Video – Qualifying Round 1

Action from the opening round of Modified Touring Car qualifying at the 2025 TITC at RC Addict, Bangkok.

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Orlowski takes opening Qualifier at TITC

He might be the big name rookie at this year’s TITC but Michal Orlowski has acquitted himself brilliantly on the first official day of racing at the world’s toughest touring car race by TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying.  Seeded No.2 behind Marc Rheinard, the Schumacher driver took Q1 ahead of Bruno Coelho as the defending champion suffered a spin and an overshoot.  The lost time meant the Polish driver would top the times by 1.2-seconds over the World Champion who in turn had 1.6-seconds on Axon’s Hayato Ishioka.  Having led away the first of the four qualifiers, Rheinard would start to struggle with his car having to revert to completing the run rather than aiming for a TQ run.  Behind him, team-mate Lucas Urbain, who had to open twice for Coelho over the 5-minutes posted the 5th fastest time as last year’s Top Qualifier Ronald Volker completed the Top 6 in Bangkok with his Mugen Seiki.

Reacting to his TQ run, Orlowski said, ‘We made, or I made a decision, Mattia wasn’t to sure about it, to change the car a little bit because the grip was lower today than testing but it came up way more than I thought for Q1 so the car was really difficult to drive at the beginning.’  He continued, ‘Once I got used to it and also the grip from the tyre went away and it was OK but yeah lucky Bruno had that mistake.  I’m happy to get Q1 done and nice points from it.’  Looking to tomorrow’s action he added, ‘We understand the car quite well for the changing conditions and we have a few options to change depending on the conditions.  We know in each condition we can be quick, we just now need to make the right decisions for each run.’

Setting the fastest lap of the day in opening Q1, Coelho explained his spin in the qualifier.  ‘I over shot the corner and then when I came back I collected all the dirt and spun out in front Lucas and then I tried to recover and I was doing good and in a good place but when you are giving your all the mistakes come and I made one on the last lap.  I don’t know if I would have beaten Michal or not without that but still the car was pretty impressive, it was in me this time.’  Asked his game plan for tomorrow, he replied, ‘I think without the mistake it will be the same as the other runs before, the 5-minutes pace is pretty good so it’s just keep focus and try to make it tomorrow’.  Asked if the racing line traction is was very fine, Coelho said, ‘it’s a bit fine yes and also today it’s a little bit more windy.  I was not super wide but it was enough to bring the dirt and I completely spun out on a point you barely use the throttle.’

Pleased with his opening P3 effort, unlike team Akio Sobie who rolled early in the qualifier, Ishioka described Q1 as a ‘problem free, clean run’.  The Japanese driver added that while the balance of the prototype car was good, he feels he needs to find a little more pace from it  and he will take overnight to think of what changes to make for Q2.

Taking full responsibility his P4 run after topping seeding, Rheinard said, ‘I think I made a big mistake with my tyre prep.  I know in happy hour it is more grip so normally I make way higher with the gluing of the side wall but I kept it super small.  In the beginning it was super good when I could still use a little bit of the glue but during the run it just got too much grip in the front and the car became too twitchy to drive so I just slowed down to try and keep it on the track.’  The reigning European Champion added, ‘It’s an Ok start but it should have been third but once you open up and go on the dust one time you loose a lot of time.  I was leading the beginning but it just got too difficult to drive.’

‘Pretty much as expected’, was the reaction of Lucas Urbain to his P5 in Q1.  The French driver continued, ‘Bruno caught me and I had to let him by but then he made a mistake in front of me so I had to take avoiding action and then he caught me again.  I had the intention to let him by two corners later and had a bobble myself and instead of a crazy rejoin I let him go so I lost a few tenths there, probably 1.5-seconds total in all three actions, without that maybe it could have been a P3.  It’s still a better start than last year, I think I had a DNF in Q1 so P5 is a lot better so I bit more relaxed approach for tomorrow.’  On his car he said, ‘I think I made my car OK, it’s not fantastic but for the conditions I was surprised at how much better it was compared to other days so we are moving in the right direction.’

Getting a summary on how his event has been going so far Volker, ‘we were struggling a bit over the days with pace but now we got the car comfortable and good to drive but I was a bit too slow.  I will take P6 considering I had quite a gap to the front but we will try some more set-up changes for tomorrow to try and get faster and move up from P6.’  Asked if all the speed he needed was going to come from the car or also in combination with his driving he replied, ‘now that the balance was better, but missing some pace, I felt more comfortable compared to the practice days with the handling of the car so I think tomorrow will be more positive.’

In Open Brushless, the class attracting 118 entries, it was also another TITC Rookie who took the opening qualifier as Lukas Ellerbrock steering his Awesomatix to a TQ run.  Behind the German, top seed Soren Sparbier was second fastest 0.176 of a second back with Olivier Bultynck completing the Top 3.  Finishing on the podium last year, having qualified P2 behind Top Qualifier and winner Simon Lauter, Xray’s Adam Izsay got his 2025 campaign underway with P4 in the opening qualifier.

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Rheinard top seed at TITC, Orlowski posts identical time

Marc Rheinard is the top seed at the TITC, the Awesomatix driver improving from P2 in the first controlled practice to jointly top CP2 with the Schumacher of Michal Orlowski.  After tyre gluing issue on his first timed attempt, on tie break Orlowski will be seeded No.2 for this evening’s opening qualifier.  With the first official day of the event normally dedicated to practice, unusual weather has forced the organisers to bring forward the timetable to ensure they get at least one qualifier in the timing system should the rain they have suffered over the last few days return.  After topping the first seeding round, Lucas Urbain would improve on that time but so did everyone else and he ended up third fastest ahead of Bruno Coelho, this the order they will line up for Q1.  Overall it was again Coelho who had the best 5-minute pace with only Rheinard, Orlowski and Aki Sobue able to join him on 21-lap runs.  While 3rd fastest over 5-minutes, Sobue’s Axon was again 4th fastest over the counting 3-consecutive laps ahead of his team-mate Hayato Ishioka meaning the Japanese duo will carry the No.4 and 5 race numbers in qualifying.

Reacting to topping seeding, Rheinard said, ‘The 3-laps were ok but over the 5-minute run I was not so happy, Bruno really caught me in the last 2-minutes.  My car is fading off at the end.  I changed something for this run but I think I will go back to what I had before but anyway the track is going to be so different in 3 hours so we have no idea.’  Asked what he changed, he replied a ‘different top deck’.  On his equal time with his good friend Orlowski, the German said, ‘I think for me it would have been better to be behind him because now I know he gets faster and faster especially when the track comes up so maybe I need to open.  Let’s see.’

Orlowski summed up his effort with, ‘It was quite funny to get identical times to the thousands of the second.  I was quite nervous about being in the C heat but I was able to get the 3-laps, the 5-minute was always good during the week of testing.’  The Pole continued, ‘As I was in a different group I wasn’t not sure of my pace against the top guys, I was a tiny bit behind on 5-minutes but I guess we’ll see in Q1 where I really am compared to everyone else but I am feeling good because during testing I was always very strong on 5-minutes.  I think my car drops off not so much.  I am looking forward to Q1.’  Asked if he is doing much to his Mi9 in terms of set-up changes he said, ‘No we are just doing a little refresh.  I think the track is a little bit different and has a little less grip.  They didn’t sugar the track and didn’t make the maintenance the same as before so a tiny change for the cooler temperature, less traction, and that’s it.’

Asked if the track was quicker second time round, Urbain replied, ‘A bit quicker, not much, but a bit quicker but I am not too happy with my run.  I think the conditions suit my car a bit less and I also drove a bit worse.  It’s a bit more difficult to drive in this conditions and a bit edgy in some places, so I need to fix that, so it meant I had to open twice on track so the 5-minutes is more like P5, P6 this time.  Even though being seeded P3 is good, I am happy with that, but I have Bruno behind me who probably one of the quickest  on 5-minutes so if I don’t find something I am going to have to open which is not ideal.’  Asked what he needs to find in his car, he explained, ‘it’s actually hard to tell, that’s why I have been stuck the whole week, my car does that when the traction comes up and I am yet to really figure out what to do in the conditions.  I have a few ideas.’  As the traction up he said ‘the rear gets snappy for some really which is totally the opposite to what happens in Europe when the more grip the more locked in the rear feels.’

A little miffed about how his run started, Coelho explained, ‘The first 3 laps were pretty tricky, I don’t know why but the car was a bit loose in the rear.  It felt like the tyres weren’t ready but then after 3-laps the car was back again and I started to recover, recover, recover and again the pace in 5-minutes was very good.  Just at the beginning something was wrong.  Before I was really careful and the car was good but this time I just had something wrong on the tyres I believe.’  Reacting to his all his rivals highlighting how good his 5-minute pace is, Coelho said, ‘yeah 5-minutes is pretty solid, it’s easy to drive but we still need to work on it to get a little more pace and especially from the beginning.’

‘My fastest lap was not so fast but it felt super consistent on the 5-minutes’ was Sobue’s reaction to his second seeding run.  The former TITC winner added, ‘Bruno is more consistent over the 5-minutes and the last minute is more difficult for me as the car gets loose and I see other cars are loose too but Bruno seems to be able to take more care of his tyres.’   Asked if his own tyre management was something he could work on, Sobue replied, ‘Yes.  The first qualifier the temperature is maybe lower but I think I need to fix my driving to not over work the tyres.  The balance of the car is good so I don’t touch that.’

In Open Brushless, Soren Sparbier will be the top seed thanks to his CP1 time.  With drivers limited to four sets of tyres for the entire event, the class is very much a tyre game with drivers completing minimal required laps including both Sparbier and second fastest from CP1 Olivier Bultynck opting to not run CP2.  Running just 2-minutes on track Natthawat Rungcharat had the fastest 3-laps to put himself second in the seeding in between Sparbier and Bultynck.

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Urbain sets opening pace at TITC

Celebrating his first year as a full time professional racer at this year’s TITC, Awesomatix’s Lucas Urbain marked the occasion by setting the pace in the opening controlled practice for the legendary Bangkok based race.  Over 3-consecutive laps it was very close at the top with Urbain fastest from his team-mate Marc Rheinard and the Axon of 2020 Champion Akio Sobue, the trio covered by just 0.06 of a second.  On his debut for Infinity, Bruno Coelho kicked off his title defence with the 4th fastest time with the second of the factory Axon drivers Hayato Ishioka P5 and Ryosuke Yamamoto’s Infinity completing the Top 6.  Last year’s Top Qualifier Ronald Volker got the 21st edition of the race underway with the 7th fastest time 6/10th off that set by Urbain, the German describing his pace so far as ‘not super fast’.  Making his TITC debut and therefore finding himself in the third fastest heat for the 2 controlled practice rounds, unglued tyres was Michal Orlowski’s main issue in the first one as he had to pull off after 2-minutes in which he recorded the 8th fastest time.

‘A bit out of now where because in the free practice this morning I was nowhere on the lower grip’, was Urbain’s reaction to topping CP1.  Asked if it was the track or the car that brought the improvement, the Frenchman said, ‘the car felt a ton better.  I had grip, steering, forward traction but it’s been a trend, I think the track was medium traction right now, not super high, not super low, and that was always the sweet spot for my car.’  Fourth fastest over the full 5-minutes, an important marker for qualifying, he said, ‘I am missing a bit of consistency, I think on 5-minutes I am P4 or something.  The car is fading a bit at the end of the run.  My driving also faded a bit.  I can drive better, I was trying a few different lines to see if I could push more in certain corners so of course there were a few bobbles but I could also tell the car is dropping a bit.  I don’t know if I am going to change anything yet ’cause the track is going to change again but I will discuss with the boys.  The car is solid, it is up there, I have the tools to fight so maybe if I just drive better.’

Summing up his opening effort, Rheinard said, ‘I took it easy just to see a 5-minute run and I think Bruno was 1.2 faster but I had some shitty laps as well but the track today is completely different’.  The multiple World Champion added, ‘they didn’t sugar after the rain, and in my opinion they should have, so there is a lot less grip than we had before especially over the whole run.’  On the sugaring of the track, he explained, ‘they say now if it doesn’t rain anymore they don’t sugar, if it rains they re-sugar one time, but it’s not the same track we run the whole week before.’  On his car, even in the lower conditions, he said, ‘it’s still good but I am sure it could be better because I think we are a little bit better on higher grip.  It was a solid start.  I hope the traction comes up but I think they need to sugar again to get it coming up quicker.’  For CP2, he plans to run a race paint body with a different wing to try and get a little more rotation.’

Reacting to his CP1 performance Coelho said, ‘It was a pretty clean run, I was very careful at the beginning to make the first 3-laps and then I tried to force it a little bit in the run and the car was pretty consistent and easy to drive, I’m pretty confident.’  Setting the fastest time over the 5-minutes just missing out on going 21 laps, he added, ‘the 5-minute pace was pretty good but we’ll keep working as there are still some things we can improve.’  Asked about the current traction levels he replied, ‘now it is much lower than we had last week, really much lower because of the rain yesterday and all night which washed all the rubber we put down over the week.  I am sure over the event it is going to come back up.’  Asked how higher traction would effect the prototype Infinity he said, ‘honestly our car is working well in both conditions but I think we have more advantage on the low conditions.’

Running what he called a TC10/4 Concept, a different car from the prototype he ran at the Worlds last November, Sobue was happy with both his seeding pace and his overall 5-minute time which he said include a mistake in the first lap.  The Japanese driver, who is running in the second fastest heat having missed making the A-Main last year, said his feeling with the car is ‘really nice’ despite the track being ‘a little bit loose’ and ‘difficult to drive and difficult to manage the tyres for the 5-minutes’.  On whether higher or lower traction suited his car better, Sobue replied with, ‘the balance is OK, it stays the same as the conditions change so this is good.’  Racing this year in an anti-clock wise direction, asked about this year’s new layout, he said, ‘for me the original layout was the best but this layout also good and it’s a good challenge for me.’  Running the same prototype as Sobue, team-mate Ishioka was happy enough with his run but said he needs to make a few small changes to try an get ‘a little more traction’.

In Open Brushless, last year’s winner Simon Lauter competing in Modified as one of the TITC rules is that previous winners cannot return to the class, it was the Mugen Seiki of Soren Sparbier set the pace ahead of the Awesomatix of Olivier Bultynck.  Lauter’s main challenger for the victory last year, Xray’s Adam Izsay completed the Top 3 ahead of Awesomatix’s Lukas Ellerbrock.

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