Chassis – Yokomo BD11
Motor – Racing Performer M4
ESC – Racing Performer RPX2
Battery – Nosram
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servos – Sanwa / Power HD S15
Body – Xtreme Twister Speciale
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Bad weather has pushed the running of the finals at the ISTC World Championship to Sunday. Originally scheduled for running today (Saturday), a team managers meeting this morning got agreement that due to bad weather in the area that the controversial ‘Rain Day’ would be used to complete the 11th running of the Electric Touring Car World Championship.
While drivers arrived to a wet track, the early morning conditions allowed them to stand around on the track where much discussion took place regarding the decisions being made. Soon however the heavy rains and some very high winds arrived. With the bad weather, that has played havoc with the schedule for the last few days, looking set to pass this evening, another Team Managers meeting will take place again at 15:00 local time. It is expected that this will be to discuss if the track will open for evening practice. While racing in dry conditions is overall the preferred option, a large number of competitors appear to want to drive in the wet. The rule book has never seen so much attention as driver search for opportunities to protest the decision to race Sunday. For others the decision has meant a scramble to try reschedule flights home. Based on the current weather front passing over the track it would be hard to see how purely on the grounds of safety the racing could take place.
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The grid for the 11th running of the IFMAR ISTC World Championship is set with Christopher Krapp securing the No.2 spot on the grid behind defending Champion Bruno Coelho. Despite the heavy rains that played havoc with the timetable, the organisers managed to get all six rounds of qualifying completed just before the arrival of yet more downpours this evening. A grid comprising of seven different manufacturers and 4 World Champions, the big question on everyone’s mind for the finals is what conditions they will face. Currently it is looking like a wet finals day here in Gubbio, Italy, something many of the drivers have never experienced before.
Completing a clean sweep of all six qualifiers, Coelho would revert back to the all white Xtreme Twister bodyshell for the final qualifier. Also reverting back to the set-up on his Xray he used yesterday, he again had a commanding advantage over his rivals who had felt they had closed the gap in the previous two rounds of heats. On Q6 he said, ‘the car worked much better after we went back to the set-up from the previous day’. Looking to tomorrow’s finals, the current European Champion said, ‘It looks super bad so all the work we have done to this point can change’. Asked about racing in the wet, he replied, ‘I have never raced touring car in the wet before. It will be something new for me and a few others’.
‘I’m pumped to get P2’, was the reaction of a very motivated Krapp. Coming into the event on the back of a recent ETS win with high hopes, the Yokomo driver said, ‘I knew I was fast the last one (Q4 re-run) but I had a mechanical failure. The car was amazing so it’s great to secure second on the grid’. The German continued, ‘The Portuguese is 5-6 second away. In Q4 & 5 it was close but in Q6 he was again away and I don’t know how. Anyway I will focus on my own final and give everything’.
Starting P3 on the grid, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg said, ‘I am pretty disappointed today to be honest. In the re-run of Q4 I had no pace after 2 laps for some unknown reason’. Running in the second fastest heat, the former Nitro Touring Car World Champion said, ‘Q6 was a really good run but I was surprised how poorly my time held up against the top heat. I think it was cooler for the fastest heat. I have to settle for 3rd on the grid but anything is possible in the finals.’
‘It was higher than I expected. I am happy with P4’, was Akio Sobue’s take on qualifying. Moving from the large Infinity team to the much smaller Axon team, the Japanese driver said, ‘We are the smallest team here. There is just two of us and we are starting 4th and 6th’. From his starting position the reigning TITC Champion is targeting a podium finish. With Japanese races not running in the wet, he said tomorrow is going to be a new experience for him. Qualifying sixth, team-mate Hayato Ishioka, a former 1:12 World Finalist, makes his first ISTC World’s A-Main start.
Completing the top half of the grid, Jilles Groskamp is delighted with his performance admitting he had pre race doubts he might not make the A-Main. Having already secured a mid grid starting position, the 2012 Champion used the final qualifier to try difference springs which he said ‘didn’t feel so good’. The Infinity driver continued, ‘I didn’t have anything to lose so I let Akio by because he was in the fight for grid places. I tried to stay with him for a few laps but pushed too hard and rolled my car. He concluded, ‘Anyway I am super happy with 5th, it is nice to be in the final again, and I am ready for the wet’.
The rest of the grid is made up of Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper in P7 ahead of 2016 Champion Ronald Volker who flies the flag for Mugen in P8. Marc Rheinard’s return to the ISTC having missed South Africa hasn’t gone as expected, the multiple Champion lining up ninth for Awesomatix. Another A-Main debutant Michal Orlowski takes the final spot for Schumacher with 2016 and 2018 podium finisher Viktor Wilck taking the dreaded BQ honours ahead of 2014 Champion Naoto Matsukura.
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While it was business as usual at the front with Bruno Coelho posting his fifth TQ run in the re-run of yesterday aborted Q4, the two drivers to enjoy strong performances would be Akio Sobue and Marc Rheinard. Both driver would posts their best runs around the Gubbio track, Sobue setting the second fastest time and getting within 8/10th of Top Qualifier Coelho while Marc pulled off a P3. Behind, Q1 surprise Michal Orlowski would getting another P4 ahead of former champions Jilles Groskamp and Ronald Volker.
Re-run after light rain at the end of the fourth round yesterday disadvantaged the drivers in the top heat, with all drivers issue with another new set of tyres for the second attempt, the qualifier would see Coelho rock a painted body for the first time. Explaining the switch from the white body he had run so far, the Xray driver said, ‘It is hard to get bodies painted at the moment so I only have two and I made them wrong, they are not in the perfect position’. The same body type as the white one he used, he continued, ‘It is very important you have the right position. I like to run a painted body but everything counts in this race so if its slower I don’t car if it is painted or not’. Asked if expects to run his colours again, he replied, ‘we are still deciding if we adjust the set-up to the body or just change back to the white one’.
‘I’m happy with second but I need to push more in the last qualifier’, was Akio’s reaction his Q4 effort. Sitting 6th overall with one round remaining, the Axon driver continued, ‘our car suits today’s track conditions but I think the run could have been even better. Twice I had traffic so I had to be very careful’. Happy with the car, the Japanese driver will leave it unchanged for Q6 confident it is up to the job and he just needs to drive well for the 5-minutes.
Summing up his run, Rheinard said, ‘A bit late and I have no idea how, to be honest’. The 3-time Champion continued, ‘we are having many up and downs with more downs but at least this time we are fighting with the top guys’. Suffering a mistake that ‘cost [him] 1 second, he said, ‘In my mind I knew I needed that one to make the A-Main. I am still not safe but I am more to the top after that one’. In Q5 he said his Awesomatix was ‘fast but difficult to drive’ and ‘now it as super easy to drive again with no big changes’.
Orlowski said his improved performance came from a change in set-up that meant there was ‘better overall grip in the car’. The Schumacher driver continued, ‘Now we are trying to figure out one last idea but we don’t want to risk being bumped out of the A-Main’. The Pole added ‘starting at the back in the A-Main in the wet anything can happen’ but first you must make sure to be on that grid.
‘My car felt super easy. I didn’t push 100% so I was surprised to get Top 5 again’, was Groskamp’s summary of the latest qualifier. Promoted to P5 for Q5 after Alessio Mazzeo was DQ’d from P3 for a tyre infringement, he Dutch driver continued, ‘I am more than happy. I am going to start 4, 5 or 6 on the grid and I close to the top guys. The gap to Bruno is now also less. We are now competitive in all conditions’. Having last been in the ISTC A-Main in Florida 8 years ago, him starting in the B-Main in China and not travelling to South Africa, he said he is ‘really pumped’ to make the A-Main here in Gubbio.
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