Hagberg wins exciting first A-Main

Alexander Hagberg took the win in an exciting opening A-Main at the TITC, the Xray driver withstanding intense pressure from Infinity’s Akio Sobue to cross the line 17/100ths in front.  Having had the perfect week leading up to the A1, reigning champion Bruno Coelho’s domination came to an end on the first lap.  Starting from the TQ, he would lose his Xray approaching the front straight spinning in front of the pack with Naoto Matsukura unable to avoid him.  This let second place qualifier Hagberg go to the front with Sobue in tow and closing.  All over the back of the leader, fourth place starter couldn’t find a way by with an attempt at the end of the front straight resulting in contact.  With Sobue waiting on Hagberg to retake the lead, this brought Meen Vejrak into the lead battle but after a couple of laps the Yokomo driver dropped off give Sobue breathing room for a second attempt to pass but Hagberg kept his composure to secure the win.

Punching the air with delight on the drivers stand, afterwards Hagberg said, ‘for some reason it felt like no traction. I can’t say it was the tyres or the track but I was sideways everywhere and I was lucky to keep it on the track’.  Given the lack of traction reported by most drivers, he said, ‘now I don’t know what to do with the set-up’.  On his battle with Sobue, the vocal crowd showing their appreciation throughout the race, the Swede said, ‘It was a good fair battle.  He tagged me but then let me back in front.  It was a good race’.  Summing up his race team-mate Coelho, who would finish 7th, said, ‘I had zero traction as I had concerns about. I don’t know what happened.  We had a perfect car all the week and the only thing we changed was the tyres and now it is like this.  I have nothing more to say’.

‘There was no space, I couldn’t get by’, was Sobue’s reaction after the race.  Posting the fastest lap of the race, the Japanese driver said, ‘My car was not too bad. The low traction suits my car and it was easy to drive’.  A driver of few words, he concluded, ‘I go maximum attack in the next one’.  Matsukura said his problems started with his grid position.  With both himself and his 5th place qualifier team-mate Marc Rheinard starting on the inside of the grid both drivers struggled to get away due to being off the racing line.  He said, ‘I couldn’t get full throttle, the wheels just spin.  Then I have to be safe not to crash Akio.’  Hanging on to his third position he would then run head into a spinning Coelho dropping him down the field with him eventually recovering to 4th.

Finding himself in the battle for the lead following errors from an number of drivers in front of him, 6th place qualifier Vejrak said the race ended a lot better than it started.  The Thai driver said, ‘I had a bad start because another driver crashed me onto the grass’.  Working his way up the order and running in third he said, ‘When Alex and Akio crashed I tried to punch it but there was no space.  I tried to keep with them but at the end my pace faded and I dropped back’.  Asked about his car set-up, he replied, ‘overall it is a little better than before. My lap times are more close now’.  Team-mate Naoki Akiyama would complete the Top 5.

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Xray 1-2 for TITC A-Main

It will be an Xray 1-2 on the grid for the TITC A-Mains later today at RC Addict In Thailand as a P2 in the final qualifier this morning bumped Alexander Hagberg up two spots to start second behind team-mate & Top Qualifier Bruno Coelho.  Having wrapped up the overall TQ in the fourth round of qualifying yesterday, Coelho would complete a clean sweep of qualifying, again topping the times in the sixth & final round this morning.  Behind the Xray duo, the attack is set to come from Infinity with Naoto Matsukura third ahead of team-mates Akio Sobue and Marc Rheinard with 2017 race contender Jilles Groskamp also making the grid for the team albeit in 10th spot.  For last year’s podium finishers Nicholas Lee and Ronald Volker, its been a tough event with both finding themselves in the B-Main with Meen Vejrak Yokomo’s top hope staring 6th on the grid ahead of team-mate Naoki Akiyama.

Commenting firstly on his Q6 performance, Coelho said, ‘I had a mistake at the beginning.  I was on 2-wheels in the front chicane but I was able to recover’.  Looking to the finals, the drivers getting 2-new sets of the race’s controlled Ride tyre, he said, ‘now we glue new tyres for the finals which I hope are not a different batch to what they sell us before but I think they should be the same’.  With the majority of drivers conceding that Coelho will successfully complete the hat-trick of TITC titles such has been his advantage from the opening practice, the Portuguese driver concluded that for the finals he will, ‘leave the car the same and continue what we are doing’.

‘My car was good, even better than yesterday’, was Hagberg’s reaction after Q6.  The Swede continued, ‘It was fast from the middle to the end so I could finish 2nd and I’m happy with that’.  Looking to the opening A-Main he said, ‘My car doesn’t start as well as the other but finishes good which could be an advantage because it doesn’t drop off as much as the others’.  He concluded, ‘I will try my best to fight for a podium in the finals’.

With modified the first class to run on the track this morning, Matsukura said, ‘the track grip was low but after 2-minutes my car started to understeer and get loose so I could make consistent laps’.  Despite spinning out on the last lap and knocking the rear shock off his car resulting in a 26-second lap he would still get a P5 but he needed to finish ahead of Hagberg. Dropping from the second position he held overnight in the provisional qualification ranking to third as a result, on the finals he said, ‘It will be super difficult to win but I will try.  I need to get by Alex as quick as possible’.  Asked about his car set-up for the final, he replied, ‘I think what we can do to the car but the track should be better than this morning’.

Sobue would also struggle with the lower traction of Q6.  Ending up 3rd quickest in the final qualifier, the Japanese Champion said, ‘the pace of my car was not too good. At the start it felt pretty good but after 1-minute it had a big drop off.’  Agreeing the real battle was going to be against Hagberg he admitted, ‘Bruno is too fast’ adding, ‘but we never give up so I will push hard for a good result for the team’.  In terms of his car set-up for A1 he said,  ‘I will make just small changes for the first final because the track will be better’.

Completing the top half of the grid, Rheinard was lost as to how he could improve for the finals.  Posting the fourth fastest time in the concluding qualifier, the multiple World Champion said, ‘I changed the diff, shock position and the rear toe but it was still the same. It was loose at the end.  I really have no idea what else I can do’.  He continued, ‘Now it is an Xray 1-2 and normally if Naoto was second he could maybe attack Bruno.  We know Alex is not the best at the start so maybe Naoto can get by but for me I just have to wait and see what happens’.  He concluded, ‘We have four in the Main which is still good’.

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Coelho wraps up overall TQ at TITC

Bruno Coelho will start out his quest for a third consecutive TITC victory tomorrow after wrapping up the overall TQ at RC Addict in Bangkok.  Having dominated yesterday’s three rounds of qualifying, the Xray driver secured pole position with yet another different level performance in the fourth qualifier.  Behind him, the main challenge again came from Japan but not from Naoto Matsukura, who had a mistake on the first lap, but from Infinity team-mate Akio Sobue.  Sobue stopped the clock 2.5-seconds off the TQ pace.  Alexander Hagberg finally broke into the Top 3 having finished all of yesterday’s qualifying 4th fastest.  The Swede was on for second but had issues on his penultimate lap which dropped him back behind Sobue.  Despite his mistake Matsukura would recover to record a P4 ahead of Meen Vejrak and Atsushi Hara.

‘It was another good round’, was Coelho’s reaction after Q4.  The reigning champion, who claimed that title from the TQ last year, continued, ‘I just drove easy to make no mistake and could pull away slowly’.  Having a clear advantage over his rivals, on becoming Top Qualifier with two rounds remaining he said, ‘To get the overall TQ without any problems from the driver or mechanics of the car is really great and I hope we can keep it like this for the rest of the weekend. I have nothing more to say really’.

Sobue described his car as ‘a little difficult’ to drive but the CETC Champion was pleased with himself that the run had ‘now no mistakes’.  He added, ‘the car was a little nervous and we need to make it more stable but the conditions for the next one will be much cooler so we will change the set-up for the higher bite’.  The 5th and penultimate round of qualifying will be the latest a qualifier will be run with drivers expecting it to be much cooler and in theory quicker conditions.

‘The car was better than yesterday but still I lost a little time avoiding upside down cars’, was Hagberg’s summary of Q4.  The Xray driver continued, ‘definitely the pace was there to be second so I will try to have a clean round in the next one’.  Putting the car improvement down to a ‘small change in the roll centre’, asked if he planned any further changes the Swede replied, ‘the track conditions will change massively for the next one.  Its going to cool down a lot, it will be the coolest time we run on the track all weekend and I am probably not going to change my set-up’.

‘The first lap again’, said a frustrated Matsukura.  Switching from PSS shocks to the standard set-up, he said they are better but more risky as his contact with the curb in the sweeper after the main straight showed when contact launched his car.  He continued, ‘I think it lost me 3-seconds or something but the car was pretty good. I just had that one mistake’.  Asked about the expected high traction for Q5, the former World Champion will go up in both diff and shock oil for it.  For team-mate Marc Rheinard he would also make an early mistake.  Rolling his Infinity coming on to the main straight he lost almost 8-seconds and now sits 5th on the provisional grid.

Remaining Yokomo’s leading challenge, with Ronald Volker copying his set-up for his 5th attempt but ending up rolling, Vejrak described his run to the 5th fastest time as ‘difficult’ due to the track being ‘a lot more hot than yesterday’.  The Bangkok driver said, ‘we went much more soft with the shocks.  The lap times look OK but it is very difficult to drive’.  On the final qualifier of the day, the former nitro touring car World Champion said, ‘It should be cooler but you never know.  The traction now is completely different to practice but I do know the four guys in front of me are too strong’.

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