Sparks fly as Coelho takes Q1

Sparks literally flew as Bruno Coelho took the opening round of qualifying with darkness falling on the opening day of the ISTC World Champions.  The top seed after practice, the reigning Champion would lead an Xray 1-2 from Alexander Hagberg, no one more surprised than the Swede with his P2 having been seeding the second fastest heat.  Finishing off practice with an ever improving performances, Christopher Krapp would set the third fastest time for Yokomo ahead of Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski, another driver running in the slightly less dark second fastest heat.  As cars went to the grid there was calls to not run the top heat as drivers complained about being unable to see.  Legendary mechanic Masayuki Miura would make a direct call to race officials for the qualifying not to go ahead saying his driver could not see.  Unfortunately that driver, Naoto Matsukura, struggled with the lack of light saw him crash out just two corners into the qualifier.

‘The sparks were the best thing we could see’, joked Coelho after his TQ run.  Asked about having to qualify in such low light, he said, ‘I have driven in worse conditions in the past but for sure this was not the best lighting’.  Topping the times by a massive 6-seconds, he said, ‘this was the first time to see how everyone was on 5-minute pace because of running 2 cars and tyre strategy in the practice.  My car was working pretty good and I was really focused on making no mistakes for the 5-minutes’.  Asked about tomorrow’s qualifying action he simple replied, ‘It will rain tomorrow’.

A very pleased Hagberg, said, ‘to be honest I was a bit concerned about qualifying because I couldn’t string 3-laps together in practice and because I had to drive conservatively for the tyres I had no idea what to expect over 5-minutes’.  The Swede felt the dark conditions meant he ‘drove a little cautious’ but overall it was ‘a really good start to qualifying’ that he had expected.  Admitting running in the second fastest heat meant they had a little more light he was more than happy to take the result.  Looking to Day 2 of the World Championships, the Swede said, ‘I will wake up tomorrow and see what the sky looks like.  It’s outside our control’.

Commenting on his P3 time, Krapp said, ‘I am happy with the position but it could have been 2nd.  I lost a place with traffic when Viktor held me up so I missed P2 by 2/10ths. I think Bruno is already away, but it is a strong start for us and now we just wait to see what the weather is tomorrow.  Hopefully it is dry because I have nothing prepared for the wet’.

‘Just lucky. It was dark but not as dark as the top heat where a few drivers made mistakes’, was Orlowski’s initial view on Q1.  The Polish driver then added, ‘I don’t want to take from our performance as we did improve the car so I am quite happy with P4 in the first one’.  He continued, ‘we don’t know what to expect tomorrow so we will play it by ear. I have Andy’s wet car all ready to go and we will use his (wet) experience to our advantage’.

Posting the fifth fastest time, Viktor Wilck described the opening qualifier as ‘very difficult’, adding, ‘the right side of the track you were driving almost just by feeling it was so dark’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘all the way in the hairpin you could not see the car. Our heat had the disadvantage of being more dark’.  Third fastest of those running in the top heat he said the performance of his car, which features prototype parts here in Gubbio, ‘was still really good’. Keen to build on that for Q2 he said, ‘we see what happens tomorrow in the rain’.

One of three Yokomo’s in the Top 10 for Q1, Nicolas Lee would complete the Top 6.  The Singapore driver said, ‘It was really hard to see but anyway the result is good points to start with’.  Only 20th fastest in seeding, he explained, ‘we changed a lot (the set-up) during the day and in CP2 we found a good balance which gave me a good car for Q1’.  Lee’s team-mate Yannic Prümper would set the 8th fastest time.

Setting the 7th fastest time and separating the two Yokomos, Jilles Groskamp was happy to take the result giving the difficult lighting.  The former World Champ said, ‘It was just too dark and I had too many small mistake’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘the end of the straight was just a guess and I had a few rough laps there.  The pace was really good but the conditions just made it so difficult to be consistent.

Top Qualifier at the last World Championship in South Africa 4 years ago, Ronald Volker would finish Q1 in 10th behind young Slovakian Xray driver Matus Benetin. The Mugen driver was on a Top 3 run but spun putting his hand up and admitting it was a driver error as it took place on the brightest section of the track.

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Coelho top seed for World Championship qualifying

Bruno Coelho will kick off qualifying at the ITSC World Championship with the No.1 on his car after the Xray driver set the fastest time of the two timed practices. The second seeding round saw the reigning Champion again set the fastest 3-consecutive laps improving on his Free Practice pace by more than 3/10ths of a second. Behind him an improved Akio Sobue was 2nd fastest having earlier rounded out the Top 6 for Free Practice. Also improving was Viktor Wilck as the 2014 and 2016 podium finisher completed the Top 3 in Gubbio, Italy.

Reacting his his performance Coelho had little to say other than that his ‘car is working good’ and agreeing everything was going to plan so far. Asked about Q1, which will bring Day 1 of proceeding to close on a cooling evening track, the Portuguese driver replied, ‘we don’t really know what the conditions will be but they should not change much’.

‘The driver is still so so, but the car is now better’, was how Sobue summed up his P2 seeding. The TITC Champion said his 3-laps that counted had a small mistake and he believes it will be a different story over 5-minutes adding ‘I just can’t say if it is going to be good or bad for me’. With rain forecast for tomorrow Q1 could prove crucial for drivers with the Axon driver saying he will just check over his car for the first qualifier and leave the set-up as is.

Wilck said, ‘I don’t read too much into the 3-laps but it is very close’. Asked about his improved pace over free practice, the Infinity driver said he changed body shell from Xtreme’s Speciale to Twister and this suit the conditions. ‘I normally prefer the Speciale but the Twister was faster for the conditions.’ He added, ‘I think it also helped us (Infinity’s car) that it was a little cooler conditions for CP2’. Planning to ‘leave everything for now’ in terms of his set-up, he said the goal for Q1 is to ‘get some good points’ from the run. Pulling up early like the majority of the drivers the Swede described the rule on having to use a set of tyres from controlled practice for Q1 as a ‘silly rule’.

An upbeat Christopher Krapp would set the fourth fastest time. While Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prümper had problems with an out of balance front tyre, Krapp explained, ‘we didn’t really touch the car and just worked on adapting to the circuit’. The German continued, ‘We are over the 3-laps and have been focusing on 5-minutes. We didn’t slow after the first minute. We didn’t practice here so we have no time to do this shit’. He concluded, ‘lets see what the night conditions bring but so far it is going really well for us’.

‘It was better than the 1st run’ was Jilles Groskamp’s description of the final practice. ‘Honestly we didn’t change much so I think it being a little cooler suited our car. My 3-laps was Ok and I was one of the few to finish the 5-minutes so I am happy with that also. Bruno is too far away (on pace) but the 5-minutes without problems comes down to the dots. The light of the evening is also different now so let’s see’.

Dropping to P6 having been Coelho’s closest challenge in Free Practice, Marc Rheinard said, ‘it felt like I had no grip at all. The car was really good for the final free practice but now no grip with the same set-up, it’s a bit weird’. Asked about 5-minute pace the multiple World Champion said, ‘I don’t push because for the (tire) rule so I don’t know if it is any better’.

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Coelho sets the pace as free practice concludes

Reigning World Champion Bruno Coelho set the early pace in Gubbio, Italy, the Xray driver posting the fastest 3-consecutive laps of the four rounds of free practice at the ISTC World Championship.  With a full 1-second advantage, his closest rival would be multiple Champion Marc Rheinard with Ronald Volker and Jilles Groskamp making it a very familiar picture at the top of the time sheets.  Setting the fifth fastest time, Yannic Prumper was the fastest of those in search of their first World Title.

‘It seems good, the car is super fast but we had some problems on parts of the track’, was how Coelho summed up free practice.  Finding himself  on the grass on a number of occasions and his car taking flight on the straight one time he added while the car is fast ‘it is not perfect’.  Asked how he is getting to terms with the track changes, he said forgot about the dots and ended up hitting them and said the dots at the end of the straight can be hard to see but concluded ‘it is what it is’.  Asked about his pace over the full 5-minutes, he said the first controlled practice would show as drivers can only run one car, most running two cars in the free practice runs.

‘The last one was good’, was Rheinard’s response to his early performance. Having tried ‘different stuff’ in the first three runs, the Awesomatix driver said switching back to his ‘normal set-up’ he was a lot happier with the car.  Choosing to run only one car each round, the German felt his lap times were good over the entire duration of the run but added he thinks it will be the same for Bruno when he runs just one car.  Asked about the track, he said, ‘Driving on this track (layout) is questionable, the dots are pointless’.

Volker seemed content with his practice saying ‘we are doing fine’.  The Mugen driver added, ‘we went out with 2 cars each run to get more data for the shortened event and we know what we want now for CP1’.  Asked about the differences between the cars, he said they tried to go different directions with each set-up as well focusing on testing body shells.  Asked about his overall pace he said his focus wasn’t on 3-consecutive laps so he is confident they also have good 5-minute pace.  Describing it as ‘weird’ having Q1 on the opening day of the Worlds, asked how he was adapting to the new track layout he replied the dots are ‘not a great idea’.

2012 Champion Groskamp said after 6-years since his last WC he was happy to be back.  Describing Day 1 as ‘a bit of a rushed dasy’, the Infinity driver continued, ‘so far so good, I am pretty happy with the car so far.  We are not far off on the 3-laps although Bruno is far ahead of everyone’.  A driver who raced the nitro touring car European Championships here during the Summer, the Dutch driver is not enjoying the layout changes.  ‘I don’t like the layout.  3 corners have totally different apex now and I really don’t enjoy it. I know it is the same for everyone but the decision ruined the layout and has made it hard to follow so it will be hard to race’.

‘Getting better and better’ was Prumper’s thoughts on free practice.  One of the few factory drivers not to test prior to the event along with Yokomo team-mate Christopher Krapp, he said, ‘we weren’t here for practice so my ficus is working on my driving style.  You could quickly see who did and who did come for practice so I am satisfied with my pace for now’.  He said some small changes had got his car ‘more to what I want’.  While he doesn’t have to re-learn as he wasn’t here before the dots were added, the German did say, the end of the straight is terrible for sure.  You have to take a wide line and there is no grip.  For those watching the race it would be better with no dots, the make it really difficult to overtake’.

Joining Axon this season, Akio Sobue said he was taking a step by step approach to getting his car dialled into the track.  The Japanese driver said ‘small changes each run’ were getting the TC10/2 to his liking but he was having issues with the dots. ‘I don’t like the dots, a small touch causes a big jump and they make it difficult to over take’.  Asked about his car which has been on general sale for a while, he said they are running some new stuff that is planned to be released later as optional parts.

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Impending bad weather sets early tone at ISTC World Championship

After a long 4 year wait the ISTC World Championship is finally here but the 11th running of touring car’s biggest prize is off to a tense start as impending bad weather looks set to dictate the running of the 4 day event.  With the majority of drivers expressing their dislike of the dots added to a number of corners to meet the rule requirement of being 60% different to that which drivers tested on, the protest to allow the iconic circuit to run in its original layout was rejected by the IFMAR International Jury.  The next issue for drivers was the packed Day 1 schedule that will end with the running of the first of the six rounds of qualifying.  The opening day of the Worlds is normally a much slightly more relaxed affair with drivers easing themselves into things with just controlled practice runs. The rules also state the timetable can’t be altered from what was originally published.

While today is dry in Gubbio, the weather is set to turn tomorrow with heavy rain en route and set to hang around.  In an attempt to get everyone at least one dry round a new schedule was issued with Q1 bringing the day to a late finish.  With the arrival of the rain comes the next issue – wet tyres.  At the time of writing the track did not have wet tyres but did confirm 100 set would be delivered, a number well below the requirements of the drivers.  As Lucas Urbain explained each drivers is entitled to purchase three sets of tyres, but this is not possible.  The fact that no ‘wet tyre’ was specified for the race no drivers could ensure they had a set with them.  With the tyres impounded between qualifiers, the French driver said it is going to be impossible set up the cars without having a spare set of the much heavier wet tyres.

Another topic of confusion is the listed race schedule that shows Sunday as a rain day.  EFRA’s Electric Section Chairman Chris Hardisty explained this was an error by the club stemming from the their nitro background. Nitro Onroad Worlds have always listed an additional ‘rain day’ but this is not the case in Electric.  Asked if the racing would continue in the rain, Hardisty said the only reason racing would be halted is on the grounds of safety, lightening one such reason they would stop the event.  Unfortunately while exciting to see the World Championships, these early issues have taken the edge of hype and excitement of the Worlds return with one drivers saying he ‘needs a whiskey’ already and we had even reached lunch time!  Hopefully once everything settles the focus can turn to the battle on track be it dry or wet.

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