Orlowski holds overnight TQ in California

Michal Orlowski holds the overnight TQ at the IFMAR ISTC World Championships in California, the Schumacher driver ending the second day of qualifying with a trio of TQ runs as defending World Champion Bruno Coelho continued to struggle with the difficult track conditions following his strong start in Q1 & 2.  With Coelho traction rolling as the penultimate qualifier came up to half distance and eventually finish 8th for the round, up front Orlowski found himself under pressure from Ronald Volker, the German’s new Mugen Seiki at the top the timing screens for 3-laps.  In the end however Orlowski took the round from the former World Champion by 7/10ths with a very impressive run from the previous heat netting the Serpent of former Nitro Touring Car World Champion Dominic Greiner third for the round.  Xray’s Alexander Hagberg recorded his 3rd consecutive run to the fourth fastest time.  Overall the day’s results sees Orlowski’s Hobbywing powered Mi9 at the top of the qualification ranking on 0 points, 3 from 6 to count.  Second on 5 points Coelho however has two TQ runs and more importantly the fastest time of qualifying meaning he still has a shot of going for his third consecutive Touring Car World title from pole position.  After his impressive day, Volker holds third with the 2016 title holder set to line-up in that position for tomorrow’s final at Finishline RC Raceway.

The slowest of his 3 TQ runs, on Q5 Orlowski said, ‘The track went a different way to what I thought.  I had an idea to change my car but my team stopped me from doing it.  The result was that my car was too easy to drive now but I could get around.  I had to use the curbs now to rotate the car in the corners which I did for most of the run but I went on two wheels two times going onto the straight, my body shell is black on the rear cause the car was almost upside down.  I’m extremely lucky to have been able to save it two times so I am glad to take another TQ.’  Ask about what could be the TQ decider should Coelho return to his morning form of today, Orlowski said, ‘Tomorrow depends how the conditions are so we need to have a good sleep, wake up in the morning and see what the track does.’

‘Today was a huge improvement we kept improving every run.  Usually if you are on the back foot and you try to improve it is not always possible but we made progress run by run and it is an amazing feeling to get close to Bruno and Michal.  Even the announcer was surprised I was in the lead.  Unfortunately it got too difficult to drive after 2-minute.  Even though it wasn’t far off a clean run cause I took much side bit and it was aggressive the performance of the car showed it is on top.  My goal this morning was to get P3 (on the grid) but I wasn’t sure that was possible but big thanks to [the car’s designer] Robert (Pietsch), he sees what the car’s doing and knows what to do and we end the day full of confidence’.  Being unable to afford to go to the 2004 Worlds so making his World’s debut in 2006 in Italy, he said he will now try to have a good sleep and see what tomorrow brings.  As a side story to Volker’s Worlds debut, Jurgen Lautenbach whose LRP brand has been a long time sponsor of the German driver reminded him of when at that race RC legend Masami Hirosaka asked who was that guy that passed him on the straight, when brushed and brushless ran together on the track.  Volker’s own recollection of Masami was standing next to the Japanese driver who pointed to the results sheet and thought he was Hupo Honigl to which Volker replied ‘no I am the other guy’.

Reacting to his Top 3 run, Greiner said, ‘I can feel the car now.  We improved the car, it was super difficult the whole day but now it is stable.  It’s too safe but at least now I can feel it and drive close and hard.  It can be faster a little bit but we are close now’.  Holding 8th overnight in the qualification ranking, asked if he planned any changes for tomorrow’s final qualifier the German said, ‘we will just make a little adjustment to make it safe and stay in the A-Main’.  His first EP Worlds, as the 2016 Nitro Touring Car World Champion, a multiple 1:8 Onroad World Finalist, lining-up in the A-Main here in Bakersfield would put the German in a very exclusive club that includes non other than RC legend Atsushi Hara.  With 2024 his first full season of racing electric, running Serpent’s upcoming new car release, on which ‘almost everything is new’ (click here to view Chassis Focus), he said the car is ‘for sure a lot better than the old one, we improve it a lot’.  Greiner highlighted having a team of just three cars here has made the experience more challenging and considering that he is super happy with his current position going into the final qualifier.

A somewhat dejected Coelho summed up the conclusion of Day 2 of qualifying with ‘A rough day’ adding ‘we hope for a better day tomorrow.’  The 31-year-old explained, ‘We are trying to work on the car to make it at least stay on the wheels tomorrow.  The traction went even higher today and our car was already on the limit to flip and now it is costing me a lot on that.  We need to find something for the higher grip.  We will reset tonight and try to think what to do for tomorrow and try to find some pace’.  Having TQ’d the first qualifier of this morning, Q2, asked if the morning conditions should favour his Hobbywing powered X4 he replied, ‘this morning the track was pretty fast as well so we will see but I hope so.’

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Two a piece as Orlowski TQ’s Q4 at ISTC Worlds

With two rounds of the qualifying remaining it is two a piece for the two key players at the 12th running of the IFMAR ISTC World Championship as Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski TQ’d Round 4.  The Polish driver who took the previous round as Q1 & 2 pace setter Bruno Coelho rolled his Xray, again capitalised on his arch rival struggling with the increasing traction levels.  With the defending back to back World Champion coming away with a P5, it was a resurgent Ronald Volker armed with Mugen Seiki’s brand new MTC3 who was best of the rest a second off Orlowski.  Opening Day 2 of qualifying with two DNF runs, a calculated & safe Q4 effort would see Marc Rheinard complete the Top 3 and collect valuable qual points.  After two rough opening qualifiers, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg added another P4 to his tally, the Swede 4/10th faster than his team-mate.  Running Serpent’s upcoming 2025 kit release, former Nitro Touring Car World Champion Dominic Greiner completed the Top 6 and hold eight overall in the qualifying ranking just behind Jacob Cruz, the youngster having bad Q4.

Asked how his Q4 run was, Orlowski replied, ‘It was good but the car is too easy now.  We made a small adjustment but I think small changes make a big difference on the track in the ever changing conditions.  Now the car was easier than in Q3 but still quite quick ad I could pressure Bruno and I know I didn’t get the fastest time but it is nice to start behind Bruno and put him under pressure than start in front.  The next round will be different again.  We always have ideas on what to do but it’s just a matter of risk management and trying to expect what the track will do.  I think our car is very strong when the grip gets higher where for them it is the opposite.  Also in the warmer conditions we are very strong where they aren’t strong in these conditions.  It changes the balance towards one car depending the temperature and track conditions.  I hope the grip keeps going up because my car is very easy to drive and I am never on two wheels where that is what they are struggling with.  It looks like the grip will be going up.’

Putting in the fastest lap time of Q4, a very pleased Volker said, ‘It started off a bit understeering, maybe I was a bit to slow on the warm-up lap, but suddenly I got more grip and confidence and I surprised myself I was able to hang on, this is something I haven’t felt all summer.  We suffered with pace since TITC but now thanks to Robert (Pietsch) for the new car we are able to come closer & closer to both Michal and Bruno.’  Asked if his confidence is growing with every run using the new car he replied, ‘We improved the car, we changed again something on the steering and I feel more & more comfortable.  I think this automatically leads to reducing the gap, both (Coelho & Orlowski) have really upped the bar so I surprised myself during the run that I was able to hang on and that is all credit to Robert as this wouldn’t be possible with him.’  Looking to the final qualifier of today as he sits third overall he said, ‘we hope we can stay P3 and keep on improving the car but overall it is a way better day than I expected.’

Reacting to his P3 run Rheinard, who is the ISTC World Championship’s most decorated driver, said, ‘I was just trying to get a result, so I didn’t take any risk so I kept it easy.  I don’t know where the limit of the car is to be honest so I just try not get close to it.  I think it wasn’t bad but I lost for sure a lot because of driving safe but at least I have an OK result so I just need one more but that is going to be difficult in the colder conditions now.’  The reigning European Champion added, ‘I think it is still a fight with the car on the track.  You can see also Bruno now is off the track many times.  It seems the Xray cars work good when it is cold and now in the heat they struggle more, and for us it is kind of the opposite.  I think no one knows exactly what to do.’

‘It was a pretty consistent run with no errors so decent points’, was how Hagberg summed up the round.  He continued, ‘We need to work a little bit on the car balance the next couple of rounds and try move up the order.  The car is pretty easy to drive now but I need to find a little more speed.’  Asked about his rough start to qualifying here in Bakersfield, the former 1:12 and Nitro Touring Car World Champion said, ‘I had a mistake in the first qualifier that set me back, had a roll, and the second one as well, now at least I have three results and I can afford to experiment more with the set-up and see where it brings us.  Consistency is good now we just need to find more speed.’

In the Spec Class, after a mistake in Q3, it was Simon Lauter who resumed business at the top of the time sheets with a third TQ run ahead of Xray drivers Jan Ratheisky and Matus Benetin.  Asked about the only glitch in his impressive performance at these World Championships, on the Q3 mistake Lauter said, ‘You could call it a glitch or you just also could call it a mistake.  I drove just slightly over the the curb and it was just enough to flick.  I think going even harder on the curb would have helped because then it would just jumped but like this it traction rolled but all good, it happens.’  The European Champion continued, ‘Q4 was important to come back, the car was perfect, it was also in Q3 because the change we did for Q3 worked quite well.  It was very important because I think this can be the fastest run but we will see what happens in the evening but I am happy’.  Asked about changing the car for the penultimate qualifying round this evening, the German said, ‘I don’t think we will change a lot because the car right now is super good, there is no need to take too many risks.’

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