Sobue & Rheinard shine in Q4 Rerun

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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Video – Modified Qualifying Rd5

Coelho to defend World title from TQ

Reigning ISTC World Champion Bruno Coelho is to defend his title from the TQ, the Xray driver making it 4 out of 4 in the latest round of qualifying in Gubbio, Italy.  A delayed start to Day 3 of the Championship following the heavy rain yesterday that left a very slick track. When qualifying did finally get underway at lunchtime it looked like the new conditions might result in some changes at the top.  While Coelho led off the qualifier, it was Christopher Krapp who set the early pace. However, once Coelho adapted to the lower traction, he resumed normal service despite Krapp’s impressive effort for the closest TQ battle we have seen so far.  Behind the big surprise of the round was Serpent’s Alessio Mazzeo, the 2016 Nitro Touring Car World Championship podium finisher here at the same track, posting the 3rd fastest time ahead of Alexander Hagberg, Hayato Ishioka and Ronald Volker.

‘A very tough run’, was how Coelho summed up his fourth qualifier. The Portuguese driver explained, ‘in the beginning I struggled a little with the car because the conditions out there were different, low traction and used tyres’. He continued, ‘After 3 laps I got back the feeling and could again do good laps so I was able to get back to the top’. Not reading too much into his overall TQ, this his second time to be ISTC Top Qualifier having been on pole in China in 2016, he said ‘with the condition of the track different’ their focused will be on trying some new things on the car in the final two qualifier in preparation for the finals.

‘Right there, somehow we found 4 seconds’, was the reaction of a very pleased Krapp. The Yokomo driver continued, ‘overnight we changed some things on the car and found pace for these conditions’. On the run itself, the German said, ‘I made a little mistake on the second lap, I got a little too excited.’ Planning to leave the car unchanged for the penultimate round as drivers rushed to get prepared for the re-run of Q4, he said, ‘I hope it’s going to bed dry for the finals. I’m excited’.

On his P3 run from the second fastest heat, Mazzeo said, ‘I know this place really well and I was able to make good use of that experience for these conditions’. The Italian driver best known for his exploits in nitro, said, ‘I was able to get a fast first lap and then just tried to keep that advantage’. The Italian continued, ‘I dedicate this run to all the drivers who think I am done. This is for my father, mother and brother and thank you to Max’. For his next encounter he said the plan is ‘just to check over the car’ due to the short turn around time.

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Duchet & Lauter to duel out Spec TQ

Alexandre Duchet and Simon Lauter will duel it out to see who becomes the first ever ISTC Spec World Championship Top Qualifier in the sixth & final round of quali in Gubbio, Italy.  The duo have taken all five rounds of qualifying so far with Duchet having the advantage of 3 TQ runs compared to Lauter’s two, but the latter has the fastest time.  However with one qualifier remaining it is all to play for Lauter if he can TQ on the improving track.  The rain that stopped proceedings yesterday faded over night but left a damp track this morning that would cause big delays in the resumption of action. Earlier attempts to get quali back underway looked like the Drifting World Championship Title was up for grabs.

Despite the ‘different conditions’ to yesterday, Duchet said his Xray was ‘easy to drive’ allowing him to claim TQ run number 3 but he knows it is all still to play for, given Lauter’s faster TQ run.  Having ‘a good battle with Simon’, the Frenchman said the last one is going to ‘result in a big decision’ but expecting better track conditions for the second run of the day, he is well up for the battle.

‘It’s a close battle’, was how Lauter summed up the action so far.  The Awesomatix driver added, ‘We are trying everything we can and we’re closer than expected at the start of qualifying given we did less practice than the others’.  On what is effectively a fresh track after the monsoon levels of rain yesterday evening, the German said Q5 ‘was not super good’ as the track conditions ‘didn’t suit our car’ but ‘we should be better for the next one’.  Holding the fastest TQ time, set in Q2, Lauter said he is assured of at least starting second but intends to give his all in Q6 to secure pole.

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Video – Modified Qualifying Rd4 (Aborted)

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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