, the German concluded, ‘it is good to have one good run in the bag’.
Running in the second fastest heat Krapp’s Tamiya team Akio Sobue, who early in the week finished his first 1:12 Worlds on the podium, posted the 6th fastest time. The 22-year-old wasn’t overly happy with his run describing it as ‘so, so’. Elaborating on why, he said his TRF419X was on the ‘right side (of the track) OK but on left side so so’. With the car suffering from a little understeer and said it was also ‘on power a little bit loose’. Suffering ‘a small mistake’ during the heat, he said while the car is ‘not so bad’ he will try to get more steering for Q2. For traditional TRF team leader and 3-time World Champion Marc Rheinard, who finds himself in the second fastest heat at the Worlds for the first time, he would open qualifying with a P10, a result the German will be determined to count as one his 3 dropped scores. In between Sobue and Rheinard, Nicolas Lee posted the 7th fastest time from Team Infinity’s Andy Moore and Yokomo team-mate Loic Jasmin.
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